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The New Get Smart aired from January until February 1995 on FOX.
Twenty-Five years after the original Get Smart left the air, this updated version was shown on FOX. Their were a number of changes. K.A.O.S. was now a corporation bent on world economic domination. Max ( Don Adams) was the new Chief of C.O.N.T.R.O.L. and 99 ( Barbara Feldon) had been elected to congress. The active agents were their son Zach( Andy Dick), a research nerd working for C.O.N.T.R.O.L. whom Max promoted to agent in the premiere episode, and 66 (Elaine Hendrix), the sexy, intelligent, and totally in control agent with whom Zach was partnered. Trudy ( Heather Morgan) was Max's flighty secretary. The entrance to C.O.N.T.R.O.L. headquarters was now located through a hidden door in the soft-drink machine in the waiting room of a car wash. Their were gimmicks reminiscent of the original series-Zach had a sneaker phone and 66 a bra that shot bullets-but the magic was long gone. Even guest appearances by Dave Ketchum, and Bernie Kopell from the old Get Smart didn't help. After 7 episodes, the New Get Smart was history.
A Review from USA TODAY
TV PREVIEW/ BY MATT ROUSH
'smart gets stupid'
The last two times Fox tried to keep new series from critical preview, you could hardly blame them; Models Inc. and Hardball, two all-out stinkers. In launching a new Sunday schedule , they've done it again, holding back a new Get Smart ( * 7:30 p.m. ET/PT) in favor of Buggin' and a defanged but still saucy version of HBO's Dream On ( 9:30 p.m. ET/PT) with nudity and R-rated language missing.
Smart, from what I've been able to see , is a shabby shadow of the original, a product of its pop '60's times. Now it's just another indication of the creative poverty of '90's sitcoms.
The shoe phone is now in a sneaker, able to speed-dial ( albeit to Dominos). And neckties spit out faxes. But the slapstick is old hat and sluggish as Don Adams' Maxwell Smart-now running CONTROL-takes a back seat to nerd son Zack ( Andy Dick, a pale substitute).
Worse, Barbara Feldon's ageless Agent 99, now in Congress, is mostly off-screen. Enter Elaine Hendrix as Agent 66, a Madonna Hari brainy bombshell, who loathes Zack: " He's going to get me killed , and I don't need that in my life."
We don't need the new Get Smart, with its would-be catchphrase after every pratfall: " That didn't hurt." Yes it does.
But in a land where Dumb and Dumber can triumph, maybe Fox is on to something.
An Article from USA TODAY
Published on January 12, 1995
INSIDE TV/ BY PETER JOHNSON
'Smart' remarks from an off-the-wall actor
A funny session at the networks ongoing winter press tour in soggy Pasadena, Calif., came courtesy of a little-known actor, Andy Dick.
The 29 year old goofball stars in Fox's Get Smart remake. So why was Dick promoting a new NBC sitcom, The Station?
See Dick squirm. " Did anyone see Get Smart?" he asked scribes at an NBC session. To those who said yes, he sighed : " I'm sorry. That's all I want to say."
But later-relaxing at an NBC party with his 20-year-old girlfriend who, by the way, is mom to Dick's second out-of-wedlock child-he allowed that " of the two, I really prefer the NBC one."
The Station, about life at an all-news radio network, joins NBC this spring. As for Get Smart, well, Dick taped it over a year ago and soon realized it's a stinker.
" I know Don Adams ( star of the original series, who's also in this version) did not care for the show." Until his unprecedented NBC Fox pickle, Dick's credits included The Ben Stiller Show, a few appearances on Letterman, some commercials and a cameo in Reality Bites in which he played a videotape pirate.
Today, Dick is scheduled to come back to the press tour to promote Get Smart for Fox. " Please," he asked reporters at the NBC gig with a shameless wink and nod. " Don't bring any of this up. This is our little secret."
* Note-The Station would later premiere on NBC in March 1995 under the new name Newsradio.
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