Bewitched (TV Series - 1964)

When I wrote an essay about Bewitched, I was able to see a very different side of the show that had entertained me for years. The show is pretty easy to find, (on YouTube, Crackle, Netflix, etc.) Which is one of the reasons I started watching, but after a few episodes with very similar plots of 'Darrin says no, Samantha does anyway, Darrin gets mad, Sam fixes things' it started to lose some of the appeal. Especially because it seemed like all the show did was make fun of witches and show Samantha constantly following commands.

But, even then, it still had moments that made it funny or entertaining, so I watched anyway.

But, after analyzing it further I can say that Bewitched is more than what I had seen it as before. It was a commentary against stereotypes, using the 'witches are ugly' one to literally set up protests for the characters against these incorrect views, demanding for better understanding.

And one point that I really had never thought about before, the women are the strongest characters. Well, maybe not Mrs. Kravitz. But, Endora and Serena are powerful witches living the free and easy life, fluttering from one place to another or one man to another or one time to another. Mrs. Tate, may not be a witch but she certainly has pull on her husband Larry Tate and has a good grip on their household.

And let's not forget that the show went on for eight seasons, and Samantha was in the process of giving up magic the entire time. So, Darrin may have been saying 'no magic', but there was always magic. Another thing that I don't think I appreciated, and I think it is because I didn't get it at the time, is that it was Samantha's choice to give up magic. He didn't ask her to, she made the choice to.

I like Samantha's character. She is smart and creative, she is also much more forgiving of Darrin that I am. Louise Tate is another character I like. Endora has bite and while she obviously doesn't get why Samantha gave her magic either, she never stops loving her daughter or stops supporting her. She is always there when needed. I liked the first Mrs. Kravitz, the second just wasn't the same. But, still in those seasons with the original, this was one of the few shows where I liked all the women, but not the men.

Larry Tate was a skirt chaser (it never shows him acting on it, but certainly makes it seem like he might), some episodes more than others, and that just never seemed right. Meanwhile, Darrin was a hypocrite shouting, 'no magic, don't use magic, no matter what you can't use magic', then as soon as it was convenient for him, 'oh honey, use your magic'. One episode they are going to dinner and she is running late so she uses magic to get ready faster, he starts lecturing her. On the way he starts lecturing her, for the entire drive he is going on about self-control and other people can't use magic. And he goes on and on, even making her promise to not use magic. Then, the minute he gets a flat tire he looks to her to use magic. He even gets mad at her then when she doesn't. That is the one thing that annoyed me the most about the show, he only wanted her to use magic when it was convenient for him.

Still, I think there are many things that remain interesting about the show and I think I would still recommend the seasons with the original Darrin and Mrs. Kravitz. The rest as well, perhaps, but I haven't seen a lot of the later ones, so I can't say definitively on those.