He starred on one of the most successful 70s detective shows.
(Actually, it was canceled after three seasons.)
He recites Shakespeare at will.
Credit: Broadway Video
(Its the same line every time.)
And they dont want his help.
Like,at all.)
Michael Buckner/Getty Images; Michael Ostuni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Its 22 minutes of Adam West at his Adam Westiest.
Ty Lookwell ruled for part of the 1970s as the grizzled, hard-boiled, take-no-criminal-guff detective named Bannigan.
Youre going to do time, Leron hardtime.
Broadway Video
I served, if you will, as both magistrate… and messenger.
So… the pimp was actually funneling money through the disco?
asks a slightly skeptical student named Jason (played by futureIn the BedroomandLittle Childrendirector Todd Field).
Broadway Video
Which, of course, it did.
(After all, hed once been awarded an honorary badge at a formal ceremony in Television City.
Still, carries it around with him.)
(See for yourself in the 22-minute pilot episode below.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What were the first seeds ofLookwell?
I was in the control room atSaturday Night Live, and Robert saying, Adam West.
And then both of us having writing sessions.
At the time I lived with that giant dog…SMIGEL: Yes, the Rhodesian Ridgeback.
Ive never watched it before and thought, Oh, my God, this is great, until today.
]SMIGEL: See, I thought that was my line.
Theres this one time where Jason says, So this whole endeavor was just a waste of time?
It was pretty fun and effortless to write.
You never told me this!…
Conan had so many details, like the Lucite badge and the name Ty Lookwell and the Firm Pops.
What was it like to pitch and shape this character with Adam?
In fact, they said, You cant have Adam West.
So we had to meet with all these other people, but we were determined to get Adam West.
At one point we said, Hes Batman!
Adam looked at us and right after that, it was, Oh!
The suspect is like, What are you talking about?
and Lookwell says, Pay no attention, Im just acrazy old vagabond.
We just laughed endlessly, playing the scene over and over, just to enjoy it.
We had a director.
We hired a very competent guy named E.W.
Swackhamer, whos a director.
But we overthought it.
We thought: To do this, we should get a guyfromthe 70s who directed 70s TV.
And he does it with such sincerity.
Hes dressed as a hobo, but hes saying things like, The sidewalk is my pillow.
Phrases that arent even necessary.
I dont know who invented it, but certainly, I grew up thinking Peter Sellers.
Where was that line?SMIGEL: It just seemed to fit naturally.
It was a very simple setup, and that was part of the original concept for us.
That was a thing where you were either in or you were out.
There were a lot of people whose opinion I respected who said, Does he have a tumor?
Is he a sociopath?
Its like when the clown gets scary.
Thats still a thing that I will defend to my dying day.
Also, you have to keep in mind, the rules of television changed so much.
Look atCurb Your Enthusiasm.
The rules used to be: Everyone had to be likable.
And then if you look 10 years later, theresplentyof unlikable characters on television, and everyones a misanthrope.
And does hewinat the end of the episode?
He needs to win.SMIGEL: Lookwell wasnt going to win in the original drafts we made.
That was at least a note we took.
The crime isawful, and Robert and I had no idea what we were doing.
And it was such a stupid crime.
None of it made sense.
Yeah, but then how did they get the jewel back at the museum?
and his housekeeper tells him, They dont make that kind anymore.
He gave us little notes here and there.
And we said, Whats that?
And he said, BringGet Smartback into prime time.
And I remember thinking, Hes right.
He said, A little bit of the character goes a long way.
More than anything, at the time I was disappointed for Adam.
We really wanted him to have a second career of being that funny.
Fortunately,Family Guyended up using him very well.
But he got to do everything in this.
Anybody who reads this: You gotta watch the Batman movie I think its on Netflix.
You could make the case that what he did was so unusual.
And those are great.
Believe me, I wouldve killed to have writtenPolice Squad!, but thats just a different animal.
Its self-aware of being a joke bag and so wasGet Smart.
And if you like it, its all because he pulls it off to that extent.
Its a real challenge for him, and he makes it work.
Like, can this really sustain?
And we just wanted to work with Adam West really badly!
It worked out anyway.
For us,Late Night with Conan OBrienturned out to be that.
[Smigel served asLate Nights first head writer.
]OBRIEN: TheConanshow was just an extension ofLookwell, in a way.
[Both laugh.]
It was the chance to rule in hell.
It was: Make an hour a night for the rest of your lives.
Its such an incredible task, youll have little or no supervision.
But I was crushed whenLookwelldidnt get picked up.
]OBRIEN: I had actually bought a Bentley on credit, and the license plate said LOOKWELL.
Thats how confident I was.SMIGEL: There was a little bit of a meta-quality to it.
To some degree, we didnt even get to do everything we wanted.
And this was beforeLarry Sanders, and I wish we had been able to pull this off.
We almost got Donna Rice.
She brought down Gary Hart [in a scandal during the 1988 Presidential race].
We got her on the phone and talked to her manager, and she just wouldnt pull the trigger.
And then we had regular actresses audition.
Or convince him to work together.
NEXT PAGE: The disastrous debut… and aLookwellmovie?
After Tartikoff left the data pipe, support forLookwellseemed to vanish.
Its almost always a death knell.
And I said, Okay, Im staying at this hotel, let me know how it goes.
I cant watch it because Im in Italy.
And then Robert calls me back and hes beside himself.
And I was like, What?
Im thinking, Maybe theres some other life to this.
So that was the kick in the stomach for me.
Im not even exaggerating, there might be 150 outlets forLookwellnow.
They were like, Well, what about Nicholas Cage?
And I love Nicholas Cage, but its just like I cant imagine OBRIEN: someone else doing it.
Hes like, [affectsdramatic Jack Black voice] I just wanted to say one thing to you.
And I was like, Whats that?
He was like, Lookwell….I didnt know what he was talking about.
And he was like.
You and Robert Smigel, man Lookwell.
1 spot, you know?
The Grindercame out last season.
They made some interesting choices.
I think, yes, today a show likeLookwellwould have a home.
Theres a whole kind of alterna-meta-comedy; there are whole channels devoted to it.
Oh!And its got breadcrumbs?
Its got a cult following and theyre doing a whole week of cast readings at South By Southwest.
There are so many outlets now that would champion a show likeLookwell.
Its that whole thing of: The nerds run show business now.
Its got this James Dean quality it died young and pretty.
It left a good-looking corpse, and people wonder what it couldve been.
Theres always this mystique around it.
And it lived at the wrong time and it got no backing and it was ignored.
He died June 9 at the age of 88.
He is revered by my generation of comic minds.
He was also a sweet and lovely man, and it was a rare honor to know him.
And above all, Im grateful for that.
