No matter how brilliantly or badly they turn out, I’ve always been a sucker for TV series revivals, be it as a “next generation” sort of series like this one or as a reunion movie, so I thought I’d throw together a list of some of my favorites for your reading enjoyment. The only caveats: I’m not counting occasions when a series jumped to the big screen, i.e. the not-very-good theatrical “Get Smart” movie, “The Nude Bomb,” nor am I including animated series in the mix…although if I did, you can bet the animated “Star Trek” series would be at the top of my list.

Okay, let’s roll…

When The CW first kicked off its return to West Beverly High School, the burning questions from virtually every TV critic who covered the series involved which of the original cast members would be returning. In the end, Jennie Garth (Kelly), Shannen Doherty (Brenda), Tori Spelling (Donna), Ann Gillespie (Jackie Taylor, Kelly’s mom), and Joe E. Tata (Nat, the proprietor of the Peach Pit) all ended up making it back to the familiar zip code for an episode or two, generally proving to be the most entertaining parts of those particular episodes. Since the show’s gone all new-school, though, I can’t be bothered to keep up with it.

This feels like a bit of a cheat, since it wasn’t so much a revival of an old series as it was an attempt to wrap up plot threads that had been left dangling when “Homicide: Life on the Street” departed the airwaves the year before. With that said, however, it still technically falls within the realm of a reunion film, and it’s one of the best ones you’re likely to find, so that’s why it’s here.

I always thought that the concept of this film, which posited that the Monkees continued to live together even after their series was cancelled, was an extremely clever one. I just wish the band’s reunion album, Justus, had been even half as enjoyable.

What can I tell you? I grew up about 15 minutes from the North Carolina border, and “The Dukes of Hazzard” was absolutely must-see TV for me when I was growing up. Even though I was 27 when Bo and Luke got back in the General Lee again, I was still hootin’ and a’hollerin’ with excitement. It’s just a shame that Boss Hogg didn’t live to see it. (RIP, Sorrell Booke.)

First things first: “The Nude Bomb” was terrible, and I hope whoever thought it was a good idea to put Maxwell Smart on the big screen without all of the elements that made “Get Smart” so funny got the punishment they deserved. I’m not saying that “Get Smart, Again!” is fantastic, either, but if you asked a fan of the original series to pick which of the two efforts they preferred, I absolutely cannot conceive of anyone picking anything other than this one. (I only wish the revival of the series with Andy Dick as Don Adams’ son had been as enjoyable.)

What started out as a way to get around a writer’s strike by re-filming episodes of the old series ultimately evolved into the adventures of a new generation of Impossible Missions Force agents, still led by Jim Phelps (Peter Graves). An additional tie to the classic “M:I” came via the character of Grant Collier, son of original team member Barney Collier, a situation which offered an addition wink at the audience by having Grant played by Phil Morris, the real son of Greg Morris, who played Barney. (Linda Day George also reprised her role as Linda Casey on an episode.)

Schmaltzy, yes, but consider how much better it was than “The Brady Brides.” Okay, so maybe that’s not saying much. Still, the holiday theme served as a nice framing device, and it’s not like the original series didn’t live in a world of happily-ever-after on a regular basis.

The sequels were a case of declining returns, even if one of them did co-star a young Sandra Bullock, but I can still remember the depth of my geeking out when I found out about this. Having revisited it on the recent “Six Million Dollar Man” box set, I won’t claim that it’s aged well, but I still have my memories.

This may sound strange, but I’m pretty sure that it was this TV movie that actually convinced me to watch “The Andy Griffith Show.” That’s backwards, I realize, but as a kid, I always preferred shows that features kids as main characters, and although Opie was a regular, the plots really didn’t revolve around him all that much. Since then, of course, I’ve come to realize what a wonderful series it is, and this was a lovely look back at Mayberry that worked quite well, I thought.

I can’t even be bothered to go to Wikipedia and see how many subsequent “Perry Mason” movies there were. I just remember how excited my mother was when this one first came on. (She’d been positively addicted to the original series.) The idea of Judge Mason stepping down from the bench in order to defend his former secretary Della Street against a murder charge was a great premise for the film, and I’m not surprised that it was successful enough to warrant further “Perry Mason” adventures. All things being equal, though, I think they would’ve been better served if they’d made it an hour-long series rather than a bunch of two-hour movies that invariably dragged at various points. Oh, well.

