Get Smart

I first became a fan of "Get Smart" in 1991 via Nick at Nite's airings, and by the end of 1993 I had every episode on tape (of course this was in the days before full-season DVD releases of every TV show ever made), so when in December 1994 I heard "Get Smart" was back in production, I was a very happy fangirl, being that my interest in the show was still at a peak!

When the first episode aired on Fox in January 1995, I was on a vacation, but I still made sure I was in the hotel to watch it (and I had it taping on timer back home), I was practically squeeee'ing with delight!

After watching all 7 of the new episodes over January and February, I went away from the experience happy, but with the mindset that the original was still better. As for the one commenter who said Zach (whose agent number was never revealed) had no straight-person to play off of, I think 66 was perfect for that role. She was as serious as Zach was silly, and I think the interplay between them really worked for some good comedy, and their uneasy tolerance for each other would have kept the two from becoming lovers had the series been picked up for 1995-96 season, avoiding falling into the "Moonlighting" trap.

The new arrangement of the show's theme really worked too, it was very modern-spy-movie chic, but still recognizable as the "Get Smart" theme :)

Overall: I would say a 7 out of 10. They should have tried to get the show's creators back, but it was still a very entertaining and valiant effort on Fox's part.

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.

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?

As other commentors have pointed out, the best episode of this revised series was the one that pitted long time enemies Max and Siegfried against each other. They were perfect rivals in the original series, and Adams and Kopell did not disappoint here. I could never get into Andy Dick as Max and 99's son; besides, he had made some disparaging comments about the show while it was still on which didn't strike me as being very smart. I liked the idea of Max being the head of CONTROL, and his secretary was very funny. Too bad the show focused on his son. I liked Agent 66, but she didn't have much to play off of dealing with the Andy Dick character.