Missed It by That Much

There are a handful of TV shows from my childhood that I followed avidly from as young as I can remember: Daniel Boone, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Flintstones, Lost in Space. I loved all of those, but one of my absolute favorites was Get Smart. I wasn't old enough to see James Bond at the movies, and for me at five years old, Maxwell Smart was a serious enough secret agent. Sure, there were punch lines, but Kaos was an ominous threat, and Control needed to use all their resources to keep them at bay. I didn't know what kind of car Max drove at the beginning of the opening, but I knew I wanted one (and forty years later, I still do), and the succession of opening doors continue to have a strange fascination for me. I hardly knew it, but this was my first exposure to Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, as well. And yes, even though I was only five years old, I knew Agent 99 was hot. By the way, the cover above was the only issue of the Get Smart comic I owned.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the attention Don Adams is getting upon his death. There are the regular obits, of course, but he's also showing up in a couple of other places. There's a nice appreciation of Get Smart and its catchphrases in The Washington Post. And Eric McCormack claims Adams was his inspiration to become an actor. Thanks for the laughs, Don.