At the time this premiered, I’d never actually seen an episode of the original series – I only knew it from its reputation in a book about cult TV – but I still enjoyed it immensely. (I also wasn’t as bothered by some when Patrick Macnee stepped in to replace Leo G. Carroll out of necessity.) Having said that, the cameo by George Lazenby as a secret agent referred to as “J.B.” was a step too far into silliness.

A lot of people had problems with the idea of taking America’s perfect family – the Cleavers – and revealing that they ended up being just as dysfunctional as everyone else, with Beaver getting a divorce and so forth, but I just thought it made it seem more real. But, hell, I was only 13 at the time, so what did I know about reality?

It was never going to be the same without the presence of Michael Dunn as Dr. Miguelito Loveless, but the conceit of having the not-nearly-as-diminutive Paul Williams playing Dr. Miguelito Loveless, Jr. just about made up for it. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin were clearly having the time of their lives playing a couple of old guys getting back in the saddle again, and the fun translated to the viewers quite well.

For my money, this is the definitive TV-reunion film, even if Tina Louise couldn’t be arsed to play Ginger. It captures the spirit of the original series perfectly, it gives people something they’d wanted to see for more than a decade (the Castaways finally getting off the island and back to civilization) and delivers it with surprising emotion, and – best of all – it ends by going full circle. Alas, that means that it also set up two pretty lifeless sequels, including the infamous “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island,” but as a standalone film, it’s about as good as these things get. Yeah, that’s right: I just put “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island” in the same category as “Homicide: The Movie.” How often do you think that happens?

Don’t remember this one? Hell, I’m not even sure why I remember it, aside from the fact that I’ve been an “Addams Family” aficionado for as long as I can remember. But I think it’s the only time we got to see the original TV cast members playing their parts in glorious color, and as ’70s artifacts go, it’s pretty entertaining.

1. The New WKRP in Cincinnati (1991-1993): Setting aside the handful of episodes in which Howard Hesseman and Loni Anderson returned to reprise their roles as Dr. Johnny Fever and Jennifer Marlowe, respectively, this attempt to recapture the magic of one of the funniest sitcoms of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s failed far more often than it succeeded.

2. I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later (1985): I’ll give them credit for trying to put together the best possible reunion movie they could with the cast they had available to them, but while it was good to see Barbara Eden, Bill Daily, and Hayden Rorke playing Jeannie, Roger, and Dr. Bellows again, it never should’ve been made without Larry Hagman. And to have Wayne Rogers playing Tony Nelson? Give me a break.

3. The Bradys (1990): Bobby becomes a paraplegic! Jan can’t conceive! Marcia battles alcoholism! Every one of these is an actual storyline from the short-lived attempt to transform the lives of a man named Brady, his lovely lady, and their six kids into an hour-long drama. It worked for a holiday movie because there was a happy ending to look forward to, but this was just depressing as all hell.

4. Mary and Rhoda (2000): I’m sure it sounded like a great idea on paper to revisit Mary Richards-Cronin and Rhoda Morgenstern-Rousseau as they enter their 60s, but the decision to offer precious little in the way of references to their friends from the old show and put two of the most memorable sitcom characters of the ‘70s into a two-hour dramedy just didn’t work.

5. The Facts of Life Reunion (2001): No Nancy McKeon. FAIL.

Bullz-Eye: So who would’ve thought that you’d be doing press for “Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp” in 2012?

Bernie Kopell: [Laughs.] You never know. Lancelot Link…this is one of those things that happens where it starts with James Bond, then they go to “The Man with UNCLE,“ then the satire of “Get Smart,” where I was very happily playing nasty, contemptuous  Siegfried. And then the writers – Mike Marmer and Stan Burns – and I were sitting around, saying, “Well, what are we going to do now?” And Mike said, “Let’s do it with monkeys!” And they got these brilliant…choreographers, I would call them, to get the chimpanzees to behave as if they were human. And also to move their mouths. Some preferred peanut butter to go up and down with the jaw, some preferred gum, some liked a little piece of banana. And they didn’t mind the costumes. They liked the attention. And so we got them to move their mouths up and down and be the good guys and the bad guys. So it was more fun that you can even imagine.

