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Bewitched

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For the film, see Bewitched (film). For other meanings, see Bewitched (disambiguation)
Bewitched was an American situation comedy starring actress Elizabeth Montgomery, broadcast on ABC from 1964 to 1972.

Contents

Background

The show's focus was the mixed marriage of a nose-twitching witch, Samantha Stephens, and her mortal husband, Darrin. Samantha's mother, Endora (played by Agnes Moorehead), disapproves of Darrin, and many episodes revolve around her using magic to make life difficult for her non-magical son-in-law, whose name she invariably mispronounces as "Durwood," "Darwin," and other variations even less complimentary.

The only member of Samantha's family that Darrin really likes is the lovable and forgetful Aunt Clara (played by Marion Lorne — who won a posthumous Emmy in 1968 for the role), an aged witch whose powers have begun to wane. Almost all of her spells end in disasters. She was in 27 episodes and was not replaced when Lorne died during the fourth season.

Dick York and Elizabeth Montgomery from a 1964 episode.
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Dick York and Elizabeth Montgomery from a 1964 episode.

Darrin works for an advertising company — McMann and Tate — and his boss, Larry Tate, never learns that Samantha is a witch, despite the strange events that take place on a weekly basis. The Stephenses live at 1164 Morning Glory Circle, Westport, Connecticut. Across the road lives nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz (played first by Alice Pearce, who won a posthumous 1966 Emmy for the role; following Pearce's death in 1966, the character was played by Sandra Gould).

Montgomery and "The Second Darrin" — Dick Sargent.
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Montgomery and "The Second Darrin" — Dick Sargent.

Adding to the fun was the Stephens' witch daughter Tabitha, and the later-added baby boy Adam, and various witches, warlocks, and mere mortals. The program made use of clever-for-its-time special effects to work its magic, and the story lines were imaginative and good-natured. Most episodes ended with Darrin, having been the victim of witchcraft throughout the episode (often with a spell put upon him by Endora), affirming his love for Samantha and acknowledging that, like it or not, he would have to accept witchcraft in his life.

Agnes Moorehead as Endora.
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Agnes Moorehead as Endora.

The show was an immediate hit and was second only to Bonanza in its first season. It continued to perform well for five seasons, but it dropped in popularity when Dick York (who played Darrin) left the series in 1969, owing to health problems, and was replaced by Dick Sargent. Sargent's version of Darrin was a more acidic, disagreeable character, in contrast to York's nervous, frantic portrayal. The drop in ratings was ironic in light of the fact that Sargent had been the original choice to play Darrin, but had been unavailable in 1964; however, it should be noted that Dick Sargent was first considered for the role of Darrin only when actress Tammy Grimes was first offered the role of Samantha, before William Asher and Elizabeth Montgomery became involved with the show. Asher's first and only choice was Dick York since "He was too perfect for the role".

In 1966, the show saw Samantha give birth to daughter Tabitha, played by fraternal twins Erin and Diane Murphy. Tabitha took after her mother with her witch abilities, adding to Darrin's worries. In 1968, Diane Murphy was dropped as the sisters began looking less and less alike.

George Tobias and Alice Pearce as Abner and Gladys Kravitz.
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George Tobias and Alice Pearce as Abner and Gladys Kravitz.

In 1969, Adam was introduced. He was played by Greg and David Lawrence. Many saw this new addition as another reason for the continued decline. Adam initially didn't display any powers, but started to do so in the last few episodes of the series.

Montgomery wanted to end the series at the conclusion of the fifth season, not only because of Dick York's departure, but because both she and her husband, the show's producer William Asher, were getting tired of the series and wanted to move on to other projects, but ABC did not want to drop one of its top-grossers. Since the series was one of the network's few hits, they offered Montgomery and Asher significant pay raises for another three seasons plus part ownership of the series (the last season was produced by Ashmont, a production company owned by Asher and Montgomery). By the seventh season, the story ideas had started to run dry, with many older episodes being remade. By the last season (1971–1972), episodes were being remade almost word for word.

"Bewitched" Cartoon characters of Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York on the Flintstones.
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"Bewitched" Cartoon characters of Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York on the Flintstones.

ABC cancelled Bewitched at the end of the 1971-72 season. It had finished the year at no. 72 in the ratings (Variety, May 24th, 1972 pg. 35). ABC had planned a ninth season according the network's contract with Montgomery and Asher but with the ratings so low, Asher offered to produce another series in place of a ninth season.

Bewitched continues to be seen throughout the world in syndication. TV Guide recently listed Bewitched as the 50th Greatest Television Program of All Time.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first two seasons of Bewitched on DVD in 2005, with the third season released in 2006. Due to the fact the first two seasons were produced in black and white, Sony released two versions of the sets in region 1: one with the episodes as originally broadcast and a second with the episodes colorized. The color sets outsold the black and white sets by a substantial margin. The colorized editions were the only ones released in region 2 and region 4. The photo above of George Tobias and Alice Pearce is from the colorized version, as Pearce only appeared in the episodes filmed in black and white.

Controversy

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Regular and recurring characters

Episode List

Season One (36 episodes)

Season Two (38 episodes)

Season Three (33 episodes)

Spin-offs

Comic Book

Dell Comics published a short-lived comic book for 14 issues starting in 1965. Most issues had photo covers.

Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family

An animated cartoon made in 1972 by Hanna-Barbera Productions for the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, this featured a teenage version of Tabitha and Adam visiting their aunt and her family who travel with a circus.

Tabitha

In 1977, a spin-off show entitled Tabitha aired on the ABC network. The show, which ran for less than a season, starred Lisa Hartman as an adult Tabitha working, along with Adam, at television station KXLA. The show had several continuity issues including the ages of the lead characters (who should have been 11 and 8 years of age in 1977!), the introduction of their previously unknown Aunt Minerva, and Adam being a mortal instead of a warlock. Samantha and Darrin never appeared in the spin-off, though Bernard Fox and Sandra Gould made separate guest appearances as Dr. Bombay and Gladys Kravitz.

Bewitched movie

Bewitched is a 2005 movie re-imagining starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. When Jack Wyatt (Ferrell), a failing Hollywood actor, is offered the chance of a career comeback playing Darrin in a remake of Bewitched, all he has to do is find the perfect girl to play Samantha. He finds Isabel Bigelow (Kidman), who really is a witch. It is set in Los Angeles rather than Connecticut.

Bewitched mobile game

Sony Pictures Digital mobile Game.

Remakes

Argentina

In 2006, the local remake of Bewitched, Hechizada, will be made by Telefé and is slated to be aired in April. Florencia Peña will play the role of "Samantha".

India

In 2002, Sony Entertainment Television (India) began airing [Meri Biwi Wonderful], a local adaptation of Bewitched.

Japan

The Japanese TBS network, in collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, produced a remake called [奥さまは魔女 (Oku-sama wa majō)] (My wife is a witch) . Eleven episodes were broadcast on Friday nights at 22:00, from January 16 to March 26, 2004, with a special extra episode broadcast on December 21, 2004. The main character, Arisa Matsui, was performed by Ryōko Yonekura. 奥さまは魔女 (Oku-sama wa majō) is also the Japanese title for the original American series.

Chile

The Chilean television channel Mega, in collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, will produce a remake called La Hechizada.[link]

Bewitched in other languages

See also

Trivia

Darrin Stephens' Wardrobe

External links

 

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