On Thursdays, I take a detailed and critical look at a TV show. This year, I will be splitting full seasons into two posts so today I am looking at the first half of Season 1 of Get Smart!
GET SMART: SEASON ONE
1965-1966
30 episodes
1965-1966
30 episodes
Get Smart launched in 1965 amidst a slew of silly fantasy sitcoms. In the midst of the Cold War and escalating tensions, it was something different. Sure it looks maybe a lot like a silly 60s sitcom now but it was something a little bit sharper and a little bit more satirical and that's why it earned so much critical acclaim. The first season, while being something different at the time, is not Get Smart's finest season. It's still finding its way and the balance between being a spy show and a sitcom. There are signs of things to come but a lot of the episodes in season one fall flat.
Starring
Don Adams as Maxwell Smart (30 episodes)
Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 (28 episodes)
Edward Platt as The Chief (29 episodes)
Robert Karvelas as Larabee (9 episodes)
3. School Days (10/2/65)
Max poses as a student and 99 poses as a teacher at a CONTROL spy school to determine who the KAOS infiltrators are.
This is a really clever episode and something a little bit different than what you might expect from a spy show. I always like episodes when Max and 99 have to go undercover or when they have to figure out who among a group of people is the bad guy and this episode has both of those things. The episode also does a pretty good job at not being clear where the plot is going and what the answer to the mystery is, though I think it could have been a little more suspenseful. I like when the show mixes suspense with humor to a perfect degree and they're still figuring that out here.
RATING: 6.5/10
4. Our Man in Toyland (10/9/65)
Max and 99 go undercover in a department store to stop KAOS from smuggling information out of the country through the store.
This is another episode that has my favorite combination of going undercover and solving a mystery. Although maybe not as clever a plot as the previous episode, I think this one is executed better. The department store setting is a fun glimpse into what shopping was like in the 1960s (now we have to see that on things like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel but this is actually from the era) and there's a lot of funny sight gags as Max makes contact with various CONTROL agents. Chief among those moments is a funny bit on Santa's lap.
RATING: 7.5/10
5. Now You See Him... Now You Don't (10/16/65)
A doctor comes to Max with plans for an invisibility ray and then Max is kidnapped while trying to determine if it works.
This is the first episode with Max's apartment and we get a lot of funny sight gags related to that. But that being said, this isn't one of my favorite episodes because it veers a little too far down the fantasy road. Get Smart always dealt with a very heightened reality and a lot of things they did were pretty outlandish. But it's usually grounded in a real scenario - the spy school, the department store, etc. This episode feels more like it belongs in Bewitched or one of the other 60s fantasy sitcoms because of the invisibility plot. I know it sort of "fixes" itself with the reveal of the invisibility trick, but it's still a little too out there for me.
RATING: 3.5/10
6. Washington 4, Indians 3 (10/23/65)
A rebel Indian tribe has a weapon aimed at Washington DC and Max goes undercover as an Indian to try to stop them.
Oof, this is a tough one to get through. I have said before that I try not to be too PC about 1960s shows knowing that it was a different time and it's not fair to judge by today's standards. But an Indian plot seems a little outrageous even for the 60s. It's one thing to have it on F Troop, which was set a hundred years earlier. But Get Smart was a contemporary show that certainly had its pulse on current events with its obvious satire on the Cold War. So this felt awfully regressive of them and not worthy of being an episode.
RATING: 1/10
7. KAOS in CONTROL (10/30/65)
KAOS steals a gun that turns adult into children and leaves the Chief with a brain of an eight year old and it's up to Max to save the day and find the double agent.
Some of the recurring jokes in Get Smart I enjoy almost every time while others I tire of quickly. I have to take into account that this was not a show that was designed for binge watching and even back then, reruns were not as big. So, I'm forgiving of that but I still think the Cone of Silence is a gag that never quite lands. I think Edward Platt is great at the Chief but he has a hard time committing to acting like a child. He wasn't meant to do that kind of kooky stuff in the way Hayden Rorke could for I Dream of Jeannie and that hampers an otherwise pretty suspenseful and fun story a bit. The who/whom bit is very funny.
