Get Smart

Without a doubt this is the best reboot of any show I've ever seen. By "reboot" I don't mean "remake" as in the excellent "Battlestar Galactica" (2003) which completely overhauled the 1978 classic in a good way. By "reboot" I'm talking about the linear continuation of a defunct show, preserving its original story and characters. An unfortunate example would be "Galactica 1980" where the writers imagined a Galactica future only without good stories or a budget. And who could forget--try as we might--"Three's a Crowd"? The reboot formula has historically been a lame one: generally bringing back 1 main actor, cutting the budget (starting with writers' salaries evidently) and marketing itself to whatever hopelessly nostalgic fools there were left in the audience from the prior generation.

While "Get Smart" 1995 may be guilty of that last bit, I'm happy to say that the show was phenomenally good. Not only did it bring back the incomparable Don Adams as Maxwell Smart and the still gorgeous Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, but just as importantly it brought back the original spirit of the show: the quippy 1-liners, the sight gags, and the subtle intelligence that made the original "Get Smart" such a riot back in the late 60s.

I'm not sure who the writers were, but they must've studied the old scripts carefully, because the humor doesn't miss a beat from 25 years prior. "Get Smart" always had a wonderful dark humor and sarcastic wit coupled with a shameless absurdity that would fly at you so fast you could miss some great laughs if you blinked. Take, for example, the following dialogue (not exact but close enough) which is delivered at lightning speed:

MAX: I can't believe you got our $15 million budget approved by Congress. NINETY-NINE: I didn't. They turned me down. MAX: Then how did you get it? NINETY-NINE: I did what everyone else does, went to the National Endowment for the Arts. MAX: Brilliant. NINETY-NINE: We just have to hang some pink curtains in Utah.

And then immediately on to the next gag. The sight gags are very funny, too, as in the old show, usually centering on some preposterously stupid hi-tech gadget that goes awry. Like when Max attempts to use his cufflink phone (microphone on one arm, earpiece on the other) and struggles for a minute before switching arms and muttering: "Wouldn't you know it, I always grab a lefty pair."

The title of my review is absolutely true. I was laughing so hard that literally my dog freaked out and thought I was dying.

The acting... Don Adams and Barbara Feldon need no review; they're as great as they ever were. The 2 newcomers, Andy Dick and Elaine Hendrix, I initially approached with skepticism. But by the 2nd show I was convinced that no one else could've played their roles. Andy Dick is "Zach", Max's somewhat incompetent son. But he plays the role with remarkable restraint--not being over-the-top goofy, but actually coming across as a real human being who just happens to be a bit of a moron. His partner is "Agent 66" (Elaine Hendrix) who is both the brains and the beauty of the team, and somehow the writers always find creative & tasteful ways to show off her cleavage. Like the bullet bra.

I'll say one caveat. Don't base your entire opinion on the pilot episode which, while funny, is the weakest of the lot. This is simply because it has to set up the characters and setting, while the later episodes can jump right into the fun. I haven't seen them all, but my favorite so far is episode 2 "Casino Evil" not only because it's a nonstop bullet storm of great gags, but it features the fabulous Terry Kiser (he is probably best known as the corpse in "Weekend at Bernies", but if you're a fan of Three's Company, you'll recognize him as the "linguine & clams mobster" as well as the psycho boyfriend who almost causes Jack's heart to fail (because "God forgot to wind it").

To sum up, if you're a fan of the old Get Smart, then run don't walk to your nearest video store to pick this up. If you've never seen the old Get Smart, then you can probably compare the humor to the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker masterpieces "Airplane!" & "Top Secret!" The only thing bad about this series is that it came to an end.

With Pierce Brosnan rejuvenating the James Bond franchise, the time was ripe to bring back the greatest spy parody ever, _Get Smart_. And personally, I think the series would have worked if the lead character had been a suave but wimpy wannabe like Brosnan's Steele character was in the first couple of seasons on that show. This would have been a great contrast to the character of Maxwell Smart, who had the ability, just not the brains.

