"Get Smart" (1965) TV series 1965-1970

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Creators:

Mel Brooks
Buck Henry

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

18 September 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Plot:

Bumbling Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, with a great deal of help from his competent partner Agent 99, battles the forces of KAOS

Plot Keywords:

Agent | Secret Agent | Gadget | Shoe | Secret Plan

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 10 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Don Adams	...	Maxwell Smart (138 episodes, 1965-1970)
Barbara Feldon	...	Agent 99 / ... (138 episodes, 1965-1970)
Edward Platt	...	Chief (136 episodes, 1965-1970)
Robert Karvelas	...	Larabee / ... (94 episodes, 1965-1970)
Rose Michtom	...	Woman at the Airport / ... (44 episodes, 1965-1970)

Runtime:

30 min (138 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (137 episodes) | Black and White (pilot episode)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-G | Australia:PG (some episodes) | New Zealand:PG (season 1) | Singapore:PG | Australia:M (some episodes) | South Africa:10V (Season 3) | South Africa:13V (Season 2) | South Africa:PG (Seasons 1, 4 & 5) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Trivia:

It is rumored that Agent 99 was originally supposed to be named Agent 69 but NBC censors deemed it to be too "sexually suggestive". According to Barbara Feldon, this is not true. Her character was originally to be named Agent 100 "because she was 100 percent" but Buck Henry decided 99 sounded more feminine.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Agent 99: Oh, Max!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tais-toi quand tu parles! (1981)

Sheer comedy brilliance

Get Smart stands as the single most brilliant television comedy EVER. Before Hot Shots!, before Frank Drebin, before Airplane!, before Kentucky Fried Movie, before Young Frankenstein, and before Blazing Saddles, there was Get Smart, the creation of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. This show, which would go on to inspire Police Squad!, arguably the second most brilliant television comedy ever, presented in Maxwell Smart the most completely asanine leading man thus far in television history, and as a result provided for more stupid jokes than ever before. Perhaps the first moment in television where comedy did not require a laugh track (though it did USE one, it would have flown fine without one), this show would inspire nearly every film by Mel Brooks and Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker. Can we really imagine Hedley Lamaar from Blazing Saddles without Maxwell Smart having preceded him? Can we really imagine Frank Drebin without Maxwell Smart having preceded him? The answer to these questions MUST be "no." Get Smart was a rare moment in television comedy history, and it has given us a truly rich comedic tradition ever since. Thank you, Buck, Don, and Barbara!