RATING: 6/10
8. The Day Smart Turned Chicken (11/6/65)
KAOS tricks Max into going to a costume party dressed as a chicken to make it look like he's going crazy before a key court testimony.
Although the plot is a little predictable, this is a pretty funny episode and it's well paced. There's a whole lot that happens in this episode and each step of the way is entertaining. Typically I think courtroom scenes in older sitcoms can be a little annoying but this one is very funny and a great reflection of Max as a character. The show has developed his character well enough in just a few episodes that it's already amusing to see people's reactions to his questions in court. After taking some episodes to get its footing, this is the first episode that I feel really captures the frenetic and fun turns that the best episodes have.
RATING: 8.5/10
9. Satan Place (11/13/65)
The Chief is kidnapped and frozen by KAOS and Max and 99 have to save him.
There's a lot of good things in this episode whose title, but not premise, is based on a now mostly forgotten 60s soap called Peyton Place. It's a fun setting, if a bit ridiculous, and Max and 99 posing as others to get into the secret place gives Don Adams a chance to be a hammy character which he does well. The first scene is also a funny one with Max completely distracted while the Chief tries to fend off enemies. Not too much else to say about this one, just a solid effort but not a personal favorite.
RATING: 7.5/10
10. Our Man in Leotards (11/20/65)
A new drug that makes people temporarily immobile is stolen to use at the Pinerovian Embassy and that leads Max undercover to a dance troupe.
This episode takes entirely too long to get going and then it feels a little too frenetic even when it does. The scene in the lab could have been half as long but they meander too much with the silliness. I know this show is a comedy first and foremost but sometimes it is so good with the plot and other times it seems too focused on funny moments. This episode falls in the latter camp. I'm not surprised to see it was written by Mel Brooks because it seems like his type of humor which is usually not my type of humor. It also doesn't help that the instant paralysis drug is not one of the more clever ones they have. Although it does allow for the first kiss between Max and 99 (while she's under the influence).
RATING: 3/10
11. Too Many Chiefs (11/27/65)
Max is assigned to guard a KAOS defector but is confused when two Chiefs show up at his apartment.
This episode starts off very strong but loses its way as it goes on. The opening scene with the stand-off at the hotel is pretty hilarious and there's some solid and sophisticated dialogue when Max and the Chief are looking at all the disguises of the episode's villain. But then when said villain disguises as the Chief and they both are at Max's apartment, it becomes a bit that goes on way too long. The episode starts to lose its focus and the two chiefs at the apartment is not as clever as it could be. So, this one is a mixed bag.
RATING: 5/10
12. My Nephew the Spy (12/4/65)
Max's aunt and uncle visit Max and he has to keep his job a secret from them while dealing with a KAOS agent.
Unlike the previous episode, which started strong and faded, this one takes too long to ramp up. The lead-up to the arrival of Max's aunt and uncle. Once they arrive, there's some good madcap comedy and great guest appearances by popular sitcom guest stars Charles Lane and Maudie Prickett. There's some good comedic timing from Don Adams and Lane and Prickett are a formidable duo that really bring up the energy of the epsiode. I will say, we're only 12 episodes in and I'm already tired of the Cone of Silence. I don't think I realized how often they used that gimmick.
RATING: 6.5/10
13. Aboard the Orient Express (12/11/65)
Max and 99 have to deliver papers behind the Iron Curtain and ride the Orient Express to do so while KAOS is after them.
This episode is notable for featuring a cameo by Johnny Carson as the Conductor. Carson was already a few years into hosting The Tonight Show, which aired on the same network. One of the things I'm a sucker for, for whatever reason, is episodes that are set on a train. Especially episodes from the more glamorous time of train travel, and it doesn't get much more glamorous than the Orient Express. This episode certainly pays tribute to the famed ride. There's some funny moments and it keeps the mystery going pretty well through the episode.
RATING: 8/10
14. Vampire Weekend (12/18/65)
After several agents are murdered with mysterious puncture wounds, Max and 99 disguise themselves as newlyweds to figure out what's going on.
