Controversial issue on Get Smart

[The Giant]

Suicide. In a Get Smart episode about a character called Simon the Likable, a disappointed waitress tells Simon (the former with a grave and serious look on her face)that she is going to kill herself, noone mentions calling the suicide hotline or anything.

[LindaY]

This was 1968. They didn't have suicide hotlines. Back then they just clapped you into an asylum if you mentioned wanting to commit suicide.

If you think that is bad, there is a Jack Benny Christmas show where Jack drives a salesclerk (Mel Blanc) crazy. The guy goes behind a curtain and you hear a gunshot, and the laugh track goes off!

Linda

[grundle]

Yeah. The characters voiced by Mel Blanc in the classic Looney Tunes cartoons committed suicide many times. But in recent years, TV broadcasts almost always edit those scenes out.

Get Smart has tons of stuff that would be considered "offensive" today. Some of the Asian characters in some of the episodes would be considered "racist" by toaday's standards. And all that cigarette smoking? And all those guns?

[Ireneparalegal]

Yeah. The characters voiced by Mel Blanc in the classic Looney Tunes cartoons committed suicide many times. But in recent years, TV broadcasts almost always edit those scenes out.

Get Smart has tons of stuff that would be considered "offensive" today. Some of the Asian characters in some of the episodes would be considered "racist" by toaday's standards. And all that cigarette smoking? And all those guns?
The cigarette smoking was enticed by the cigarette companies themselves (duh!!!!) lol. They paid big $$$$ to have their brands smoked on tv. Note, I love lucy, Philip Morris!!! When I was growing up I had no idea what the Philip Morris ads you would see on one of the episodes meant. I thought it had to do with a hotel bellhop. The guy in the ad is a bellhop, but the ad was a Philip Morris ad.

[grundle]

And just to clarify - I myself am not offended by that stuff at all. I hate censorship and political correctness.

They better not censor Get Smart on DVD!

[grundle]

The cigarette smoking was enticed by the cigarette companies themselves (duh!!!!) lol. They paid big $$$$ to have their brands smoked on tv. Note, I love lucy, Philip Morris!!! When I was growing up I had no idea what the Philip Morris ads you would see on one of the episodes meant. I thought it had to do with a hotel bellhop. The guy in the ad is a bellhop, but the ad was a Philip Morris ad.
Get Smart is my favorite sitcom, even though I haven't seen it in years. I don't remember ever being able to notice what specific brand of cigarettes the characters were smoking on the show. But I wasn't alive during the original broadcast. (I was born in 1971 - missed it by that much!) I guess if you saw it with the original commercials, maybe you would associate a particular brand with the show. But I never did.

[ficlopri5]

This was 1968. They didn't have suicide hotlines. Back then they just clapped you into an asylum if you mentioned wanting to commit suicide.

If you think that is bad, there is a Jack Benny Christmas show where Jack drives a salesclerk (Mel Blanc) crazy. The guy goes behind a curtain and you hear a gunshot, and the laugh track goes off!

Linda

I feel strongly that the lady talking seriously about killing herself on GS was much worse. women are emotionally very delicate. If a women ever tried to kill herself (even talking about it) take serious alarm and help her get over it by calling the suicide hotline. I also hope pretending she wanted to kill herself didn't make the GS actress really depressed. I worry about a woman's state of mind alot. I used to call myself The Giant.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

"GET SMART" was originally sponsored on alternate weeks during its first three seasons (1965-'68) by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. [for Salem cigarettes]. Don Adams was required to "light up" at least ONCE every episode (or merely finger his cigarette during a scene), and deliver an "integrated" commercial for Salem at the end of the program. The alternate sponsor was Lever Brothers (for Pepsodent toothpaste, Lifebuoy soap, etc.)- I remember 'Max' and '99' in front of a Pepsodent supermarket display in an "integrated commercial" around 1967 or so, when it was on NBC! But, that's why Maxwell Smart smoked a lot- or seemed to- in those episodes before the 1968-'69 season.

And, by the way, that Jack Benny "Christmas Shopping" script was first performed on radio in 1946- it became an annual event. Mel Blanc, as the clerk, ALWAYS waited on Jack and was always driven crazy by Jack's constant exchanging of the "gift for Don Wilson". The 1948 edition was the one where you first heard that gunshot {"Gee, and he was such a NICE clerk, too..."}. However, Mel returned the following year...and he tried suicide "again" in a later version. But, to his regret, "I MISSED!!!!!". And there were variations featuring Jack dealing with Mel's "wife" and "psychiatrist" as well. When Jack decided to film this "traditional" episode for TV in 1960, he chose the ending where Mel kills himself off-screen.

"I LOVE LUCY" was sponsored by Philip Morris during its first four seasons (1951-'55) on CBS, and THEY insisted that Lucy and Desi "light up" as often as possible {except during those episodes where Lucy was pregnant}, and deliver an "integrated commercial" at the end ["You see how easy it is to keep a man happy? Why not give YOUR husband a carton of Philip Morris cigarettes?"/"Smart move! He'll love them for their mildness and their wonderful good taste...and he'll love YOU too, for thinkin' about it..."].



:tv:

[EmpressDR]

I feel strongly that the lady talking seriously about killing herself on GS was much worse. women are emotionally very delicate. If a women ever tried to kill herself (even talking about it) take serious alarm and help her get over it by calling the suicide hotline. I also hope pretending she wanted to kill herself didn't make the GS actress really depressed. I worry about a woman's state of mind alot. I used to call myself The Giant.

I think I recall the episode moment, now that you mention it, and I didn't like it nor approve of it either. Simon the Likable was so likable that his rejection of her made her distraught. That is sad, not funny, and a questionable "funny" moment in the script. It leaves a bad taste.
:stressed: :shocked

But I think the actress playing her was not depressed nor distressed by the role. I watched a lot of students audition for a play and many did a distraught scene where the character was IMMENSELY upset, two of them doing the same scene where the girl was angry at being gang raped. I was upset watching these--but I saw the actresses laughing and congratulating each other on a job well done. Actors are happy when they play a part well --and when they get hired and paid in the first place.



:rant: