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WHICH WAS BETTER ---- I DREAM OF JEANIE OR BEWITCHED ?

A little off-topic, but I was reading something about Agnes
Moorehead the other day which said that she and Elizabeth
Montgomery hit it off beautifully. It didn't say what she
thought of Dick York, but apparently she didn't care for Dick
Sargent; she said he was "in his own little world". I can tell
you that I think she and Dick York played off each other better
than she and Dick Sargent.

I also have to mention a story which I may have told before:
in 1967 ABC had a daytime talk and gossip show, "Dateline:
Hollywood" (where America first saw Rona Barrett, who did the
gossip segment and eventually became hostess). But at the
time this story takes place, Joanna Barnes was the show's hostess;
taping an interview with Ms. Moorehead, they got into a shouting
match and from what I've read they must have come close to punching
each other out. ABC refused to air the show. Fast forward a couple
of years: Ms. Moorehead is on "The Dick Cavett Show" and he can't
be polite enough (just as he called Alfred Hitchcock "Mr. Hitchcock"
instead of "Hitch," as many who knew him called him). I don't know
what that says, except perhaps as a reflection of the personalities
of two different talk-show hosts, but certainly a distinguished actress
like Agnes Moorehead deserved the treatment she got from Cavett
(and I would hope that if I had ever had a chance to interview her or Maurice
Evans, I would treat them the way Cavett would).
 
searadiofreak said:
Hate to be the party-pooper here, but didn't care for either. This was the era of sillly, over the top sitcoms that had very little to do with reality. Perhaps I was too young to appreciate. I find the sitcoms from the 80's and 90's were much more relatable, and funnier for that reason. However, I know the 60's was a tough decade, and people were looking to escape. I totally get that. ( BTW, both Barbara Eden and Elizibeth Montgomery were quite talented, and Montgomery, who also did some quality movie work, died too young for sure.)

You're absolutely right. Neither show was anything more than silly escapism. But I have to say - as a hormonal 12 year old boy, I loved watching Elizabeth Montgomery. She had a cool beauty that I appreciated, and she portrayed Samantha in a low key way - not as some over the top comic buffoon. To me, Jeannie was more the buffoon, and Barbara Eden was hampered by Jeannie's lame way of talking and all that "master" stuff.
 
Bewitched is my choice because as a teenager I thought Liz Montgomery was drop dead gorgeous. (Not that Barbara Eden is a slosh). However I do agree with another poster that both shows started to get long in the tooth after so many years on the air. After a while the writing gets stale. Besides Bewitched was never the same without Dick York.
 
Who'd you rather be stranded on an island with?

Both shows were from Screen Gems (Columbia Pictures) and the same suits oversaw both. In some ways the premise of Bewitched holds up better and is still being recycled (see Medium). Bewitched also had a more interesting ensemble supporting cast (Agnes Morehead, Paul Lynde, Marion Lorne, Maurice Evans and of course, David White). But Larry Hagman was better than both Darrens (put together).

But, for a night of pure lust and abandon: Barbara Eden. For long-term (albeit passionate) relationship: Liz Montgomery. Although Tabitha (the straight one) grew up to be a woman I could really fall for.
 
Jeannie. No contest (although it was admittedly a one-joke plot compared to Bewitched).
 
In terms of writing and a more intelligent character, you'd have to go with Bewitched. In terms of who was better looking and had more sex appeal, you'd have to go with Jeannie. Even then, as a teeanager, I'd yell at the screen at Tony Nelson saying "man, don't you realize what you have here? She'll do anything you want...look anyway you want her to...and all you want her to do is stay in her bottle?" Now picture Samantha doing that. Shows where my young brain was. ;D
 
Castleman and Podrazik have mentioned the fact that in 1965 there
were three shows about female empowerment: "Bewitched," "Jeannie,"
and one called "Mona McCluskey," about a movie star who makes $5000
a week and whose husband, an Air Force sergeant, makes $500 a month
and insists they live on his salary. The two authors mention that on all
three shows the man does not want the woman to utilize her advantages,
which they think is crazy; Samantha and Jeannie can conjure up just about
anything the men in their lives desire (except, probably, another woman :),
and Mona can buy it. So why don't Darrin, Major Nelson, and Sgt. McCluskey
take it and enjoy it? Even if they split with the women in their lives, they still
had a big time for awhile. Maybe that's '60s mentality, but I'd just be willing to
bet that today the husband of a sitcom witch, genie, or movie star would not
hesitate one minute to enjoy what he had.
 
bpatrick said:
Castleman and Podrazik have mentioned the fact that in 1965 there
were three shows about female empowerment: "Bewitched," "Jeannie,"
and one called "Mona McCluskey," about a movie star who makes $5000
a week and whose husband, an Air Force sergeant, makes $500 a month
and insists they live on his salary. The two authors mention that on all
three shows the man does not want the woman to utilize her advantages,
which they think is crazy; Samantha and Jeannie can conjure up just about
anything the men in their lives desire (except, probably, another woman :),
and Mona can buy it. So why don't Darrin, Major Nelson, and Sgt. McCluskey
take it and enjoy it? Even if they split with the women in their lives, they still
had a big time for awhile. Maybe that's '60s mentality, but I'd just be willing to
bet that today the husband of a sitcom witch, genie, or movie star would not
hesitate one minute to enjoy what he had.


I often wondered about that at the time, and I was only a kid. The answer to your question is - 90% of men in that 1960s pre-feminist era would have asked Samantha or Jeannie to conjure or wish them up riches beyond their wildest dreams without a moment's hesitation.

So I don't think it was about the 60s mentality versus modern thinking. Remember, this was TV - and fantasy TV at that. Script ideas would have run out pretty quickly if Darren had said - "Sam, nose-wiggle us $100 million dollars, so I can tell that Larry guy to drop dead."
 
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