Bewitched is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife. The show was popular, finishing as the second-highest-rated show in America during its debut season, staying in the top 10 for its first three seasons, and ranking in 11th place for both seasons four and five. The show continues to be seen throughout the world in syndication and on recorded media.
Bewitched was created by Sol Saks under executive producer Harry Ackerman and starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, Dick York (1964–1969) as Darrin Stephens, and Agnes Moorehead as Endora, Samantha's mother. Dick Sargent replaced an ailing York for the final three seasons (1969–1972).
Hanna-Barbera produced the opening and closing animation credits. In 2002, Bewitched was ranked No. 50 on "TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time". In 1997, the same magazine ranked the second-season episode "Divided He Falls" number 48 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
Plot A beautiful witch named Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) meets and marries a mortal named Darrin Stephens (Dick York, later Dick Sargent). While Samantha complies with Darrin's wishes to become a normal suburban housewife, her magical family disapproves of the mixed marriage and frequently interferes in the couple's lives. Episodes often begin with Darrin becoming the victim of a spell, the effects of which wreak havoc with other mortals such as his boss, clients, parents, and neighbors. By the epilogue, however, Darrin and Samantha most often embrace, having overcome the devious elements that failed to separate them. The witches and their male counterparts, warlocks, are very long-lived; while Samantha appears to be a young woman, many episodes suggest she is actually hundreds of years old. To keep their society secret, witches avoid showing their powers in front of mortals other than Darrin. Nevertheless, the effects of their spells—and Samantha's attempts to hide their supernatural origin from mortals—drive the plot of most episodes. Witches and warlocks usually use physical gestures along with their incantations. To perform magic, Samantha often twitches her nose to create a spell. Special visual effects are accompanied by music to highlight such an action.
Setting The main setting for most episodes is the Stephenses' home at 1164 Morning Glory Circle, in an upper-middle-class suburban neighborhood, either Westport, Connecticut, or Patterson, New York, as indicated by conflicting information presented throughout the series. Many scenes also take place at the fictional Madison Avenue advertising agency McMann and Tate, where Darrin works.
Cast and characters
Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens Dick York (1964–1969), then Dick Sargent (1969–1972) as Darrin Stephens, her husband (Sargent replaced an ailing York for the final three seasons) Agnes Moorehead as Endora, Samantha's mother David White as Larry Tate, Darrin's boss at the advertising agency Irene Vernon (1964–1966), then Kasey Rogers (1966–1972) as Louise Tate, Larry's wife Alice Pearce (1964–1966), then Sandra Gould (1966–1971) as Gladys Kravitz (Gould took over the part after Pearce's death) George Tobias (1964–1971) as her husband, Abner Kravitz Erin Murphy (1966–1972) as Tabitha Stephens (she shared this role for 18 episodes with her fraternal twin sister, Diane Murphy) Annual semiregulars: Marion Lorne as Samantha's Aunt Clara (1964–1968); Maurice Evans as Maurice, Samantha's father (1964−1972); Mabel Albertson as Darrin's mother, Phyllis Stephens (1964–1971); Robert F. Simon and Roy Roberts alternating the role of Frank Stephens, Darrin's father (1964–1971); Paul Lynde as Samantha's Uncle Arthur (1965–1971); Bernard Fox as Dr. Bombay (1967–1972); Alice Ghostley as Esmeralda, Tabitha's babysitter (1969–1972).
During its run, the series had a number of major cast changes, often because of illness or death of the actors.
Precursors Creator Sol Saks' inspirations for this series were the film I Married a Witch (1942), developed from Thorne Smith's unfinished novel The Passionate Witch, and the John Van Druten Broadway play Bell, Book and Candle, which was adapted into the 1958 film.Metz (2007), p. 18-25
In I Married a Witch, Wallace Wooley (Fredric March) is a descendant of people who executed witches at the Salem witch trials. As revenge, a witch (Veronica Lake) prepares a love potion for him. She ends up consuming her own potion and falling for her enemy. Her father is against this union. In the film Bell, Book and Candle (1958), modern witch Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) uses a love spell on Shep Henderson (James Stewart) to have a simple fling with him, but she genuinely falls for the man.
Both films were properties of Columbia Pictures, which also owned Screen Gems, the company that produced Bewitched.
