Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 08/05/2008 Run time: 750 minutes Rating: G
The feature film may have missed it by that much, but Get Smart, the TV series, still hits the target with deadly funny accuracy. The right show at the right time, Get Smart brilliantly spoofed the spy genre that was all the rage in 1965, with James Bond on the big screen, and such series as Danger Man, The Avengers, The Saint, < I>The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and I Spy more or less playing it straight on the small screen. Get Smart, on the other hand, had a license to kill…with laughter. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created one of TV's all-time greatest characters, Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 of CONTROL, the super-secret agency vigilantly on alert against the forces of KAOS. Smart (Don Adams in his iconic, Emmy-winning role), an American Clouseau, was not stupid. Though all evidence to the contrary, he was, in his own mind, a suave and sophisticated spy, albeit one who would inadvertently lean against a freshly painted wall while shadowing an enemy agent. Get Smart hilariously deglamorized the business of espionage. Agents punch a time clock and dispute vacation time. Cool spy gadgets, such as the infamous Cone of Silence, are prone to malfunction. One running joke throughout the first season finds Agent 44 (Victor French) perched in a variety of unlikely and uncomfortable hiding places, among them a grandfather clock. Although the series would only get smarter and funnier in subsequent seasons (Bernie Kopell's KAOS mastermind Siegfried would be introduced in season two), the first season contains several essential episodes, including the Emmy-winning two-parter, "Ship of Spies," "Aboard the Orient Express," featuring a cameo by Johnny Carson as an unflappable conductor, "Diplomat's Daughter" with the arch --and decidedly non-PC-- villain, the Craw, and "Back to the Drawing Board," featuring Dick Gautier as Hymie the robot. From "Sorry about that" to "Would you believe," no show before Get Smart introduced so many catchphrases into the national language, while Smart and his partner, Agent 99 (the ravishing Barbara Feldon), were perhaps TV's first "will they or won't they" couple. Brooks and Henry contribute separate commentaries for the black and white pilot episode, while Feldon provides commentary for another, and purrs introductions to each episode (beware plot spoilers). With Get Smart, you will be witness to some of TV's funniest moments, sharpest writing, and expertly-executed physical comedy. And… loving it. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD!!!
Comment: This is an excellent compilation of the original Get Smart series! Brought back many memories! An excellent value for the price, too!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than I remembered!
Comment: Thanks to Spy Fox and other cultural references, we got thinking about Get Smart recently. How wonderful to find that this marvelous series is now on DVD. Even better, we were given it after putting it on our Amazon wish list!

There aren't many shows where my nearly-80-year-old father and my 10-year-old son laugh out loud throughout, but this is one. Don Adams' timing is perfect, and even in this first season the chemistry of the cast is strong. It is so much better than more recent forays into the spy spoof genre, like Austin Powers, and yet I can still show it to my impressionable son without fear.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Get Smart - Season 1 (THe Original TV Series)
Comment: Well worth the purchase price. Didn't realize the it is in color as when I first watched it we only had a black n white television. In vivid color, not like some old series you see on tv where the color is washed out.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Would you believe...it's about time?
Comment: Get Smart was one of the top 5 TV comedies of all time, maybe one of the top five shows of any genre. After somehow never being released in VHS, the series was finally released in DVD. The negative is that it was released as the complete series with a price tag that was higher per season than the subsequent release of season one. The positive is that it's now down to $110 on Amazon which is a little more reasonable. Hopefully HBO Home Video will get smart and release the remaining seasons individually soon. Those who were fans will end up buying it one way or another. Those who only know the recent movie should find a way to watch the series to see how it was done right.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Get Smart, Season One, Well Done
Comment: Purchased this for my son's birthday. He loves it and I am reliving my youth. With all the trash on TV today, it's a relief to have wholesome entertainment to watch.

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