Pilot

When the mysterious chairwoman of KAOS vows to win the next war by stealing Dutraculon, an indestructible fabric, Maxwell Smart is eavesdropping electronically. Now chief of Control, he vows to stop them and serendipitously 99, now a congresswoman, has obtained funding for the secret organization - through an arts grant. Nevertheless this allows Max to promote their son Zach to full agent and partners him with the beautiful and competent agent 66, much to her annoyance. Together Zach and 66 attend a fashion show where undercover agent 0 identifies the KAOS operative as fashion mogul Larz. After a Dutraculon dress disappears right when 66 is modelling it, Zach and 66 infiltrate Larz' sweatshop in search of clues.

This appears to have been shot on a budget of around $5. It's great to see Don Adams and Barbara Feldon together again; the chemistry is still there. Unfortunately that doesn't extend to anyone else in the cast. Adams is still the consummate pro, but has appreciably slowed down. This puts him at about the same energy level as Andy Dick, who is not a bad comedian but needs material to work with. The same goes for Elaine Hendrix - there are definite echoes of the Steve Carell movie here, but not in a good way. There's some slapstick but everyone's timing seems to be off, and clumsy pacing doesn't help.

There are some funny bits but nothing ROTFL - oddly, things improve a bit towards the end. The KAOS opening doesn't even try to be funny. Why not agent 0 as the shark, or Control leasing the offices next door due to lack of funding? The whole show feels like missed opportunities. The satellite-security meeting could have been much funnier and a great running gag. Likewise the special effects pen - it does finally get put to good use, but like all the other references to the original show, the timing is just a bit off.

If you loved the original show you'll like seeing Adams and Feldon, and you'll have renewed appreciation for how good the writing of Buck Henry and Mel Brooks was back in the day.