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 James Bond films. The program was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and had its television premiere on NBC on September 18, 1965. The show stars Don Adams (who also worked as a director on the series) as agent Maxwell Smart (Agent 86), Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, and Edward Platt as Thaddeus 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 "would you believe...", "missed it by that much", "sorry about that, Chief", "the old [such-and-such] trick", "...and loving it", "if you don't mind 99, I'd like to handle this [repeats what she just said]", "of course, the [such-and-such], just one question, what is the [such-and-such]" and "I asked you not to tell me that".[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 finds the show notable for "broadening the parameters for the presentation of comedy on television".[7]
