Dust Off the Cone of Silence

Would you believe it? An evening of amusing anecdotes comes your way on cable’s “Inside TV Land” (8 p.m. TV Land), an entertaining look at the trailblazing 1960s spy spoof “Get Smart,” famous for its oft-repeated catch phrases and zany gadgets.

Don Adams, Barbara Feldon and others reminisce about the Emmy-winning comedy that followed the absurd antics of inept secret agent Maxwell Smart.

Inspired by the success of James Bond movies, producer Daniel Melnick brought together co-creators Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, who initially thought of comic actor Tom Poston for the role.

“We fantasized Bond and [Inspector] Clouseau having a child,” says Henry. “And who would that be? It would be Max.”

ABC took a pass on their script, but NBC loved it and promptly hired Adams, who was appearing on “The Bill Dana Show.” Feldon, a former Revlon model, was selected as Agent 99, a “bombshell with brains.” Character actor Ed Platt claimed his role as the Chief by breaking into song with “Old Man River” during an audition, which persuaded producer Leonard Stern that he could handle comedy.

The series was both a blessing and curse for Adams, who predictably was typecast as Smart after the show’s cancellation in 1970.

Years later, producers attempted to recapture the show’s original spark in the dreadful 1980 movie “The Nude Bomb,” the 1989 TV movie “Get Smart Again” and an ill-advised Fox TV revival that lasted seven episodes in 1995.

“I hated all the remakes,” says Adams, who won three Emmys during the show’s five-year run on NBC and CBS.

Also interviewed are Dick Gautier, who played Hymie the robot, and Bernie Kopell, who sparkled as Smart’s evil nemesis Siegfried.

Surf Report

* SPECIALS

“A Flea Market Documentary,” a new PBS report (9 p.m. KCET, KVCR) from Rick Sebak, the producer of “A Hot Dog Program,” “Great Old Amusement Parks” and “An Ice Cream Show,” visits open-air markets from Pasadena to Manhattan.

SPORTS

Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam take on David Duval and Karrie Webb in the match-play event Battle at Bighorn (5 p.m. ABC).

* MOVIES

Robert Hays stars in “The Retrievers” (5, 7 and 9 p.m. Animal Planet), the story of a family and a pregnant golden retriever.

* SERIES

“Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher” (12:05 a.m. ABC) moves to a different locale--a warehouse on Brooklyn’s waterfront--for a week of discussions on the mob.