The Sex and the City girls and (below) the Simpsons

Get Smart

When it first hit television screens in 1965, the comedy series that satirised the secret agent genre became an instant hit with American audiences. The series, created by Mel Brooks, focused on Agent 86 Maxwell Smart and partner Agent 99 who work for CONTROL, a secret US government spy agency. Smart’s incompetence in the face of the much smarter Agent 99 and the manner in which Smart ultimately succeeds in saving the day worked well enough to win seven Emmys and two Golden Globes in its five-season run. Three big-screen adaptations have followed: The Nude Bomb in 1980, Get Smart Again! in 1989 and the recent Get Smart, starring Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway.

Sex and the City

Carrie may have spent the better part of six years asking rhetorical questions through her column, but there was never a question that the film version would be a hit. The lives, loves and sexual partners of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, against the background of New York City, had kept fans happy for six years and they would surely be back for more. But though every fan of the show did go to watch it, the movie, which had abandoned its sass for sap, impressed few critics.

Bewitched

It took more than 30 years for the popular television series to find its way to cinemas. Bewitched, about a witch who is married to an ordinary man but cannot resist using her magical powers to help her problem-prone family, ran for eight seasons between 1964 and 1972. Director Nora Ephron roped in Nicole Kidman for the lead role of Samantha Stephens for the 1995 film based on the television series. But Bewitched had lost its magic: the film was panned world-wide and was also nominated for a number of Razzies.

The Simpsons

Impossible dad Homer, Bart the 10-year-old troublemaker, caring mom Marge, Lisa the eight-year-old brain of the family, the wordless Maggie. All of us have a favourite Simpson. The animated sitcom began in 1989 and its twentieth season is all set to kick off in the fall of 2008, making The Simpsons the longest running animated American programme. Honoured with armloads of awards, The Simpsons was named the 20th century’s best TV series by Time magazine. A full-length feature film, The Simpsons Movie, directed by long-time Simpsons producer David Silverman released in July 2007 and enjoyed reasonable box office success.

The Flintstones

The animated sitcom set in the pre-historic city of Bedrock where dinosaurs co-existed with cave-dwellers had an instant connect with family audiences. Low-tech versions of modern conveniences like the telephone, cars and washing machines and a lovable cast of Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, Bam Bam and the Rubbles reappeared in the 1994 film starring John Goodman and Elizabeth Perkins.

The Addam’s Family

A creation of American cartoonist Charles Addams, The Addam’s Family is about a wealthy but eccentric American family with a gothic hangover. Anything grotesque is what gives them thrills, to the horror of those around them. The Addam’s Family enjoyed a decent run on TV and the characters — Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday and Uncle Fester — became icons. The series found its film version in the 1991 comedy called The Addam’s Family and an Academy Award-nominated 1993 sequel, The Addam’s Family Values, both starring Christina Ricci.

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