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- This article is about the US Television Sitcom. 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. It was the most successful of the 1960s supernatural sitcoms, which included The Munsters, The Addams Family, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (derived from a popular novel and movie), I Dream of Jeannie, Nanny and the Professor and My Favorite Martian. type=text/javascript>
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Overview of show
Premise The show's focus was on 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. Darrin works for McMann and Tate, an advertising company, 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).  Dick York and Elizabeth Montgomery from a 1964 episode. 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 Aunt Clara character was not replaced when Lorne died during the fourth season. A similar character, Esmeralda played by Alice Ghostley would make appearances for the rest of the show's run.  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.
Changes during show's run The show was a ratings success during its first five seasons, but it dropped in popularity when Dick York (who played Darrin) left the series in 1969, owing to health problems. While Ray Fulmer (of Hazel (TV series) ) was briefly considered as a replacement [citation needed], the role of Darrin went to Dick Sargent. Sargent's version of Darrin was a more acidic, smarmy 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 under contract elsewhere 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".  George Tobias and Alice Pearce as Abner and Gladys Kravitz. 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. In 1969, Adam was introduced. He was played by Greg and David Lawrence. Many saw this new addition as a sign of decline, or what would now be referred to as the show "jumping the shark". Adam initially didn't display any powers, but started to do so in the last few episodes of the series.
End of program 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�?972), episodes were being remade almost word for word. Alice Ghostley had departed to join Mayberry R.F.D., and even Agnes Moorehead's Endora was seen less. The series was moved to Wednesday nights and pitted against the hit show All In The Family, which proved to be a virtual death knell.  "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 to 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.
Behind the scenes The pilot of Bewitched was written by Sol Saks, who received credit as the creator of the show, although he was not involved with the show after the pilot. Initially, the producer and head writer of the series was Danny Arnold, who helped develop the style and tone of the series as well as some of the supporting characters who didn't appear in the pilot, like Larry Tate and the Kravitzes. Arnold, who had been a writer on McHale's Navy and other shows, thought of Bewitched as being essentially a romantic comedy about a mixed marriage; his episodes kept the magic element to a minimum, with one or two magical acts to drive the plot but with Samantha usually solving problems without using magic. Also, many of the first season's episodes were allegorical, using supernatural situations as clear metaphors for the real-life problems a young couple would face. Though the show was a hit right from the beginning, Arnold battled with ABC, which wanted more magic and more farcical plots. Arnold left the show after the first season (he would later create Barney Miller), leaving producing duties to his friend Jerry Davis, who had already produced some of the first season's episodes (though Arnold was still supervising the writing). The second season, produced by Davis and with Bernard Slade as head writer, included somewhat wackier plots, with mistaken identity and farce becoming a more prevalent element, but still included a number of more low-key episodes where the magic element was not front and center. With the third season and the switch to color, Davis and Slade left the show; producing duties were handled first by William Froug and finally by William Asher himself. Most of the episodes from this point on would be more formulaic and more about magical shenanigans than the romantic comedy Bewitched had been in its first season.
Continued interest in show 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 and fourth seasons 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. |
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Controversy - The show's witchcraft-related subject matter initially infuriated some evangelical and fundamentalist Christian organizations, which claimed that the show displayed the playful use of ungodly powers in a context that characterized them as good rather than evil as some Christians believed them to be.
- The marriage between Samantha's father and mother was an open one, with both Samantha's mother and father dating others at will (they were separated), but this never caused any issues. In the episode "Samantha's Good News," Endora did file for an "ectoplasmic interlocutory" (a.k.a., divorce) but changed her mind.
- Montgomery had an affair with Richard Michaels, a director of the show, during the filming of the eighth season. They finally revealed their relationship after the finish of the season. Her marriage to producer William Asher ended and so did the series. She moved out of their house and in with Michaels, with whom she spent two and a half years before they parted.
- TV Land erected a 9' bronze statue of Samantha Stephens in downtown Salem, Mass in June 2005. The "Bewitched Statue" portrays Samantha Stephens riding a broom, resting on a crescent moon. The statue has been a focus of controversy from both Christian fundamentalists who charge the statue promotes witchcraft; and from groups who charge that the statue makes light of the 19 innocent people who were executed for witchcraft in Salem in the year 1692, with the site of the old jail a few yards from where the statue is presently standing.
Regular and recurring characters
Episode List
Seasons 1-4 out of 8 are the only ones yet released (or announced) by Sony in the U.S.
