Bewitched

“Oh My Stars”          1964-1972

I binged watched Bewitched during the lockdown and some afterward. The first five seasons were probably the best. Having the lovely Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) as a wife who could twitch her nose and whip up anything you desired…doesn’t sound half bad…therefore… I never understood Darrin…either Darrin.

Bewitched was full of funny characters. Mr and Mrs Kravitz next door. Uncle Arthur (the great Paul Lynne), Aunt Clara, Maurice, Endora, and a cast of witches and warlocks. The show stuck the characters with the same actors/actresses for the most part. The continuity was pretty good in this show with one big exception…the two Darrins. More on that in a few.

The show was about a mortal (Darrin Stevens) that married a witch (Samantha Stevens) and Darrin does not like Samantha to use her powers. Endora the mother-in-law was a witch that played the stereotypical mother-in-law but one that could Darrin into a horse if she so pleased.

One of my favorites was Aunt Clara played perfectly by Marion Lorne. The character Aunt Clara collected doorknobs. The writers did that because Marion Lorne actually collected doorknobs from everywhere… The producers of the show would ask to borrow one if they wanted one for a different look for the show. 

Aunt Clara | Of Mice and Men Wiki | Fandom

A funny story about Marion Lorne is that she once called Elizabeth Montgomery and said, with her trademark stammer, to come to her hotel residence right away as she seemed to have actual magical powers like her character. Every time she clapped her hands, her TV set would change the channel. What Marion didn’t know was that the bracelets on each of her arms made contact when she clapped her hands, and the sound was the same as a remote control, which operated as tuning forks in those days. Montgomery never told her this.

The two Darrins. The first Darrin was Dick York. The second Darrin was Dick Sargent.

Pin on Hollywood Portraits: Male

Dick York had severe back problems and a pain pill addiction. He was on for almost 5 full seasons. He came down with a fever during the last part of the 5th season and collapsed on an episode. He entered the hospital and never came back to the show. His career essentially ended then.

The next season Dick Sargent took over with no explanation to the audience. Sargent was never as popular with the audience and the ratings soon dropped. The show lasted 8 total seasons before ending in 1972.

On December 6 Agnes Moorehead was born… | Today In PopAgnes Moorehead | American actress | Britannica

It’s a fun show to watch and it had some great actors and actress that would show up. Agnes Moorehead who played Endora was part of the Mercury Theatre with Orson Welles.

Bewitched had some really good effects for the time. I grew up on this show in syndication.

 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057733/

 

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

57 thoughts on “Bewitched”

  1. Great flashback review
    I watched this as well about 30 years ago or so on those Superstation TV channels from Chicago and Atlanta that we finally got here in Thunder Bay
    Great show..

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  3. I probably watched it as a little kid, but can’t say I remember…except for that animated witch opening. That I do recall! the two Dicks looked a bit alike- I guess it would be a hard spot for producers to be put in, if an essential character becomes unavailable. Would have been hard to write him out, from the sound of the show.

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    1. The second one I don’t like personally. He played him very snotty and sometimes just down right rude.
      Hmmm. Elizabeth Montgomery as a wife and poof I have a Rickenbacker…I would embrace that! lol.

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  4. Unlike most, I liked the second Darrin best. He was more reasonable, to me.
    I agree; who wouldn’t want a spouse who could conger up anything with a mere twitch of the nose. If you had a hankering to prepare a gourmet dinner sans magical powers, then by all means, do it! If you yearn to paint acres of white picket fencing with paint and brush, knock yourself out! But don’t insist that she clean out the oven by hand. And don’t make him risk life and limb by cleaning out the gutters the old fashioned way. Jeez!

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    1. I’ve been reading some behind the scenes to that show. They were really close. I love useless information…Agnes Moorehead is seen wearing a ruby and diamond broach…Elizabeth liked it a lot and Agnes willed it to her when she passed.

      Yea I agree..I understand about not using it to succeed at work but for goodness sake use it for certain tasks…

      I never realized how much they drank in that show at home. Every night when he came home and every party…and sometimes during the day.

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  5. While I recall many American shows on TV in Germany while I was growing there, I don’t believe “Bewitched” was one of them – looks charming!

    I mainly remember detective series like “Streets of San Francisco”,”Kojak”, “Columbo”, “Cannon” and “Rockford PI”, and then later on “Magnum PI” and “Miami Vice”.

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    1. I just saw Bombay yesterday on an episode and Meriweather on the Andy Griffith show last month. I wonder if Andy ever thought about him as a regular member. He was on two episodes I think.

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      2. Howard Morris was great. I knew he did the radio announcing when you heard it on the show and he was a good director.
        I wonder why he wasn’t in more episodes as Bass? Maybe they didn’t want to over expose him.