BE: When it came time to do the voice of Baron von Butcher, did they specifically say, “Can you kind of put a spin on Siegfried?”

BK: Oh, absolutely.

BE: When the cast recorded the voices for the show, did you do them independently or together?

BK: We did it together. First they had the chimpanzees do their choreography and mouth movements and get that from various angles, and then Joan Gerber, Dayton Allen, who worked with Steve Allen years ago, and myself did all the voices. So you have good chimpanzees and bad chimpanzees, and the biggest problem was just not laughing our silly faces off. [Laughs.] Because it was just so much fun to do!

You know, what I’m excited about in particular is that there is a woman by the name of Martine Collette, and she runs Wildlife Waystation, and believe it or not, the chimpanzee that played Lancelot Link is still alive and enjoying his later life, or his retired years, in this facility that she has made for animals. For example, say someone has said, “Hey, here’s a great idea: let’s get a miniature bear!” And just for the safe side, without thinking, they cruelly pull out the bear’s teeth and claws so that the bear doesn’t destroy anything or hurt anybody. Then they realize that they made a mistake and it’s way too much trouble, and they give the bear up. This happens with all kinds of animals. And Martine being the saintly person that she is, she accepts these animals, and her organization, Wildlife Waystation, gets no support from anybody. It’s all volunteers and donations. And here’s the good news: 10% of the profits of “Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp”  – which is now out on DVD, re-mastered, through Film Chest – go to Martine Collette and her terrific work with the animals that nobody cares about anymore. I’m very excited about that. I’ve known her for…oh, years and years and years. She’s been doing this for 36 years, and she’s just an amazing human being. She’s the Mother Teresa of animals.

BE: I wanted to ask you about a few other things you’ve done in your career. Of course, you just mentioned Siegfried. How did you find your way into the cast of “Get Smart”?

BK: Well, there’s a marvelous man, and I spoke at his memorial, but Leonard Stern came to see me at a little play I was doing, exercising my abilities with accents by playing a Russian immigrant who was going through Buffalo in a freezing winter selling the misnamed Fruit Fluters. It’s a thing that you sort of screw into a potato, and it comes out in rhythm. It was just a very lovely, heartwarming story, particularly exciting for immigrants. So many people have come to our country from other countries, or are sons or daughters of people who’ve done that. Leonard Stern was part of the triumvirate of talented associates that also included David Susskind and Dan Melnick, and he comes back, a very distinguished looking fellow, and he smiles and says, “We’re gonna work together.” And I thought this was just some Hollywood B.S., which you hear a lot of when you come out here. [Laughs.] But son of a gun, don’t you know it, within three years he had created my Siegfried character. I may have been 24 at the time, but I had more fun than anything just coming in and getting made up with a Heidelberg dueling scar and a mustache covering my youthful puss, and…it was just great fun.

Don Adams – “Missed it by that much!” – was as welcoming as you would hope a star of a show to be. And Barbara Feldon…I still see Barbara. I was doing a play in New York about a year and a half ago, and Barbara and I go out and we reminisce. She’s a brilliant, brilliant woman. She played Agent 99, and she invested well, and…she’s totally unique among actresses. I said, “Wouldn’t you like to do another series?” And she said, “Oh, no, you’d have to sit around so much.” I said, “Yeah, but, sweetheart, you’re getting paid!” [Laughs.] And she said, “Oh, I know you’re getting paid. But I like New York, I like to do my poems, I like to have little miniature concerts in my home…” She’s a completely independent human being…which you will not find at all among actresses out here. Because if you say, “Would you like,” before you can even finish getting the words out, they’re saying, “Yes! Yes, I’ll do it!” [Laughs.]

It was heaven, though. And at the same time, I was doing the Marlo Thomas show (“That Girl”). Sometimes I’d do both of them in the same week. It was my schizophrenic period. [Laughs.] But “Get Smart” remains in my mind as being just a happy, happy, happy experience. And Mel Brooks. Can you imagine working with Mel Brooks? He’d just come back from Italy with his wife, and I just asked him, “Mel, what was the greatest architectural achievement you saw in Italy?” And without missing a beat, he said, “Carlo Ponti’s elevator shoes that permit him to kiss Sophia Loren on the lips.” [Laughs.] And Mel Brooks, in his mid-80s, is having the greatest success of his life, with “The Producers” and “Young Frankenstein.” The guy just has no quit in him. No quit. Sadly, Mel and Carl Reiner, who did “The 2,000 Year Old Man,” have both lost their wives, and they get together every night and have a meal, and they look at television, and…they probably fall asleep while they’re watching television. [Laughs.]