Production and broadcasting
Sol Saks received credit as the creator of the show; he wrote the pilot of Bewitched, but was not involved with the show after the pilot. Creator Saks, executive producer Harry Ackerman, and director William Asher started rehearsals for the pilot on November 22, 1963; this coincided with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the swearing in of Lyndon Johnson. Asher felt personally affected by the event, as he knew Kennedy; he had produced the 1962 televised birthday party where Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President".Metz (2007), p. 14-17 The pilot concerned "the occult destabilization of the conformist life of an upwardly mobile advertising man". For that first episode, "I Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha", Academy Award-winning actor José Ferrer served as the narrator. First-season producer and head writer Danny Arnold set the initial style and tone of the series, and he also helped to develop supporting characters such as Larry Tate and the Kravitzes. Arnold, who wrote for McHale's Navy and other shows, thought of Bewitched essentially as a romantic comedy about a mixed marriage; his episodes kept the magic element to a minimum. One or two magical acts drove the plot, but Samantha often solved problems without magic. Many of the first season's episodes were allegorical, using supernatural situations as metaphors for the problems any young couple would face. Though the show was a hit right from the beginning, finishing its first year as the number-two show in the United States, ABC wanted more magic and more farcical plots, which caused battles between Arnold and the network.
In its first season, Bewitched was the ABC's number-one show and the best-rated sitcom among all three networks, coming second in ratings only to Bonanza. Bewitched aired at 9 p.m. Thursday evenings. It was preceded on the air by another sitcom, My Three Sons, and followed by the soap opera Peyton Place. My Three Sons finished 13th in the ratings and Peyton Place ninth. The block formed by the three shows was the strongest ratings grabber in ABC's schedule. Arnold left the show after the first season, leaving producing duties to Jerry Davis, who had already produced some of the first season's episodes (though Arnold was still supervising the writing). The second season was produced by Davis, and with Bernard Slade as head writer, misunderstandings and farce became more prevalent elements, though this season still included a number of more low-key episodes in which the magical element was not strongly emphasized. With the third season and the switch to color, Davis left the show and was replaced as producer by William Froug. Slade also left after the second season. According to William Froug's autobiography, William Asher (who had directed many episodes) wanted to take over as producer when Jerry Davis left, but the production company was not yet ready to approve the idea. Froug, a former producer of Gilligan's Island and the last season of The Twilight Zone, was brought in as a compromise. By his own admission, Froug was not very familiar with Bewitched and found himself in the uncomfortable position of being the official producer, though Asher was making most of the creative decisions. After a year, Froug left the show, and Asher took over as full-time producer of the series for the rest of its run. The first two seasons had aired Thursdays at 9:00, and the time was moved to 8:30 shortly after the third year (1966–1967) had begun. Nevertheless, the ratings for Bewitched remained high and it placed among the top 15 shows through the 1968–69 season. It was the seventh-highest-rated show in the U.S. for 1965–66 and 1966–67. Similarly, it was number 11 the following two years.
At the time, the show had won three Emmy Awards. William Asher won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 1966. Alice Pearce posthumously won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Gladys Kravitz, and Marion Lorne won the same award posthumously in 1968 for her portrayal of Aunt Clara. Producers were faced with how to deal with the deaths of both these actresses. When Pearce died in early 1966, Mary Grace Canfield was hired to play Gladys's sister-in-law Harriet Kravitz in four episodes. Comedienne Alice Ghostley was approached to take over the role of Gladys the next season, but turned it down. Pearce and she were good friends, so Ghostley decided to decline the role out of respect for Pearce. In the fall of 1966, Sandra Gould was hired as Gladys Kravitz. Gould remained with the show until the spring of 1971. After Marion Lorne's death in the spring of 1968, she was not replaced, and the character of Aunt Clara was not seen after the fourth season. Beginning in the show's sixth year, Alice Ghostley was finally used to play the character of Esmeralda, a kind but shy and inept witch who served as a nanny and nursemaid to Darrin and Samantha's children, Tabitha and Adam. (Ghostley had appeared in a similar role as Naomi, an incompetent domestic, hired by Darrin to do housecleaning for a pregnant Samantha in the second-season episode "Maid to Order".) In another notable casting change, Louise Tate, played by Irene Vernon during the first two seasons, was played by Kasey Rogers thereafter.