Been watching the ads for the new Get Smart series. I'm gonna give this series a try but I'm not sure the 60's style slapstick comedy will work with today's audiences. Any opinions?

Also, what other comedy shows from the 60's would you like to see done today - particularly with today's censors?

Do you mean ads for the movie? It's not a series. I agree though, I don't think this will work. For the reasons you mentioned and the fact that Don Adams made that character his own. I really don't see anyone taking over for Don.

It's like Steve Martin replacing Peter Sellers as Clouseau. I'm a huge Steve Martin fan but he was ill advised to take on that role.

Inspector Clouseau belongs to Peter Sellers

Maxwell Smart belongs to Don Adams

Or at least as I'm concerned.

It's a movie? my bad. I do agree with your reasons.
I can't think of a single 60's show that would work today with the fans of the older series.

When I think of shows like I dread of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, It's about Time, etc. I just can't seeing those being re-done. There just isn't that "magic" between characters in comedies like in the past.

With Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, I'm willing to give the movie a fair shake. This is also the first movie based on an older show/series that my children actually said they wanted to go see without me having to ask them.

I can't think of a single 60's show that would work today with the fans of the older series.

I thought the (first two) Addams Family movies were quite well done. Of course, the source material for both the original series and the movies was outstanding.

When I think of shows like I dread of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, It's about Time, etc. I just can't seeing those being re-done. There just isn't that "magic" between characters in comedies like in the past.

What do you mean by "magic"? How old were you when these shows were on? Lots of things were magic when we were kids.

Lots of things were magic when we were kids.Yeah, like how those little candies kept popping out of your Batman Pez dispenser!

When most of these shows were on, I was watching them from 14 thru 17 years old. I was old enough to appreciate the good comics of the time and the "niceties" of the gals like the golddiggers on the Dean Martin show.

I saw some of the remakes in the past. There was a re-make of the Beverly Hillbillies, etc. and somehow the "magic" or "chemistry" just wasn't there for me.

The only half hour show that I have seen in re-runs that worked for me was Wings. I still watch re-runs of some of those shows on TVLand channel and they are still great.

I was talking about this with a friend of mine and he agreed that if a re-make of "I dream of Jeannie" was made today, it just wouldn't work We couldn't think of a single actress today that would be able to reproduce that bubbly personality of Barbara Eden and the comedy of Maj. Nelson / Maj. Healey today alway dodging Dr. Bellows.

In all likelyhood, if they did, the show would try to attract an audience using a sheerer, skimpier costume for the Jeannie character and unknowns for the guys. Call me prejudice but I can't see it working for me.

I'll go see Get Smart if I hear from others that it's good.

I was talking about this with a friend of mine and he agreed that if a re-make of "I dream of Jeannie" was made today, it just wouldn't work We couldn't think of a single actress today that would be able to reproduce that bubbly personality of Barbara Eden and the comedy of Maj. Nelson / Maj. Healey today alway dodging Dr. Bellows.

In all likelyhood, if they did, the show would try to attract an audience using a sheerer, skimpier costume for the Jeannie character and unknowns for the guys. Call me prejudice but I can't see it working for me.



They're working on it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415863/

This isn't the first time either. A few years back they were talking about a version with Halle Berry, and Will Smith.

David.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/attachment.php?attachmentid=60759&stc=1&d=1212881966[/IMG-LEFT]
. . . When I think of shows like I dread of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, It's about Time, etc. I just can't seeing those being re-done. There just isn't that "magic" between characters in comedies like in the past.[I]I Dread of Jeannie?

Well, a lot of folks think it wouldn't have been a great loss to pop culture if Gilligan's Island and It's About Time had never been done in the first place.

Perhaps a new Topper movie could work today, if it could be done with an actor in the title role who could pull off the very British reserve and perpetual bemusement of Roland Young in the original movies or Leo G. Carroll in the 1950s TV series, and without an over-reliance on broad physical humor -- although I suppose that's inevitable when you're doing a comedy about ghosts.

Not a comedy, but I'd like to see a new feature film version of The Man From UNCLE, if it had the right cast and the right balance of seriousness and tongue-in-cheek spoofery that made the original series so enjoyable -- except when it deteriorated into bad self-parody in its fourth season. And of course, there would have to be plenty of gorgeous babes!

In all likelyhood, if they did, the show would try to attract an audience using a sheerer, skimpier costume for the Jeannie character ,,,,,


And they wanted to do that in the Sixties but the network wouldn't let them, which is why Ms. Eden didn't have a belly button.


