Get Smart The Mysterious Dr T

High time we had some more Get Smart and this one's wonderful. The plot is quite simple: the head CONTROL scientist is murdered on Smart's watch, and it turns out he wasn't really responsible for his discoveries at all. The rest of the show is working out who The Mysterious Dr T is.

What makes this one so excellent is that you get the distinct impression that the sciptwriter and cast approached it as fun and it absolutely sparkles. I have no way of knowing that this was actually their perception but it actually seems to come across when viewing the show - I know this is completely subjective, but if you watch it with this in mind you can see what I mean. In fact perhaps this is how TV should always be made! There is the additional aspect that CONTROL compete with KAOS for Dr T and so there is a bigger role than usual for Siegfried. He and Smart spark off each other in a way they don't usually. Again, this is a completely subjective view but this one just feels very different - the humour is exactly the same as in every Get Smart, but it just seems like the cast are enjoying themselves more than usual.

Get Smart is, I think, a great TV series, but its greatness is slightly different to some other shows and I think one of the ways is that it often has 'hidden Mickeys' which are real surprises in casting or trivia. The one in this episode is the role for a boy actor called Peter Robbins, who was the actor who originally voiced Charlie Brown for the Peanuts films. It turns out the poor guy suffered from inadequately treated bipolar disorder for years (and, as is often the case, his sufferings caused violence and suffering for the people around him) addiction, and even jail time, before ending his life by suicide. This casts something of a shadow over the kid in red who keeps appearing.

My favourite bit is the way the landlord of Professor Longnecker's apartment starts showing prospective tenants round on the day of his murder.