Season One (36 episodes) - 1. I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha
- 2. Be It Ever So Mortgaged
- 3. It Shouldn't Happen To A Dog
- 4. Mother Meets What's His Name
- 5. Help, Help, Don't Save Me
- 6. Little Ptchers Have Big Fears
- 7. The Witches Are Out
- 8. Witch Or Wife
- 9. The Girl Reporter
- 10. Just One Happy Family
- 11. It Takes One To Know One
- 12. ...And Something Makes Three
- 13. Love Is Blind
- 14. Samantha Meets The Folks
- 15. A Vision Of Sugar Plums
- 16. It's Magic
- 17. A Is For Aardvark
- 18. The Cat's Meow
- 19. A Nice Little Dinner Party
- 20. Your Witch Is Showing
- 21. Ling Ling
- 22. Eye Of The Beholder
- 23. Red Light, Green Light
- 24. Which Witch Is Which?
- 25. Pleasure O'Riley
- 26. Driving Is THe Only Way To Fly
- 27. There's No Witch Like An Old Witch
- 28. Open The Door, Witchcraft
- 29. Abner Kadabra
- 30. George The Warlock
- 31. That Was My Wife
- 32. Illegal Separation
- 33. A Change Of Face
- 34. Remember The Main
- 35. Eat At Mario's
- 36. Cousin Edgar
Season Two (38 episodes) - 37. Alias Darrin Stephens
- 38. A Very Special Delivery
- 39. We're In For A Bad Spell
- 40. My Grandson The Warlock
- 41. The Joker Is A Card
- 42. Take Two Aspirins And Half A Pint Of Porpoise Milk
- 43. Trick Or Treat
- 44. The Very Informal Dress
- 45. And Then I Wrote
- 46. Junior Executive
- 47. Aunt Clara's Old Flame
- 48. A Strange Little Visitor
- 49. My Boss, The Teddy Bear
- 50. Speak The Truth
- 51. A Vision Of Sugar Plums (recut version)
- 52. The Magic Cabin
- 53. Maid To Order
- 54. And Then There Were Three
- 55. My Baby The Tycoon
- 56. Samantha Meets The Folks (recut version)
- 57. Fastest Gun On Madison Avenue
- 58. The Dancing Bear
- 59. Double Tate
- 60. Samantha The Dressmaker
- 61. The Horse's Mouth
- 62. Baby's First Paragraph
- 63. The Leprechaun
- 64. Double Split
- 65. Disappearing Samantha
- 66. Follow That Witch: Part One
- 67. Follow That Witch: Part Two
- 68. A Bum Raps
- 69. Divided He Falls
- 70. Man's Best Friend
- 71. The Catnapper
- 72. What Every Young Man Should Know
- 73. The Girl With The Golden Nose
- 74. Prodigy
Season Three (33 episodes) - 75. Nobody's Perfect
- 76. The Moment Of Truth
- 77. Witches And Warlocks Are My Favourite Things
- 78. Accidental Twins
- 79. A Most Unusual Wood Nymph
- 80. Endora Moves In For A Spell
- 81. Twitch Or Treat
- 82. Dangerous Diaper Dan
- 83. The Short Happy Circuit Of Aunt Clara
- 84. I'd Rather Twitch Than Fight
- 85. Oedipus Hex
- 86. Sam's Spooky Chair
- 87. My Friend Ben
- 88. Samantha For The Defense
- 89. A Gazebo Never Forgets
- 90. Soapbox Derby
- 91. Sam In The Moon
- 92. Hoho The Clown
- 93. Super Car
- 94. The Corn Is As High As A Guernsey's Eye
- 95. Trial And Error Of Aunt Clara
- 96. Three Wishes
- 97. I Remember You... Sometimes
- 98. Art For Sam's Sake
- 99. Charlie Harper, Winner
- 100. Aunt Clara's Victoria Victory
- 101. The Crone Of Cawdor
- 102. No More Mr. Nice Guy
- 103. It's Wishcraft
- 104. How To Fail In Business With All Kinds Of Help
- 105. Bewitched, Bothered And Infuriated
- 106. Nobody But A Frog Knows How To Live
- 107. There's Gold In Them Thar Pills
Season Four (33 episodes) - 108. Long Live the Queen
- 109. Toys in Babeland
- 110. Business, Italian Style
- 111. Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
- 112. Cheap, Cheap
- 113. No Zip in My Zap
- 114. Birdies, Bogeys, and Baxter
- 115. The Safe and Sane Halloween
- 116. Out of Synch, Out of Mind
- 117. That Was No Chick, That Was My Wife
- 118. Allergic to Macedonian Dodo Birds
- 119. Samantha’s Thanksgiving to Remember
- 120. Solid Gold Mother-in-Law
- 121. My, What Big Ears You Have
- 122. I Get Your Nanny, You Get My Goat
- 123. Humbug Not Spoken Here
- 124. Samantha’s da Vinci Dilemma
- 125. Once in a Vial
- 126. Snob in the Grass
- 127. If They Never Met
- 128. Hippie, Hippie, Hooray
- 129. A Prince of a Guy
- 130. McTavish
- 131. How Green Was My Grass
- 132. To Twitch or Not to Twitch
- 133. Playmates
- 134. Tabatha’s Cranky Spell
- 135. I Confess
- 136. A Majority of Two
- 137. Samantha’s Secret Saucer
- 138. The No-Harm Charm
- 139. Man of the Year
- 140. Splitsville
DVD releases |
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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) and Adam being a mortal instead of a warlock. Samantha and Darrin never appeared in the spin-off, though Bernard Fox, Sandra Gould, and George Tobias made separate guest appearances as Dr. Bombay, Gladys Kravitz, and Abner Kravitz, respectively.