Well, a lot of folks think it wouldn't have been a great loss to pop culture if Gilligan's Island and It's About Time had never been done in the first place.


Count me among them.

Not a comedy, but I'd like to see a new feature film version of The Man From UNCLE, if it had the right cast and the right balance of seriousness and tongue-in-cheek spoofery that made the original series so enjoyable -- except when it deteriorated into bad self-parody in its fourth season. And of course, there would have to be plenty of gorgeous babes!

It was the third season of MFU that went all Batman. For the fourth season they pulled it back in too far, and made it too serious, it had none of the fun of the first season.

They have been trying to do a MFU movie for years, and I think that it could work. It was after all just a cop show with a different vernier. Sam Rolfe said that when he developed the show, he used the outline of a tv show that he tried to do in the 50s named "Saint George, and the Dragons".

David.

The original Get Smart was a great series. I'll probably watch the movie.

The original Get Smart was a great series. I'll probably watch the movie.

Be prepared for something that resembles the original series in name only.

It was the third season of MFU that went all Batman. For the fourth season they pulled it back in too far, and made it too serious, it had none of the fun of the first season.Thanks for the correction. I couldn't remember which season of UNCLE it was that got way too campy. I just remember watching some embarrassingly silly, over-the-top episodes, like the one with Sonny and Cher in New York's garment district. The McGuffin was some sort of secret information — a rocket fuel formula? The recipe for the world's best egg salad? — encrypted in the pattern on a dress! Cher played a model and Sonny played a dork.

It was the third season of MFU that went all Batman. For the fourth season they pulled it back in too far, and made it too serious, it had none of the fun of the first season.
David.

I've been watching the second season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea each week on The American Life Channel. Interesting how it sort of went all The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in '65. In fact, its obvious that The Flying Sub was introduced not because it was such a cool piece of hardware - but because it got Crane and Nelson off that damned submarine and into some very U.N.C.L.E-like espionage plotlines.*

*Oh! And after watching the VTBOS episode The Cyborg recently - I've decided that Victor Buono was the hardest working very large, slightly fey, meglomaniacal madman who wants to take over the world guy in show business back in those days. Always a delightful performance from Mr. Buono!:thumbsup:

Patrick Duffy thanks you for remembering.*

When's that one getting the bigscreen remake?

The original Get Smart was a great series. I'll probably watch the movie.Be prepared for something that resembles the original series in name only.That's pretty much what I've thought every time I've seen the trailers or tv spots for the film. It may or may not be a good film, but it's not gonna be the Get Smart I remember.

I've been watching the second season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea each week on The American Life Channel. Interesting how it sort of went all The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in '65. In fact, its obvious that The Flying Sub was introduced not because it was such a cool piece of hardware - but because it got Crane and Nelson off that damned submarine and into some very U.N.C.L.E-like espionage plotlines.*

*Oh! And after watching the VTBOS episode The Cyborg recently - I've decided that Victor Buono was the hardest working very large, slightly fey, meglomaniacal madman who wants to take over the world guy in show business back in those days. Always a delightful performance from Mr. Buono!:thumbsup:

How is it he was never on Star Trek? :)

How is it he was never on Star Trek? :)

The man was spread thin. Which probably explains Melvin Belli! :p

I don't know....What's really scarier than a real life attorney?

[IMG-LEFT]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b351/MrClivver/vinyl%20pics/SH108091s.jpg[/IMG-LEFT]

The man was spread thin.Well, there was certainly plenty of him to go around!


Which probably explains Melvin Belli! :pEven if Marlon Brando had played that part, it couldn't have saved "And the Children Shall Lead"!

Check out the cool "futuristic" wheelchair with telephone and personal Crest on the front.

http://www.vttbots.com/Graphics/cyborg2.jpg

[img-left]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b351/MrClivver/vinyl%20pics/SH108091s.jpg[/img-left]


Back atcha'!!!

http://tommcmahon.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/08/cabotdylan2.jpg

[IMG-LEFT]http://www.multinet.no/~jonarne/Hjemmesia/Favorittartister/davidbowie/david_bowie_bing_crosby.jpg[/IMG-LEFT]


And I thought it was weird when THESE two worked together!

[img-left]http://www.multinet.no/~jonarne/Hjemmesia/Favorittartister/davidbowie/david_bowie_bing_crosby.jpg[/img-left]


And I thought it was weird when THESE two worked together!

Yeah. And they actually sounded good together!

