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STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $10.99
RATED: Not rated
RUNNING TIME: 158 min
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Minisodes
The Pitch
The Smarts are back in Control. And some TV exec is soon thereafter in the unemployment line.
The Humans
Don Adams, Andy Dick, Elaine Hendrix, Barbara Feldon.
The Nutshell
It’s thirty years later and Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 (Adams), is now the Chief of Control, the top secret government spy agency with a penchant for kooky gadgets and even kookier agents. His wife, 99 (Feldon), is now a Congresswoman in charge of the agency’s budget and their son, Zack (Dick), is Control’s newest bumbling agent. Together with the sexy Agent 66, (Hendrix), they work to stop a new generation of KAOS from ruling the world.
“Yes, Don Adams here. Get me my agent please.”
*pause*
“Bernie? You’re FUCKING fired.”
The Lowdown
I’m going to go on record as saying that this revival of Get Smart has to be one of of the stupidest ideas in the history of television, of entertainment, and possibly mankind in general. Utterly devoid of originality and any semblance of anything even remotely funny, this show deserved cancellation after the first seven minutes, let alone seven episodes. Don Adams – a comedic genius in the original – looks almost embarrassed to be in this show. He must have needed a paycheck, health care, or something necessary for human survival, to be lured back to this role. That can be my only only explanation considering that he had reprised the role not once but twice in revival films: The Nude Bomb (1980) and Get Smart, Again (1989).
This is where they kept all the old jokes until they unboxed them for this show.
Andy Dick takes the forefront as Zack Smart, and is pretty much a disaster as you would imagine. I will say that the role was perfectly suited for Dick…if that’s really saying anything. Sexing up the joint is Elaine Hendrix as 66 (hey, it’s 99 upside down…clever, no?). She’s the much more experienced agent, having to school Zack as he gets his feet wet in the spy biz. Barbara Feldon makes the occasional appearance as 99, who’s now a Congresswoman.
“Look at it this way, Don: at least we keep our SAG cards in good standing for a couple more years…”
The plots are silly, as they were in the original show, but these didn’t have Adams in his comedic prime, Feldon at her understatedly sexy apex, nor the guidance of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, two of the giants of comedy history. Instead, what you get are retread jokes and retread concepts (Zack has a sneaker cellphone…oooh so ’90s). Don Adams deserved better than this. I grew up on his work, from Smart, to Tennessee Tuxedo to Inspector Gadget. To think that this is what his career had come down to is just sad.
Yeah, sure, this is nice, but the price you have to pay…
I honestly don’t have much more to say on the subject. This show was an embarrassment for all those involved. Hell, I’m embarrassed just writing about it.
The Package
Minisodes (snippets) of two other TV shows. Even more embarrassing.
Yep, that’s funny…hysterical in fact.