This episode doesn't quite live up to its title and premise. I wanted the whole thing to be creepier. I know that's asking a lot of a 60s sitcom, but Get Smart was capable of doing that from time to time and this episode was asking for that. I think it would have helped to have a better guest star as Dr. Drago who made everything creepier and I think the setting where Max and 99 are newlyweds could also have taken on the "haunted house" feeling a little more.
RATING: 4.5/10
15. Survival of the Fattest (12/25/65)
An Arab prince is kidnapped by a woman forcing him to slim down, which will reduce his power and Max has to try to save him.
This is an odd episode and it seems like 50s and 60s shows had a weird little obsession with Arab culture, or at least TV's interpretation of Arab culture because a lot of shows seem to have a "crown prince" or "crown princess" type of episode. Still, there are some funny things in this episode including a great retort from Max to the Chief about the dangerous woman. There's also a funny play on the switch of the water glasses when one has a drug in it. The twist with the Chief and the end of the episode is clever too.
RATING: 8/10
Starring
Don Adams as Maxwell Smart (30 episodes)
Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 (28 episodes)
Edward Platt as The Chief (29 episodes)
Robert Karvelas as Larabee (9 episodes)
Milton Selzer as Parker (7 episodes)
Victor French as Agent 44 (6 episodes)
Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot (1 episode)
1. Mr. Big (9/18/65)
Maxwell Smart teams up with Agent 99 for the first time to defeat Mr. Big, who is threatening to destroy New York City with a device called the Inthermo.
The pilot of Get Smart is the only one in black and white and thank goodness because Get Smart really benefits from being in color. Even though many shows were still filming in black and white in 1965-66, Get Smart only did the pilot that way. What I didn't remember until I watched the pilot again was how many of the famous recurring jokes are present from the start. Here, we get the shoe phone, the cone of silence and Max's famous line "and loving it." It also seems like the show is ostensibly set it New York City here, not just for the case but for CONTROL headquarters whereas it eventually makes it clear that it's set in DC (never mind the fact that it's clearly filmed in LA and you can see the Hollywood sign at one point). It's not one of Get Smart's better stories, but it does a good job setting the tone. Fun fact, this episode was immediately preceded on NBC by the pilot of I Dream of Jeannie.
RATING: 6/10
2. Diplomat's Daughter (9/25/65)
Max and 99 are assigned to protect a Scandinavian princess from the head of the Chinese branch of KAOS called The Claw.
You know it's a 60s show when the phrase "Orientals" appears but there's no point in judging them by contemporary standards. Anyway, the first color episode of Get Smart shows that the show is still getting its legs under it. In particular, Don Adams and Barbara Feldon do not yet have the chemistry that they later develop. This episode feels to drag on for a very long time and once Max is captured, it's clear he's going to get out of it but the show just plays on his ineptness one too many times. This episode is notable for featuring writer Leonard Stern as the bad guy.
RATING: 3/10
Victor French as Agent 44 (6 episodes)
Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot (1 episode)
Maxwell Smart teams up with Agent 99 for the first time to defeat Mr. Big, who is threatening to destroy New York City with a device called the Inthermo.
The pilot of Get Smart is the only one in black and white and thank goodness because Get Smart really benefits from being in color. Even though many shows were still filming in black and white in 1965-66, Get Smart only did the pilot that way. What I didn't remember until I watched the pilot again was how many of the famous recurring jokes are present from the start. Here, we get the shoe phone, the cone of silence and Max's famous line "and loving it." It also seems like the show is ostensibly set it New York City here, not just for the case but for CONTROL headquarters whereas it eventually makes it clear that it's set in DC (never mind the fact that it's clearly filmed in LA and you can see the Hollywood sign at one point). It's not one of Get Smart's better stories, but it does a good job setting the tone. Fun fact, this episode was immediately preceded on NBC by the pilot of I Dream of Jeannie.
RATING: 6/10
2. Diplomat's Daughter (9/25/65)
Max and 99 are assigned to protect a Scandinavian princess from the head of the Chinese branch of KAOS called The Claw.
You know it's a 60s show when the phrase "Orientals" appears but there's no point in judging them by contemporary standards. Anyway, the first color episode of Get Smart shows that the show is still getting its legs under it. In particular, Don Adams and Barbara Feldon do not yet have the chemistry that they later develop. This episode feels to drag on for a very long time and once Max is captured, it's clear he's going to get out of it but the show just plays on his ineptness one too many times. This episode is notable for featuring writer Leonard Stern as the bad guy.