But, not even Der Bingle and Bowie could top this: :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFR-8NVjw-k

OMG! Leonard Nimoy singing "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins," surrounded by pubescent dancers wearing elf ears (or are they Vulcan ears?) I want to turn away, but some irresistible force compels me to watch . . . like a car wreck in slow motion . . .

Is that Brook Bundy pushing Buono's wheelchair?

Back in my insomniac high school years I always stayed up to watch the Tonight Show. Victor Buono guest-hosted for Carson one night, and I swear he was twice as funny as Johnny.

Is that Brook Bundy pushing Buono's wheelchair?

According to IMDb, it is indeed. Quite fetching .... for a Cyborg.

I first became aware of Buono while flipping through the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland. That issue featured a movie called "The Strangler" and featured a photo of Buono strangling a doll. For some reason, that image just stuck in my 8 year-old brain. I had no idea until today that the movie was actually based on The Boston Strangler case.

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6960/2650521020amv1.jpg

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058622/

Yep! Good ol' Famous Monsters of Filmland. Things were innocent back in them days. :p

OMG! Leonard Nimoy singing "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins," surrounded by pubescent dancers wearing elf ears (or are they Vulcan ears?) I want to turn away, but some irresistible force compels me to watch . . . like a car wreck in slow motion . . .

Speaking of surreal celebrity music videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJQVlVHsFF8

Or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKuQXGrFSQ0

I liked Buono on the ol' Man from Atlantis, I think it was his last megolomaniac-bent-on-world-domination role.

Cher played a model and Sonny played a dork.


I believe that covers most of the guest appearances they did. Even though, according to Cher, Sonny was the brains behind the act, he had dorkiness down to an art.

I gots three words for "Get Smart":
"The Nude Bomb"

On the Victor Buono front, I once had in my video collection a pilot for a Dick Tracy series, produced by William Dozier and starring Victor Buono as the villian. It also featured a pre-Brady Bunch Eve Plumb.

I gots three words for "Get Smart":
"The Nude Bomb"

On the Victor Buono front, I once had in my video collection a pilot for a Dick Tracy series, produced by William Dozier and starring Victor Buono as the villian. It also featured a pre-Brady Bunch Eve Plumb.

How good/bad was that pilot? I've always wanted to see it.*


*Snip. The theme song is starting to grow on me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8QOyLSjM-U

http://bp2.blogger.com/_9wkkiUcu6l4/SEYFO4ujFbI/AAAAAAAAAEs/7UNNTOeycBk/s320/Tracy3.jpg

^ Mr. Memory

I remember when I was about 12 or 13 that I had to wonder whether Victor Buono and Laird Cregar were the same person. The two of them played some very similar roles and even kind of vaguely resembled each other... sometimes.http://blog.nj.com/whitty/2007/10/large_LAIRDONE.jpg

http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/beifuss/lodger.web.jpg

Think of Cregar in Hangover Square or The Lodger and compare him to Buono in, say... Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?


http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/Buono.JPG

Sorry to say, I've never seen The Strangler.

- GJS

I gots three words for "Get Smart":
"The Nude Bomb"


THE NUDE BOMB was a disaster. On the other hand, GET SMART AGAIN was much closer to the spirit of the original series. A much better film - even considering the inclusion of the always obnoxious Andy Dick.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/section/movies/amg/dvd/cov150/drt400/t485/t48552mv7w0.jpg

- GJS

As for this latest incarnation of GET SMART, all I can say is...um...

http://hidef.com/images/media/news_images/getsmart-shoephone.jpg

http://webcastr.edgeboss.net/download/webcastr/thumbs/get-smart-movie-trailer-webcastr.jpg

... Anne Hathaway is perfectly cast in the role of 99. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see.

- GJS

Barbara Feldon.
*sigh*
:)

The previews for the movie look "ok". A friend of mine who also likes the original show got a few laughs... so who knows.

Some big problems with a lot of remakes like these is that updating them to 21st century time frames makes them absurd. Like in the 60s a shoe phone was a cool gadget and a play on the then new James Bond gadgets. Now, with cell phones and ear phones, who needs a shoe phone...

It reminds me of an episode of Batman I watched the other week where Batman had to go to Robin's high school... he parks right in front of the school (no security), gets a kid to wait by the Batmobile while he goes inside. No check in, no front desk, etc. When the Batphone rinds in the car, the kid has to run inside to find Batman to tell him his phone is ringing... Back then just having a phone in a car was a big deal and way cool... When my teenage son watched that show with me he was like man thats stupid... Just doesn't work today.

