Get Smart Telivision Show Review Part 2

Initial Thoughts

            In part one of this two part review, I covered the Storylines and Plot Devices of the original Television Show Get Smart. And so in part 2, we will be covering the other to aspects of the show, the overall comedy aspects, and the characters (recurring characters).

            So lets not waste any time, lets dive right into part 2 of the Get Smart Television Show!

Overall Comedy Aspects: 18 out of 25

            As I mentioned in part 1 the basically everything changed after season 2 completed, with the loose of Buck Henry, and one of the components of the show that changed the most is probably the comedy. To begin let us list the differences between seasons 1-2 and seasons 3-5.

Season 1-2: When the show first started out it really locked in well with the overall feel of the show at the time. The comedy was mostly verbal, and the focus was obviously Maxwell Smart, and how people react to his awkward mannerisms. however what separates the first two seasons from the rest is one simple fact. He was less clumsy in the first two seasons then he is in the rest, oh don't get me wrong, he still spills stuff makes a mess etc, however when he is in a life or death situation he can still shoot to kill, he can still save his own life and he can still protect himself. This really establishes the mood for the humor throughout most of the early episodes, and creates more interesting (and original) humor. by showing verbal humor it shows the writer thought about his jokes, and played them through in his mind. While physical humor still gets a laugh, it does get older after a while (which is why the shows rating began to drop in the 4th and 5th seasons) and is much harder to make new every time you do another episode.

Season 3-5: I am including season three in this section because basically immediately after Buck Henry left, the comedy aspect changed. As i have already stated, the later seasons focus primarily on the physical humor side, which is fine for the most part except for the fact that original verbal humor was dropped almost entirely. What's more is that the comedy focus shifted from Max, and ended up concentrating on 99 and The Chief. The problem arises when the physical humor used changes the character's personality and life stile, which will alienate fans of the show. For example, in the first 2 seasons of Get Smart, Max was the stupid but loveable spy, 99 was the girl that always fixed his social mistakes, and The Chief was like the father of them both. However when the later seasons began Max Became like that irritating guy that sits at the back of a class room, 99 became the main comical focus, basically taking on every personality trait of Max, and The Chief became like an old man with no backbone.

            Basically, physical humor can be done, and it can be done well. However if the physical comedy (and lets face it the comedy in general) gets in the way of the character traits and starts confusing and alienating fans, then it should not be done.    

Characters: 17 out of 25

            The three main characters in the show are Max, 99, and The Chief. But unfortunately like many of the other problems with the show, it goes down hill in the last 2 seasons. Another thing is the fact that its a parody, which means that many characters will be ripped off from the original source material. that material being the original James bond.

Maxwell Smart: In the first two seasons of the show he portrays a silly James Bond very well, Being smooth and cool physically (most of the time), Claiming that he is a "Chick Magnet" whilst being the complete opposite, and basically turning the character into a socially inacceptable relatively clumsy person. With the fantastic acting of Don Adams, his character is established in literally the first episode, you can tell all of these attributes and more before he has even said a word, which is essentially what should happens. In addition like Bond he is able to discover the most difficult puzzles by himself and showing everyone else the way to do it. However everything dramatically changes in the last seasons, instead of him being a socially inacceptable person, he ends up being a socially inacceptable, completely clumsy, stupid and brainless spy who is almost incapable of solving the most mundane of tasks. Veterans of the early seasons will find this quite frustrating as his character had already been established, we already knew who he was, this total 180* change in character makes no sense and quite frankly makes me feel awkward and discriminated.    

Agent 99: Again, in the first episode her character was established: Strong, capable, and loves Max enough to put up with his shenanigans. She was sort of like the good side of Maxwell Smart, when ever he said something stupid and began to walk away, she would be the one to quietly whisper to the person the reason for his nonsense. She obviously played the many female sidekicks that James Bond had, and sort of takes a different turn on it. whilst she usually can't figure out Chaos puzzles as well as Max can, she is far more superior than Max in the Social department; this was Obviously do to the Women's Rights Movement that was beginning to occur at the time. which made her a very likable character, and because of her kind nature, got her attached to the audience emotionally. However, before the show was through, Agent 99 had gone from all of that goodness, to being dumbed down to the same level as Max, stupid, brainless, socially AND physically awkward, and almost all the time in the 5th season she has to be mentored by Max. Her role and reason to be in the show was completely destroyed by the end of this series.

The Chief: And finally The Chief, the father of both Max and 99 in the first 2 seasons. The Chief was usually the one who saved 99 and Max from whatever pearl they had gotten themselves into, he was professional, rarely got into Maxes personal life in the first 2 seasons and whenever he did enter his apartment it was 99% of the time meant for business. But by the time the 5th season came around, he was in their house almost every episode for supper, always mentoring Max and 99 about how to live their lives, and was overall just un-interesting. As he was always seriously worrying about Max's current state. all of these things are incredibly frustrating as, once again, his character had already been established as a caring, yet business like, father. Sure he didn't want to see Max and 99 hurt, and would come and save them lots of the time, But the difference hear is that The Chief is worrying about them from the second they leave his office, The Chief doesn't even give them a chance to get their assignment started before he goes out looking for them. because of this one fact, The Chief goes from being a respected man, to being simply a bother. 

And so the final Verdict for the sitcom Get Smart is

74/100

Good! However...

I love Get Smart, which is why it pains me to see the show severally decline over the years it was running. From season 4 to season 5, every level of the show bombed. Every Level. It was a great show in first few seasons, which is the only reason it got the score it did, it had well thought out comedy, a convincing storyline, and Fantastic characters and acting quality. But because of the decline in quality and enjoyment for the majority of the audience, as much as I would like to, I simply cannot suggest this show to everyone. If you are interested in seeing the show, Buy the first season FIRST, and then go in order if its the show for you. The last two seasons of the sires should be for hardcore Get Smart fans only such as myself.

In short, it had potential to be the best sitcom of the oldies, however it just simply failed to deliver to the majority of the audience.