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 majo) (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.[1]
Bewitched in other languages - Catalan: Embruixada (Bewitched)
- Chinese: 神仙家庭 (literally, "the family of 神仙")
- NOTE: 神仙 means a supernatural or immortal being (i.e. fairy, elf, leprechaun)
- Finnish: Vaimoni on noita (My Wife is a Witch)
- French: Ma sorcière bien-aimée (My beloved witch)
- German: Verliebt in eine Hexe (In Love With a Witch)
- Greek: Η μάγισσα ("I mághissa", The Witch)
- Hebrew: סמנת'ה (Samantha)
- Italian: Vita da Strega (Life as a Witch)
- Japanese: 奥さまは魔女 (Oku-sama wa majo, My Wife is a Witch)
- Korean: 아내�?요술쟁이 (R.R.: a-nae-neun yosuljaeng-i; My wife is a witch)
- NOTE: Because of storyline of theatrical film, the film titled 그녀�?요술쟁이 (R.R.: geu-nyeo-neun yosuljaeng-i; She is a witch).
- Portuguese
- Brazil: A Feiticeira (The Sorceress)
- Portugal: Casei com uma feiticeira (I Married a Sorceress)
- Spanish
- Spain: Embrujada (Bewitched)
- Latin America: Hechizada (Bewitched), also La Brujita (The Little Witch)
- NOTE: The Chilean remake is called La hechizada.
- NOTE: In some countries like Ecuador or Colombia Bewitched is called La Brujita, which means The Little Witch
- Swedish Förhäxed "Bewitched/Charmed"
- Also Same name of Charmed Show about Witches as well
- Turkish: Tatlı Cadı (Sweet Witch)
- Mexico: Hechizada
See also
Trivia - The show was featured in a Jack Chick tract, which portrays it as Satan's favorite television show.
- Australia's first winner of Nine Network's 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' quiz show correctly answered a) Bewitched, to the million dollar question: Which, of these four '60s television show, premiered first: a) Bewitched, b) Get Smart, c) Hogan's Heroes or d) I Dream of Jeannie.
- Darrin's mother was played by veteran actress Mabel Albertson, who was the sister of Jack Albertson ("Chico and the Man"). Mabel Albertson also played the mothers of Donald Hollinger ("That Girl") and Howard Sprague ("The Andy Griffith Show").
- While Erin Murphy said on "E! Entertainment" that Elizabeth Montgomery preferred Dick Sargent's Darrin, Kasey Rogers, Bernard Fox, Mabel Albertson and Sandra Gould said that Dick York's "mugging" or animated facial expressions were what really made the character. William Asher claimed that Dick York's screen kisses were more "passionate."
- Darrin Stephens is named James Stephens in Brazil and Jean-Pierre Stephens in France.
- Samantha and Darrin Stephens made a cameo in The Flintstones (see above).
- Samantha and Darrin Stephens were the first live-action TV couple, with the actors not married to each other in "real life," to sleep in a double bed (not counting Mary Kay and Johnny, who were married). The episode in question, "Little Pitchers Have Big Fears," aired on October 22, 1964. Despite popular belief, it was not The Munsters (which showed Herman and Lily first sharing a bed in the episode "Autumn Croakus" on November 26, 1964) or The Brady Bunch, which didn't air until 1969. [2]
- Bewitched proved to be very popular with young girls when it first aired in Japan, and is considered to be the inspiration for the Magical girl genre of anime.
- Bewitched is referenced in "The Simpsons" in an episode where Maggie turns into a real witch following a curse at a halloween party. In the last scene, where Maggie is flying on a broomstick, the first and last parts of the "Bewitched" theme music are played.
- In an episode of The Fairly OddParents, "Timmy TV", Mrs. and Mr. Turner appear in a scene that was very similar to Bewitched opening.
- Reruns can be seen on LIVINGtv in the UK
Darrin Stephens' Wardrobe
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