Indeedy. I'm watching a lot of my favorite 60s shows on DVD these days, and it's odd to hear lines like "I've got to get to a phone!"

Hawaii 5-0 has a lot of scenes at the airport, where people just walk in and get on their plane, bad guys have dismantled sniper rifles in their carry-ons...

Come to think of it, even 10-year-old shows don't always come off well these days. We're watching Buffy from the beginning. I find myself wondering why none of the school officials noticed how much time librarian Giles was spending hanging around with this cute 16-year-old girl on and off campus, and why they didn't call the police on him.

John,
Wait til you get to the final season.
there's a remark made to that very issue.

It has to do with whether Giles is corporeal, that's all i'll say.

PS I watched the Nude Bomb last night...On the whole, I still liked it. I can see where it would have been much better with 99, but if she didn't want to do it, they had to remove Max from his domestic situation. and Edward Platt had died by then, so there was a new "chief" Agent 22 was waaay too perky, tho.

the "desk car" is still one of the best gags they ever made. and a upgrade to a push button shoe phone (with optional answering machine shoe)

"and if that wasn't bad enough, there's a poisonous ACHTUNG" that line makes me laugh everytime I think of it

and CYLONS! how can you go wrong? Sure it was a big ol' wet kiss for Universal studios tours, but "would you believe" I still liked it?

Edward Platt had died by then, so there was a new "chief"

This is a really BIG point to me. I think Edward Platt added a lot to the original series' success. He's one of those components that is so understated in the overall picture that you don't really realize how vital his role is until he isn't there anymore.

There's a great chemistry that exists in the show while he is present. But, without him, he is very sorely missed.

It definitely will require just the right actor to fill the shoes of The Chief of Control! 'Sorry about that, Max!

- GJS

It definitely will require just the right actor to fill the shoes of The Chief of Control! 'Sorry about that, Max!

- GJS

Alan Arkin. I'm sure he'll be great in the role. He always is.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll see Kung Fu Panda instead.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_smart/

I'd say Get Smart is a better choice than The Love Guru.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10008757-love_guru/

Yikes! Been awhile since I saw something get panned so near-unanimously.

Too bad, too. I usually like Mike Myers …

Qapla'

SSB

I'd say Get Smart is a better choice than The Love Guru.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10008757-love_guru/

Yikes! Been awhile since I saw something get panned so near-unanimously.

Too bad, too. I usually like Mike Myers …

Qapla'

SSB

I saw the trailer about a month ago and couldn't believe how unfunny it was. Apparently, Meyers has gone off the deep end with Deepak Chopra. Comedy and religion don't generally mix.

I saw the trailer about a month ago and couldn't believe how unfunny it was. Apparently, Meyers has gone off the deep end with Deepak Chopra. Comedy and religion don't generally mix.


I dunno, I think religion is a perfect base for dark comedy. "Bedazzled" comes to mind (The original with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore).

I dunno, I think religion is a perfect base for dark comedy. "Bedazzled" comes to mind (The original with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore).

I said generally. I'm a big "Life of Brian" fan myself. Somehow, I doubt "The Love Guru" is in the same ballpark.

Hawaii 5-0 has a lot of scenes at the airport, where people just walk in and get on their plane, bad guys have dismantled sniper rifles in their carry-ons...In The High and the Mighty (1954), starring John Wayne, an airline passenger draws a revolver and threatens another passenger . . . but after he calms down they all just forget about it!Some big problems with a lot of remakes like these is that updating them to 21st century time frames makes them absurd. Like in the 60s a shoe phone was a cool gadget and a play on the then new James Bond gadgets. Now, with cell phones and ear phones, who needs a shoe phone... I always wondered why the CONTROL and UNCLE organizations couldn't have shared their technology. While CONTROL was fooling around with bulky shoe phones, UNCLE agents had 2-way radios that fit in an ordinary pen -- and could apparently connect instantly to another party halfway around the world. And this was well before communications satellites became common.It reminds me of an episode of Batman I watched the other week where Batman had to go to Robin's high school... he parks right in front of the school (no security), gets a kid to wait by the Batmobile while he goes inside. No check in, no front desk, etc.You mean that's what you have to go through these days when you enter a high school campus? Boy, things have changed a lot since I was in school!

...not to mention security guards and metal detectors...

I said generally. I'm a big "Life of Brian" fan myself. Somehow, I doubt "The Love Guru" is in the same ballpark.


Ahhh...it's late. I missed the 'generally'. Sorry.....:p

oooooo, 'Life of Brian'. Forgot about that one.