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by R.J. Carter Published: June 25, 2005
The setup was comedic genius: a mortal man finds his wife is a witch -- complete with magical powers and a large family of weirdly wonderful enchanters. Everyone found an angle to the show that they could relate to, and the series became a perennial favorite. Featuring Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York in the roles that would be the defining point of both their careers, Bewitched was also blessed with perfect casting nearly throughout. Agnes Moorehead was perfect as the wickedly vampish Endora, as was Alice Pearce as the snoopy neighbor Gladys Kravitz who knows that something's odd in the Stephen's household but can never prove it. Bewitched was a groundbreaking show on several fronts, including breaking down such barriers as having Darrin and Samantha be the first couple to be shown sleeping in the same bed, and Endora and Maurice as the first separated couple to be depicted on television. With guest stars like Adam West, Raquel Welch, Arte Johnson, Bill Mumy, and Peggy Lipton, this first season features such pivotal moments as Darrin and Samantha moving into their home across the street from the Kravitzes, the announcement Louise Tate's pregnancy, Samantha's driving lesson (featuring Paul Lynde in his pre-Uncle Arthur days) and the first of several Christmas episodes, in which we learn that not only are witches real -- but so is Santa Claus! This series is the first I've seen to release in two different formats. No, not full screen and widescreen, but rather colorized and (for the purists) the original black and white format. The entire season of thirty-six episodes is spread across four disks, stored in two slimline snap-tite cases that fit snugly in a beautifully designed cardboard slipcase. And now that the complete first season of Bewitched has finally, finally come to DVD, I can set aside the nagging requests for me to look for it. "Howard -- How long until the second season comes out? Sigh. SETUP: This DVD collection comes with some beautifully animated menus -- a different one on each disk -- done in the style of the original series opening credits. And as a testament to the global popularity of the show, the audo of the collection can be set to English, Spanish, and Portguese -- with subtitles in Spanish, Portugese, Chinese, and Thai. Bizarrely, there are no English subtitles, which is a rather glaringly obvious omission. PREVIEWS: On disk four, you can select previews of theatrical release of the Bewitched movie, and DVD releases of The Partridge Family first season, The Brooke Ellison Story and D.E.B.S. SPECIAL FEATURES: "The Magic Unveiled: Part One" Sol Saks and William Asher give some behind the scenes secrets of getting the show on the air? Did it promote Satanism? If it did, they'd never have been able to get Agnes Moorehead, the daughter of a minister and a strong fundamentalist Christian, to play Endora. The birth of the twitch, working with Elizabeth -- even some soundbytes from Kasey Rogers and the now-grown Erin Murphy highlight this special feature. Over 15 minutes of total footage. "Magic and Mishaps" This starts out looking like a collection of clips -- but it's a very entertaining collection of pointing out the flubs and blunders that have passed by viewers without a discerning eye. Prop failures, boom mic shadows, and unexplained changes of scenery. These are just the kind of things that television nitpickers live for. (Speaking of bloopers, the list of episodes incorrectly identifies Maurice Evans's character of Samantha's father as Victor!) Also included is a series of clips showing all the special guest stars that appeared during the first season. Nearly 8 minutes of footage.
Cast Trivia: Elizabeth Montgomery played investigative newspaper reporter Edna Buchanan in what might have become a series of television movies. She also provided the narration for two politically charged documentaries. She died of cancer in 1995. Dick York went on to play Bertram T. Cates in the dramatization of the Scopes Monkey Trial, Inherit the Wind. He died of emphysema in 1992. David White continued acting until his death in 1990. He played the first J. Jonah Jameson seen in live action in 1977's TV movie, The Amazing Spider-Man. Agnes Moorehead had her first acting role in 1941, in no less of a classic than Citizen Kane, playing Mary Kane. She died of lung cancer in 1974. |
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