Currently available exclusively through Time Life, the Get Smart – The Complete Series box set proves the existence of God. Would you believe mankind’s greatest discovery since fire? How about the best TV-on-DVD collection? A great amount of work went into this set that will have every Get Smart fan drooling, and it sets the gold standard for other TV-on-DVD releases. While many studios just dump their television series onto DVD with little care, the Get Smart set pulls out all the stops.
Get Smart is the legendary sitcom featuring Don Adams as Agent 86, a combination of James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. He works for the secret U.S. government agency known as CONTROL, and is assisted by his boss, the Chief (Edward Platt); Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), who would become his wife in the fourth season and bear his twins in the final season; and Agents 44 (Victor French in the first season and Al Molinaro in the fifth) and 13 (Dave Ketchum in between) always get odd surveillance details. Although very inept, Smart always saved the day, sometimes in spite of himself. The main nemesis of CONTROL is KAOS, and the face of the organization is Siegfried (Bernie Kopell), KAOS's Vice President of Public Relations and Terror, who was introduced in the second season.
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created the series. Brooks helped write some of the first episodes while Henry served as the show’s story editor for the first two seasons. Adams brought a lot to the character. His exaggerated William Powell impression and the “would you believe” line were from his nightclub act. It is impossible to imagine anyone else in the role of this iconic character, but the role was originally written for Tom Poston.
Get Smart ran from 1965 to 1969 on NBC and then moved to CBS for one last season. It was awarded seven Emmys and two Golden Globes. The series was funny, combining slapstick and satire. They got guest stars the likes of Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, Carol Burnett, and Phyllis Diller. Over the course of 138 episodes, there is repetition of jokes, and some people think the show jumped the shark in the last couple of seasons, including series co-creator Henry who was disappointed Smart got married. The episodes are good throughout, although some references are dated and it is possible to overindulge watching a lot in one sitting. Still, there are a lot of laughs to be had.
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