Before the 2024 show and before the 2005 movie, there was the 1996 Mr. and Mrs. Smith series.
And it was bad.
Officially, Prime Videos spy dramaMr.
and Mrs. Smithis based on the 2005 film of the same name.
Unofficially, however, its origins are a bit murkier.
Though this 2024 streaming iteration ofMr.
Credit: CBS/Warner Bros. Television
But what we set out to do was to make something wholly original.
and Mrs. Smiththat predates both the 2005 movie and the 2024 TV show.
And it arguably created the archetype for all married spy stories that came after.
Premiering Sept. 20, 1996 on CBS, the web connection dramaMr.
and Mrs. Smithshould sound pretty familiar by now.
It was all very appealing to me, he toldThe LA Timesback in 1996.
Thanks to Warner Bros.
But be forewarned: Scott Bakula eventually gets on a skateboard for the slowest high-speed chase youve ever seen.
and Mrs. Smithremains notable for many reasons.
In addition to Bakula, securing Maria Bello as the female lead is a huge get in hindsight.
and Mrs. Smithmarks the first time we all ever saw the man who would be Raylan Givens.
He plays a guy named Scooby who looks like this.
Mr. and Mrs. Smithalso has some surprisingSopranosconnections.
The creators behind the 1996Mr.
and Mrs. Smithhave an incredibly impressive TV resume in their own right.
Kerry Lenhart and John J. Sakmar got their big break as story editors onMacGyver.
we would supply MacGyverisms for other writers scripts.
After the cancellation ofMr.
Currently, they serve as showrunners on BET+sKingdom Business.
In a strange way, the 1996Mr.
So why then, have many of us likely not heard of it until now?
There are a couple potential reasons for that.
For starters, as mentioned previously, the show is pretty bad.
Secondly (and this one is important), the 1996Mr.
and Mrs. Smithactually has nothing to do with the 2005Mr.
Despite featuring the same name and a passingly familiar premise, Simon Kinbergs script for the 2005Mr.
and Mrs. Smithwas written on spec and is classified as an original screenplay.
And I just thought it would make an interesting template for a relationship inside of an action film.
The cynical interpretation of thisMr.
and Mrs. SmithTV show and movie kismet is that Kinberg somehow stole the idea but that doesnt seem likely.
Before the internet began cataloging everything, a show likeMr.
and Mrs. Smithcould air for nine poorly-rated episodes and then go away seemingly forever.
In reality, the existence of the 1996Mr.
and Mrs. Smithjust proves how valuable and timeless the concept of spies in love remains.
If you count FXsThe Americans(and you should), pop culture is due for aMr.
and Mrs. Smith-esque story every eight to 11 years or so.
See you all again in 2033!
All eight episodes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith are available to stream on Prime Video now.