Instead, what we got was Andy Dick playing a character who had neither the brains nor the ability. His character was simply childish and annoying, leaving it completely in the hands of the writers to make the show funny. Sometimes they delivered; far more often they did not. I'm glad the show was put out of its misery quickly, and I'm equally glad we got to see Max and Siegfried square off one last time before that happened.

It's too bad this series was cancelled so quickly, because by the last episode or so, it really became Get Smart. This last episode featured Bernie Kopell reprising his role as KAOS agent Siegfried; Siegfried and his daughter are holding Max and 99's son, Zach, hostage. Zach and Siegfried's daughter both bemoan their weird childhoods as the children of spies; Zach says his parents lied and said they worked for a greeting card company. Siegfried's daughter replies, "He told us he was the doctor on a cruise ship!" (In case anyone doesn't know, Kopell played the ship's doctor for years on The Love Boat.) Whenever Don Adams and Barbara Feldon were on screen, though, the newer characters were blown away. In another episode, Max and 99 are at an embassy party and go out for a romantic stroll on the terrace. Too bad we didn't stay with them, and were stuck with the younger (less funny, less appealing) characters at the party. It's like the producers and writers were feeling their way, and were almost there.

Thirty years ago, bumbling agent Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) and his lovely sidekick, Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) helped the United States Spy Agency, Control, defeat the bad guys at Chaos. Now, in the present day (1995), Max is the top dog at Control while 99 is a Senator, getting funds to keep the spies in operation, among other things! Also, there are two young gumshoes at Control. One is Max and 99's son, Zach (Andy Dick), who has just been promoted to full agent. He is as clumsy as his dad but makes things work out. The other new spy is beautiful agent 66 (Elaine Hendrix), who is a modern-day Mata Hari, using her looks and smarts to defeat the enemy. In the first episode, Chaos is after a dress made out of fabric that will not burn, even with a blowtorch underneath. 66 is supposed to model the dress at a show and, therefore, prevent its theft but the lights go out on the runway. Has chaos got the dress after all? We will see. Another episode concerns a plan to catch a crooked casino owner with Chaos ties. Max actually gets called to help with this one and narrowly escapes death, hilariously. Can Zach and Max keep on foiling the enemy with their antics? Yes! What heaven to find there was this sequel series! I didn't realize it was ever on the air until I bought this disc. Although Dick and Hendrix are the main stars, Adams is in it quite often, happily. The three of them do a terrific job. Feldon's time is very limited but wow, does she look great! Costumes, effects, sets, gadgets, scripts, and direction are all quite fine. One new element that keeps occurring is a cast member called Agent Zero, who shows up as a different person each time, in the name of "disguise". Sometimes he's an old lady, sometimes a construction worker, etc. Now, that's comedy. One time he appears as Robert Goulet, to warn Max, who is seated at a cabaret, that folks are trying to kill him! Mac the Knife becomes Max, Take Care, but, Max, of course, is upset that he doesn't know the correct words to the song. It all works out, natch. If you loved the old series but are unhappy that you've seen all of the episodes multiple times, try to find this newer series on disc. Smart you will be to do so.

I was one member of the small writing/producing staff on the remake of Get Smart. I can't argue with any of the comments left by the fans of the original.

Get Smart (the original) is my favorite show of all time. So you can imagine how thrilling it was to write new material for Maxwell Smart and Agent 99. (and Siegfried!) Andy Dick was really very, very funny. And Elaine Hendricks, who played his co-agent, is a gem still waiting to be discovered. But it is REALLY hard to re-do something that was almost perfect to begin with. Imagine remaking Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz -- Well, in the sitcom world, Get Smart was the equivalent. The standard was just too high.

So, the experience was great, and I have a picture of myself standing between Maxwell Smart and Siegfried that's worth a million bucks... Would you believe, a dollar-fifty?