The Old Network Switcheroo Trick

The Spy Command’s Bill Koenig is better at remembering cultural anniversaries than I am, because he notes that this weekend marks the 60th anniversary of the debut of Get Smart. That 1965-1970 spy-comedy TV series, starring Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, and Edward Platt, saw its NBC debut on September 18, 1965. Koenig recalls:

The show originally was developed for television network ABC. Comedic actor Tom Poston was intended to be the original Maxwell Smart. …

[It] would consist of a mix of James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry would take the basic idea and turn it into a pilot script.

There was one problem. At least one ABC executive hated the idea that the arch-villain, named Mr. Big, would be revealed as a dwarf.

The story goes that Mel Brooks was disappointed. An NBC executive saw Brooks at one of his Southern California hangouts. The NBC guy asked what was wrong. Brooks filled him in on the ABC debacle.

However, NBC had Don Adams under contract. The network was paying Adams (birth name Donald James Yarmy) until the comedic actor got a series. The NBC executive wanted to hear more about the spy project.

NBC commissioned a pilot, to be filmed after the so-called “pilot season.” Brooks and Henry retooled their script to incorporate Don Adams comedy bits such as, “Would you believe…?” …

In the final version of the pilot, Maxwell Smart punched into a time clock when going on assignment for Control, his agency. Brooks contributed the idea of the shoe phone. Henry contributed the “Cone of Silence,” [which was] intended as a security measure but instead made it hard just to have a conversation. (“What?”)

But, as Brooks and Henry intended, Mr. Big, the villain of KAOS (the villainous organization), was played by dwarf actor Michael Dunn. Dunn would soon be seen on The Wild Wild West as arch-villain Dr. Loveless.

Click here to read all of Koenig’s fine anniversary tribute.