RATING: 3/10
3. School Days (10/2/65)
Max poses as a student and 99 poses as a teacher at a CONTROL spy school to determine who the KAOS infiltrators are.
This is a really clever episode and something a little bit different than what you might expect from a spy show. I always like episodes when Max and 99 have to go undercover or when they have to figure out who among a group of people is the bad guy and this episode has both of those things. The episode also does a pretty good job at not being clear where the plot is going and what the answer to the mystery is, though I think it could have been a little more suspenseful. I like when the show mixes suspense with humor to a perfect degree and they're still figuring that out here.
RATING: 6.5/10
Max and 99 go undercover in a department store to stop KAOS from smuggling information out of the country through the store.
This is another episode that has my favorite combination of going undercover and solving a mystery. Although maybe not as clever a plot as the previous episode, I think this one is executed better. The department store setting is a fun glimpse into what shopping was like in the 1960s (now we have to see that on things like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel but this is actually from the era) and there's a lot of funny sight gags as Max makes contact with various CONTROL agents. Chief among those moments is a funny bit on Santa's lap.
RATING: 7.5/10
5. Now You See Him... Now You Don't (10/16/65)
A doctor comes to Max with plans for an invisibility ray and then Max is kidnapped while trying to determine if it works.
This is the first episode with Max's apartment and we get a lot of funny sight gags related to that. But that being said, this isn't one of my favorite episodes because it veers a little too far down the fantasy road. Get Smart always dealt with a very heightened reality and a lot of things they did were pretty outlandish. But it's usually grounded in a real scenario - the spy school, the department store, etc. This episode feels more like it belongs in Bewitched or one of the other 60s fantasy sitcoms because of the invisibility plot. I know it sort of "fixes" itself with the reveal of the invisibility trick, but it's still a little too out there for me.
RATING: 3.5/10
6. Washington 4, Indians 3 (10/23/65)
A rebel Indian tribe has a weapon aimed at Washington DC and Max goes undercover as an Indian to try to stop them.
Oof, this is a tough one to get through. I have said before that I try not to be too PC about 1960s shows knowing that it was a different time and it's not fair to judge by today's standards. But an Indian plot seems a little outrageous even for the 60s. It's one thing to have it on F Troop, which was set a hundred years earlier. But Get Smart was a contemporary show that certainly had its pulse on current events with its obvious satire on the Cold War. So this felt awfully regressive of them and not worthy of being an episode.
RATING: 1/10
7. KAOS in CONTROL (10/30/65)
KAOS steals a gun that turns adult into children and leaves the Chief with a brain of an eight year old and it's up to Max to save the day and find the double agent.
Some of the recurring jokes in Get Smart I enjoy almost every time while others I tire of quickly. I have to take into account that this was not a show that was designed for binge watching and even back then, reruns were not as big. So, I'm forgiving of that but I still think the Cone of Silence is a gag that never quite lands. I think Edward Platt is great at the Chief but he has a hard time committing to acting like a child. He wasn't meant to do that kind of kooky stuff in the way Hayden Rorke could for I Dream of Jeannie and that hampers an otherwise pretty suspenseful and fun story a bit. The who/whom bit is very funny.
RATING: 6/10
KAOS tricks Max into going to a costume party dressed as a chicken to make it look like he's going crazy before a key court testimony.
Although the plot is a little predictable, this is a pretty funny episode and it's well paced. There's a whole lot that happens in this episode and each step of the way is entertaining. Typically I think courtroom scenes in older sitcoms can be a little annoying but this one is very funny and a great reflection of Max as a character. The show has developed his character well enough in just a few episodes that it's already amusing to see people's reactions to his questions in court. After taking some episodes to get its footing, this is the first episode that I feel really captures the frenetic and fun turns that the best episodes have.
RATING: 8.5/10
9. Satan Place (11/13/65)
The Chief is kidnapped and frozen by KAOS and Max and 99 have to save him.
