The title “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” has been used a few times in pop culture, including for a 1941 screwball comedy directed by — of all people — Alfred Hitchcock. But its most famous usage has been in connection with concepts revolving around spies. Most moviegoers are familiar with the 2005 film “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” which starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and that film inspired the 2024 Prime Video series of the same name.
Before either of those instances, however, there was a short-lived 1996 action drama that was also called “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” And in addition to starring Scott Bakula and Maria Bello as the titular characters, the pilot episode served to deliver up the first on-camera appearance of future “Justified” star Timothy Olyphant.
That’s not to say that Olyphant hadn’t acted before he stepped in front of the camera. In fact, he made his theater debut in an off-Broadway production of “The Monogamist,” earning a Theatre World Award for his work in the play, after which he starred in David Sedaris’ one-man play “The Santaland Diaries.” Remarkably, it was even before those accomplishments that he almost made it to prime time.
Timothy Olyphant played a spy in 1996’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Shortly before appearing on stage in “The Monogamist” and “The Santaland Diaries,” Timothy Olyphant almost found himself starring in a reboot of “77 Sunset Strip,” which was to be produced by Clint Eastwood for The WB. Not unlike CBS’ recent semi-meta reboot of “Matlock,” the series was set to star Jim Caviezel as a private detective who moves to Los Angeles to start a detective agency and names it after his father’s favorite TV series, “77 Sunset Strip.” Olyphant would’ve been the third lead, after his soon-to-be “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” co-star Maria Bello, but it wasn’t to be. Clint Eastwood quit the production, and the pilot wasn’t picked up.
But Olyphant took another shot at stepping in front of the camera for “Mrs. & Mrs. Smith.” The series starred a post-“Quantum Leap” Scott Bakula as Mr. Smith, an employee of a private security organization known as The Factory, with Olyphant playing Scooby, a member of Smith’s team, in the series’ pilot. Although the character never appeared in another episode, his debut was nonetheless a very good day for Olyphant, as it was also the month that his first film hit theaters: He had a small role in “The First Wives Club” as a director who has a casting meeting with Elise Elliot (Goldie Hawn).
As for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” the series ran for only nine episodes before CBS pulled the plug, but it’s fair to say that Olyphant, Bakula, and Maria Bello all landed on their feet.
