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CBS GREEN LIGHTS NEW "BEWITCHED" PILOT

gregg75

gregg75

Huh, from the producers of the movie adaptation.

Very few movies have ever resulted in my getting angry about how bad its script was. This was one of those movies.
 
The charm of "Bewitched," was largely due to Elizabeth Montgomery. The wacky set of supporting cast, especially Agnes Moorehead were also excellent. Had they not had those two I doubt somehow "Betwitched" would've succeeded.
 
Whats the deal with CBS and old shows. First Hawaii 50 and now Bewtiched. Whats next? Green Acres, Beverlly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction. Wonder if CBS remembers these shows?
 
Robnoxious said:
Mmmmm, Elizabeth Montgomery.
Now that was a well bulit woman.
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She's okay. She's no Aneta Corsaut, though. ;)
 
She was really a great actress too well after Bewitched ended it's run on TV. Why can't they leave the classic tv shows alone. FWIW the remake movie was horrible. The "Magic" of the original cast of the show couldn't be recreated in a million years so why bother?
 
Actually, "Bewitched" has been successfully recreated in a number of countries. India, Argentina, Chile, and Japan have all had successful relaunches of Bewitched. Japan's ("Okusama wa Majo") is especially interesting because they did it as a 45-minute drama instead of a 25-minute sitcom. The only confirmed failure of a relaunch was in Britain, where the BBC passed on a pilot with Sheridan Smith as Samantha, Tom Price as Darrin, and Frances de la Tour as Endora.

If CBS were to approach it as something akin to "How I Met Your Mother," a sitcom with continuing storylines and some serious undertones, I think it could flourish. It would be distinct enough from the original to not be a carbon copy.
 
It just goes to show you nobody can come up with his or her own ideas any more. Just check all the remade songs out there from years gone by. Bewitched was a good show in the 60s and early 70s but the character actors and writing back then will never be duplicated. I agree with the other posters, please just let it be, and come up with something original, and I DO NOT MEAN MORE FREAKIN REALITY SHOWS!!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!
 
Pab Sungenis said:
If CBS were to approach it as something akin to "How I Met Your Mother," a sitcom with continuing storylines and some serious undertones, I think it could flourish. It would be distinct enough from the original to not be a carbon copy.
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I think that you're right about that -- although the challenge with any remake is that gender roles have changed pretty dramatically since the original "Bewitched" aired, which could present challenges in how they handle the relationship between Darin and Sam, including Sam's repeated (broken) promises not to use witchcraft. If they can work around that issue and bring in people who actually respect the original, the results could be worth watching.

Unfortunately, the other side of this is that the record on sitcom remakes (primarily as movies) hasn't been especially good -- for every "Brady Bunch Movie" and "Adams Family", which were successfully updated, we got stuck with turkeys like the "Bewitched" movie, as well as the horrid "McHale's Navy" and "My Favorite Martian" films.
 
Assuming this new Bewitched sit-com makes it to the air....it might be nice if they could find a place for Barbara Eden....possibly as an elderly relative of Samantha's....."Aunt Clara", perhaps even "Endora"

They might also try to get Steve Carrell to reprise his role as "Uncle Arthur", from the movie.
 
TexasTom said:
I think that you're right about that -- although the challenge with any remake is that gender roles have changed pretty dramatically since the original "Bewitched" aired, which could present challenges in how they handle the relationship between Darin and Sam, including Sam's repeated (broken) promises not to use witchcraft. If they can work around that issue and bring in people who actually respect the original, the results could be worth watching.
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There are some bad fan subs of "Okusama Wa Majo" (with the English subtitle "Bewitched In Tokyo") on YouTube if you'd like to see how to handle the gender role issue.

In the Japanese version, Arisia (the Samantha analogue) is bored with life as a witch and pledges to go live as a mortal. It's AFTER this decision that she falls in love with Joji (the Darrin analogue) and decides to marry him. The decision to give up magic is not forced upon her by her husband, it's something she chooses to do. This is probably the only thing that the feature film got right, making it the Witch's decision to give up magic.

In a revival today, Darrin's attitude toward magic would probably be more like the approach taken by Dick Sargent in the role: accepting of his wife's difference even though he doesn't want her to use magic to help him. More of being uncomfortable with her use of magic than forbidding it. After all, what can a man (or woman for that matter) bring to a relationship when the other half can get or do anything they want with no effort at all? Relationships are supposed to be collaborative. That's where the drama aspects come in, not in "I'm your husband and I forbid you to do this."

One other thing: in the original version all of Samantha and Darrin's courtship was condensed into a two minute montage and then we join them on their wedding night. It might be more interesting if the revival started with a meet-cute and followed the two of them on their courtship for the first season culminating in the wedding. It might be more fun following Darrin Stephens and Samantha Waters (or Samantha Dobson, depending upon which version of the continuity you prefer) for a while before they become Samantha and Darrin Stephens.
 
smaug07 said:
It just goes to show you nobody can come up with his or her own ideas any more. Just check all the remade songs out there from years gone by.
Click to expand...
Actually, it does no such thing. The over generalization ignores that there are far more non-remakes/covers/etc. than there are re-dos. The latter simply gets a greater share of the attention, and whining.

smaug07 said:
I agree with the other posters, please just let it be, and come up with something original, and I DO NOT MEAN MORE FREAKIN REALITY SHOWS!!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!
Click to expand...
Simple solution: if people stop watching in enough numbers, they diminish in number. But then again, such hyperbole conttinues to ignore al that is original (and non-reality).
 
There will always be remakes, and there always have. I love OTR and I recall the first time I listened to "My Favorite Husband," I was stunned as almost all the radio shows were remade into "I Love Lucy." And the scripts were used, line by line, in many case, without changing any dialog.

This is one thing that surprises me, that no one is going back into OTR and using those scripts. They are FUNNY. No one remembers them, well hardly anyone anyway, so why not use those ideas?

The thing I liked about "Bewitched" was how Samantha had to use her wits over her magic in a lot of cases. She couldn't undo other witches spells so she had to use her head to walk the line, and get the other witches to reverse their curse, so to speak.
 
IMHO, the original sitcom was too silly to watch. I can't imagine how much the writers/actors could "improve" to make it watchable.
 
imhomerjay said:
smaug07 said:
It just goes to show you nobody can come up with his or her own ideas any more. Just check all the remade songs out there from years gone by.
Click to expand...
Actually, it does no such thing. The over generalization ignores that there are far more non-remakes/covers/etc. than there are re-dos. The latter simply gets a greater share of the attention, and whining.

smaug07 said:
I agree with the other posters, please just let it be, and come up with something original, and I DO NOT MEAN MORE FREAKIN REALITY SHOWS!!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!
Click to expand...
Simple solution: if people stop watching in enough numbers, they diminish in number. But then again, such hyperbole conttinues to ignore al that is original (and non-reality).
Click to expand...

New revenue streams beyond advertising, cable syndication, or ticket sales. New platforms, from your 5" AMOLED smartphone screen to your 58" LED HDTV, fed by something called a Boxee or 'Apple TV'.

The chase of new money using tried and true creative ideas. Is it really that hard for people to understand?
 
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