There's a lot of good things in this episode whose title, but not premise, is based on a now mostly forgotten 60s soap called Peyton Place. It's a fun setting, if a bit ridiculous, and Max and 99 posing as others to get into the secret place gives Don Adams a chance to be a hammy character which he does well. The first scene is also a funny one with Max completely distracted while the Chief tries to fend off enemies. Not too much else to say about this one, just a solid effort but not a personal favorite.
RATING: 7.5/10
10. Our Man in Leotards (11/20/65)
A new drug that makes people temporarily immobile is stolen to use at the Pinerovian Embassy and that leads Max undercover to a dance troupe.
This episode takes entirely too long to get going and then it feels a little too frenetic even when it does. The scene in the lab could have been half as long but they meander too much with the silliness. I know this show is a comedy first and foremost but sometimes it is so good with the plot and other times it seems too focused on funny moments. This episode falls in the latter camp. I'm not surprised to see it was written by Mel Brooks because it seems like his type of humor which is usually not my type of humor. It also doesn't help that the instant paralysis drug is not one of the more clever ones they have. Although it does allow for the first kiss between Max and 99 (while she's under the influence).
RATING: 3/10
Max is assigned to guard a KAOS defector but is confused when two Chiefs show up at his apartment.
This episode starts off very strong but loses its way as it goes on. The opening scene with the stand-off at the hotel is pretty hilarious and there's some solid and sophisticated dialogue when Max and the Chief are looking at all the disguises of the episode's villain. But then when said villain disguises as the Chief and they both are at Max's apartment, it becomes a bit that goes on way too long. The episode starts to lose its focus and the two chiefs at the apartment is not as clever as it could be. So, this one is a mixed bag.
RATING: 5/10
12. My Nephew the Spy (12/4/65)
Max's aunt and uncle visit Max and he has to keep his job a secret from them while dealing with a KAOS agent.
Unlike the previous episode, which started strong and faded, this one takes too long to ramp up. The lead-up to the arrival of Max's aunt and uncle. Once they arrive, there's some good madcap comedy and great guest appearances by popular sitcom guest stars Charles Lane and Maudie Prickett. There's some good comedic timing from Don Adams and Lane and Prickett are a formidable duo that really bring up the energy of the epsiode. I will say, we're only 12 episodes in and I'm already tired of the Cone of Silence. I don't think I realized how often they used that gimmick.
RATING: 6.5/10
13. Aboard the Orient Express (12/11/65)
Max and 99 have to deliver papers behind the Iron Curtain and ride the Orient Express to do so while KAOS is after them.
This episode is notable for featuring a cameo by Johnny Carson as the Conductor. Carson was already a few years into hosting The Tonight Show, which aired on the same network. One of the things I'm a sucker for, for whatever reason, is episodes that are set on a train. Especially episodes from the more glamorous time of train travel, and it doesn't get much more glamorous than the Orient Express. This episode certainly pays tribute to the famed ride. There's some funny moments and it keeps the mystery going pretty well through the episode.
RATING: 8/10
After several agents are murdered with mysterious puncture wounds, Max and 99 disguise themselves as newlyweds to figure out what's going on.
This episode doesn't quite live up to its title and premise. I wanted the whole thing to be creepier. I know that's asking a lot of a 60s sitcom, but Get Smart was capable of doing that from time to time and this episode was asking for that. I think it would have helped to have a better guest star as Dr. Drago who made everything creepier and I think the setting where Max and 99 are newlyweds could also have taken on the "haunted house" feeling a little more.
RATING: 4.5/10
15. Survival of the Fattest (12/25/65)
An Arab prince is kidnapped by a woman forcing him to slim down, which will reduce his power and Max has to try to save him.
This is an odd episode and it seems like 50s and 60s shows had a weird little obsession with Arab culture, or at least TV's interpretation of Arab culture because a lot of shows seem to have a "crown prince" or "crown princess" type of episode. Still, there are some funny things in this episode including a great retort from Max to the Chief about the dangerous woman. There's also a funny play on the switch of the water glasses when one has a drug in it. The twist with the Chief and the end of the episode is clever too.
RATING: 8/10
Tomorrow: The Friday Five - Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
Next Thursday: A look at the second half of Season 1 of Get Smart!
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