BE: I was able to talk to Mel when he did the HBO special with Dick Cavett, and it was just so amazing how he was so full of boundless enthusiasm the entire time we talked. I was just thinking, “I can’t believe this guy is in his 80s!”

BK: He’s full of beans, that one. [Laughs.] You know, now I’m lucky enough to have two wonderful kids – I’m going to be 79 on June 21^st, but I’ve got a 14-year-old kid and a nine-year-old kid – but at the time I was doing “Get Smart,” I had no children, and Mel was just asking everybody, “Ya got any kids?” I said, “No, sadly, I don’t.” He said, “Read the manual! Read the manual!” [Laughs.] So I read the manual. And now I’ve got two kids. It really worked to read that manual…

BE: Just as a sidebar, a friend of mine actually has a daughter who’s in the theater program with your oldest.

BK: Oh, really? Right here in California…?

BE: Yeah, they’re doing…I think it’s “Guys and Dolls”?

BK: [Astonished.] Exactly! Wow, all the way across the country and you know about that! Yeah, it’s “Guys and Dolls,” and…I think they begin on Thursday, and they’re learning how to talk like tough gamblers. Which is kind of a chore for a 14-year-old kid. [Laughs.] Imitating Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson and all of that. But it’s fun, and, you know, if they make a career out of it, fine, if not, they still get out in front of people and lose their terror, which I remember having in spades when I first started. I got onstage, and I said, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to breathe, let alone speak!” And eventually, if you keep at it, the terror diminishes, you get out there, and you do your thing.

BE: Looking through your IMDb listing, I was curious what you recall from working on “The Jack Benny Show.”

BK: Oh, Jack Benny was just…so many stars have an ego, and they have a feeling of “I get the attention around here, not you.” Jack Benny had no star ego, and he had the wisdom to know that whoever gets the laugh, they’re on your show, and it benefits the show. It makes the show better. And in the case of comedy, it makes it funnier. So he was just so sweet to me. I was very nervous. I’d gone over my part thousands of times, and at one point he said, “How come you know your part so well, you son of a bitch?” [Laughs.] So I said, “Well, Mr. Benny, I didn’t want to mess up working with you.” And he just waved that away, as though that was an unnecessary compliment, and he gave me this piece of advice: “Don’t talk ‘til they finish laughing.”

BE: Well, I know you’ve got to go, but I just wanted to ask a quick “Love Boat” question. Who were some of your favorite guest stars that you worked with?

BK: Oh, my goodness. Well, right off the bat, I think of Juliet Prowse, with the most gorgeous legs and body that anybody ever dreamt of. We had scenes in bed together. [Laughs.] And I know that she had gone with Sinatra, and I was thinking, “I…I just don’t know if I’ll be able to speak…I hope my hairpiece doesn’t fall off…I’m just so nervous.” So just before this scene, maybe to loosen me up, she said, “You know, Charles Boyer had a scene like this, with a lovely leading lady in bed, and just before the scene, he said, ‘You know, sweetheart, if possibly I get – how do you say – aroused during the scene, forgive me, please.’ And then he said, ‘If possibly I don’t get aroused, forgive me please.” [Laughs.] So a little sense of humor lightened the moment and we went through with the scene, and I lived through it, and I still have a great internalized crush on Juliet Prowse. Who we lost a few years ago to pancreatic cancer. Damn, damn, damn. That’s just…one of these things that we have to pray that we or the people we love don’t get. But we celebrate her life, and we go on.

Plus, let’s not forget that Lancelot Link is still alive! [Laughs.] He’s still alive, and he’s thriving in the Wildlife Waystation. So get that series. It benefits Martine Collette’s endeavor, and it’s just very, very fun. Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp. Your kids will laugh themselves silly, and you will, too. There, I think I got my message across, didn’t I? [Laughs.]