Mel Brooks wanted to make a James Bond movie way back in the '60s and petitioned the franchise to let him direct one. They basically told him hell no. They said it was a British action/adventure drama series and they didn't want an American comedian director to mess up the formula.

So he said he'd make his own James Bond story instead (with blackjack and hookers!), but leaning on his particular comedy talents that they shunned him for.

He created the TV show Get Smart in 1965, about a bumbling secret agent named Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) who somehow saves the day. He's accompanied by a brilliant and beautiful partner named Agent 99, who usually saves his ass. She's in love with Smart, but he's completely oblivious to it. Together they work for CONTROL, a spy organization who is fighting against the evil spy organization KAOS who wants to rule the world.

The whole series is comedy and highly entertaining. It's also had three films, the latest being a modern reboot of the character in 2008 starring Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99.

It got a sequel series in 1995, also called Get Smart. In this show, Agent Smart is now the director of CONTROL, alongside his wife, the congresswoman Agent 99. Their bumbling kid Zach (Andy Dick) is their primary agent, going by the monicker Agent 66. It didn't do very well and only had 7 episodes before it was cancelled. It has really cringe '90s humor. And Andy Dick. So not surprising it didn't last long.

Interesting trivia: Don Adams starred as Maxwell Smart for the entire series (except the 2008 reboot film, where Steve Carell played the character). The original show inspired the creation of the 1983 cartoon Inspector Gadget. They even got Don Adams to play the voice of Inspector Gadget! So Inspector Gadget is a parody of a parody of James Bond.

If Mel Brooks hadn't wanted to make a James Bond movie in the '60s, we wouldn't have Inspector Gadget.

[–] LadyButterfly@lazysoci.al 3 points 6 days ago

Ah thanks for sharing it