Pheasant Under Glass (26 Sep. 1969)

After 99 tells Max that she is expecting a baby, Max tells a newspaperman that he is a spy and he blows his cover.

Director:

Don Adams

Writers:

Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan,

Stars:

Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Edward Platt

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Don Adams	...	Maxwell Smart
Barbara Feldon	...	Agent 99
Edward Platt	...	Chief
Ned Wertimer	...	Dr. Proctor
Virginia Jaeger	...	Madame La Costa
Henry Brandon	...	Belasco
Peter Canon	...	Kadinsky
Peter Brocco	...	Professor Pheasant
Paul Hahn	...	Man
Robert Karvelas	...	Larabee

Storyline

When 99 tells Max she is expecting, Max is so excited he tells a reporter he is a spy. Now useless to CONTROL he has his face changed and goes undercover as a pianist to a CONTROL agent that can sing the right note to shatter a glass prison cell.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 September 1969 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Talent Associates-Norton Simon, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first episode broadcast on CBS.

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Quotes

Agent 99: [Max is about to jump and climb over a wall] I'm gonna have a baby, Max.
Maxwell Smart: A baby?
[runs straight through the wall]

User Reviews

Sour Notes

This season five premiere episode starts off very strong but then falls apart in an unworthy and extended slapstick scene with Max trying to play the piano.

The episode opens on the moon where the Chief is meeting with Max and 99 in order to give them a top secret briefing without being overheard. Then Max and 99 sneak into KAOS headquarters where they are keeping Professor Pheasent (Peter Brocco) confined in a glass booth ("Of course. Pheasent under glass.") Unable to free the Professor, Max and 99 try to make their escape. 99 refuses to scale a wall with Max, revealing she's expecting. All this before the show's new title sequence and revised theme even begins! Max uses his swanky new car to get away and race to a phone booth where he's expecting a call from the Chief. Unfortunately he knocks it down and has to use the booth in a horizontal position. This attracts a crowd and Max is photographed in the newspaper. His cover as a spy is blown. So to continue on the assignment, he needs a new face (in the past KAOS men regularly recognized Max, so I'm not sure why he suddenly needs a new face). He goes to Dr. Proctor (Ned Wertmeir) who gives him a "spray-on" face. First Max looks like fellow CBS star Martin Landeau ("Mission Impossible" disguise artist!) then Phyllis Diller. Finally they tease Max has the greatest disguise of all. But when we see him, he looks like the regular old 86 with a fake nose and mustache. The whole sequence screams for a good payoff but the sequence ends flat and the rest of the episode is downhill from there as Max infiltrates KAOS headquarters as the pianist for an agent who plans to break the glass Professor Pheasent is in by singing a high note (the Chief gets a funny throwaway line about how all KAOS agents are opera fans). Adams is out to sea without a paddle, doing a seemingly endless series of goofs as he messes around with the piano. I've enjoyed Adams physical humor in the past, but here the sequence is forced, predictable and unfunny. The first half is so good you wonder if they somehow lost the last 18 pages of the script and had to throw something together.

It's nice to see Henry Brandon as the KAOS top dog in this (he played the evil Bartleby in Laurel and Hardy's "March of the Toy Soldiers") but he's given little to do.