Get Smart

Get Smart
Title card from seasons one and two
Genre
  • Satire
  • Sitcom
  • Action adventure
Created by
Directed by
Starring
Theme music composerIrving Szathmary
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes138 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
Camera setupsingle-camera
Running time22–25 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
  • NBC (1965–69)
  • CBS (1969–70)
ReleaseSeptember 18, 1965 (1965-09-18) –
May 15, 1970 (1970-05-15)
Related
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Get Smart is an American comedy television series parodying the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s with the release of the James Bond films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and had its television premiere on NBC on September 18, 1965. It starred Don Adams (who was also a director on the series) as agent Maxwell Smart (Agent 86), Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, and Edward Platt as The Chief. Henry said that they created the show at the request of Daniel Melnick[1] to capitalize on James Bond and Inspector Clouseau, "the two biggest things in the entertainment world today".[2] Brooks described it as "an insane combination of James Bond and Mel Brooks comedy".[3]

The show generated a number of popular catchphrases during its run, including "sorry about that, Chief", "...and loving it", "missed it by that much", and "would you believe...".[4][5] The show was followed by the films The Nude Bomb (a 1980 theatrical film made without the involvement of Brooks and Henry) and Get Smart, Again! (a 1989 made-for-TV sequel to the series), as well as a 1995 revival series and a 2008 film remake. In 2010, TV Guide ranked Get Smart's opening title sequence at number two on its list of TV's top 10 credits sequences as selected by readers.[6] The show switched networks in 1969 to CBS. It ended its five-season run on May 15, 1970, with a total of 138 episodes.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications found the show notable for "broadening the parameters for the presentation of comedy on television".[7]

  1. ^ Melnick was a partner of the show's production company Talent Associates, along with Leonard Stern and David Susskind.
  2. ^ Get Smart Buck Henry Season 1 commentary
  3. ^ Day, Patrick Henry (May 19, 2008). "Q&A with Mel Brooks". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  4. ^ Robins, Mikey (August 5, 2020). Reprehensible. Simon & Schuster. p. 247. ISBN 9781760852993.
  5. ^ "WouldYouBelieve.com – Catchphrases". wouldyoubelieve.com.
  6. ^ Tomashoff, Craig. "Credits Check" TV Guide, October 18, 2010, Pages 16–17
  7. ^ Tovares, Raul. "Get Smart U.S. Spy Parody". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on July 28, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2017.