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  8. Two Dicks for two Darrins. I love the irony. Dick York had a hard, hard time. He had better shocked looks over Samantha, which was hilarious. Dick Sargent (Richard Cox), on the other hand, had been in military school…and was gay, so, to me, he came across as more like Paul Lynde…stuffy & sarcastic. And, crazy enough, this is interesting:
    https://www.harpiesbizarre.com/sargent_interview.htm
    Elizabeth was almost NOT Samantha.

    Then there was the rotating Kravitzs:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Pearce (First Wife)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Grace_Canfield#Other_roles (Sister Harriet)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Gould#Life_and_career (Second Wife)
    And, Sandra got it because Alice Ghostley turned it down.

    All three mains died kinda close…York 1992, Sargent 1994 & Montgomery 1995. Wow.

    Yeah. *sigh* I have a thing for useless information, too.

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    1. Yea I read about Dick York…it was terrible Vic. I’ve seen those interviews with him late in life…Sargent to me was downright rude sometimes. York didn’t play it that way. Hell give me Montgomery with or without magic!

      I can’t imagine anyone else as Samantha… it’s sad about Alice Pearce…that she had terminal cancer and knew it the whole time. You could see her get painfully thin by the second year. The story about her chin is sad also.

      I love Aunt Clara!!! From what I read she was like that in real life. That story about her thinking she really having magical powers is great. They never replaced her out of respect.

      Its funny seeing Mary Grace on Bewitched…she will always belong on Green Acres as Ralph.

      I’ve also watched the Bill Asher interview from emmytvlegends.org …Vic that is a terrific site. If you haven’t checked it out…do it. They catch all of these tv people and talk about their old shows.

      I live for useless info…

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      2. It’s the same thing…It is really good. Click on search and it will take you where you can search… I put in a show and it will have interviews from directors, writers, etc from that show.

        They interviewed Bill Asher for 4 hours but they have it in sections where you can just listen to him about Bewitched or the other shows he did…

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      6. I don’t know. They are pissing more people off with the violence…and people now after all of this and what happened before…don’t want to hear it anymore and are turning against them.

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      7. I hope your governor does something before Nashville winds up like Seattle.

        Cooper won’t do anything here except lock people down. If they storm Raleigh, his sorry ass will just hide in the walled-up Governor’s Mansion.

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      8. He probably will. I wouldn’t be surprised if regular people start going down there and start combating it themselves. People are pissed here…black and white. It’s one thing to protest…that is great but this is anarchy…a line is being crossed.

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      1. Yea that was sad. Agnes Moorehead is the one I’ve really paid attention to. It’s odd she would be in a sitcom…she was a great actress…heck she was in Citizen Kane

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      3. Yes you are right! With Agnes…she loved shopping so that kept her in shopping money lol…her words not mine.

        The guy that played Dr Smith did it well…I wanted to strangle him many times…

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      4. LOL so funny about Agnes. As a kid, Mr. Smith blew my mind every time he pulled will in front of him as a shield from whatever creature was coming at them. I despised him. Now I look back at the show and laugh.

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      5. Oh a coward to the very end! He played the same kind of unlikable person in other things also…he was really good at it.

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  10. I haven’t watched Bewitched in a long time- but we have the DVD’s at the library- and for a show that has been off the air 50 years give or take a few- it is a very popular check out.. I think Elizabeth Montgomery was my first crush.

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    1. She was wonderfu….how much else would a man want? Elizabeth Montgomery for a wife who could grant you wishes.
      It’s odd like the Addams Family and the Munsters…you had Bewitched and I Dream Of Jeannie on at the same time.

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      1. I always was Munsters over Addams Family- never cared for Addams Family growing up….Bewitched over I Dream Of Jeannie- but I also liked I Dream Of Jeannie.

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      2. Bewitched was a better quality show to me than I Dream of Jeannie…more consistent…but…it had Barbara Eden.

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  11. That’s weird, I don’t remember Darrin being played by another actor! I must’ve seen them all, too. This was one of my favourite shows when I was a kid, but I’ve not seen it in years. I must catch up with some of it on Youtube. Another show I loved was I Dream of Jeannie. Did you like that?

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    1. Oh yes I liked I Dream of Jeannie. Barbara Eden is hard not to like.

      In Bewitched they kept it consistent with the actors and that helped. Even the effects were not too bad.

      I wonder which Darrin you remember? It’s a fun show.

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      2. Yes! He was the most popular one. He had a pain pill addiction and his back was wrecked…sad story.

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    1. I know what you mean…what I did was make my baseball blog with the same username…it just goes back here with a link to the baseball site.

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