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Bewitched Complete Series Box set? (1 Viewer)

Mark Collins

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I am sort of excited about this. Antenna TV has just begun the first year. I just hope they do the new series right!http://www.bewitched.net/https://www.google.com/search?q=bewitched&sa=N&biw=1024&bih=644&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=yStJVInpJZL3yQTRt4KIDg&ved=0CCEQsAQ4CgBunch of old promos which I know every Bewitched fan must have seenhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wODagatG2khttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Sxm2AnFXUHow great it would have been if Elizabeth were still with us and could show up from time to time on this new show. Her TV movies after Bewitched makes me think she might have gone into films later. Her body of work after Bewitched was stellar.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awbro8Z3mug
 

Mark Collins

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The whole series for 30 bucks at Amazon is really a fantastic buy. I am tempted. I prefer B&W and would like the original openings for each season which I know we all talked about here.What episodes were pulled? They speak of 3 and my memory on this is not clear.Oh well as I said before I wish the new series well.
 

Mark Collins

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I went for it. That price is just to good at Amazon. I read the reviews and most about it here. I just do not think we will ever see a BD of the show. Extras and all the rest. They should have done it for this year.So now I own the 3 ABC series that I watched as a kid that debuted in 1964. Voyage Bewitched and with two from Shout and my recordings Peyton Place. PP of course I look for this year or early 2015.I just love to many Bewitched episodes. I always loved how they celebrated Halloween Thanksgiving and Christmas on the show.I also cannot wait to see the Julie Newmar episode from 1972 which I remember watching when it aired.Now I can pick and choose the best from each season. So here once again which I saw posted here the song Bewitched.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJPdu4HmOMQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV_kYchQvbQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG-CY5oOZe4Did not know about the Salem Statue.
 

Gary Seven

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Costco had the boxed set for 29.99 a few weeks ago. I picked it up since it was a cheap price. Unfortunately, the first two seasons are colorized. However, this week I saw Best Buy had the first two seasons in original black and white for 9.99. I picked it up and saw one episode last night. The image and sound was quite acceptable on my 65" Panny.
 

Garysb

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Gary Seven said:
I saw Best Buy had the first two seasons in original black and white for 9.99. I picked it up and saw one episode last night. The image and sound was quite acceptable on my 65" Panny.
I assume what you bought was the 2 season Mill Creek set. Since unlike the Sony sets for Seasons 1 and 2, the Mill Creek set does not contain the copyright for the colorized sets, I wonder if Mill Creek used the original B&W masters instead of the colorized ones with the color turned off, which many believe Sony used in it's sets.
 

Gary Seven

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yes... they are Mill Creek.

Before the purchase, I was turning the color off the colorized eps, which I found inconvenient.

They put many eps on a single disc (Mill Creek) but they are still quite good in viewing. I'm not too picky when it comes to Bewitched. While I like the show, I wouldn't have bought it except 30 bucks for all seasons of uncut eps was hard to pass up.
 

Mark Collins

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Congratulations Bewitched on the 50th anniversary September 17th 1964!http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057733/triviaI can now remember watching Bell Book And Candle on our local ABC feed. During the movie they showed promos for Bewitched. Never before was there a program such as this. The audience loved it and we watched season after season.The show stirs my Dark Shadows roots and yes believe it or not Peyton Place. Peyton Place 1966 Susan Howard states to Ed Nelson "should I twitch my nose to clean up the mess". Just dish washing she meant but I was so surprised to hear that Peyton Place was paying homage to Bewitched.Angelique turns Joshua into a cat on Dark Shadows 1967. I call it the Bewitched episode and it was never done again. DS also tipped their hat to Bewitched.There is a great promo for Bewitched and The Ghost and Mrs Muir which were paired together on Thursday nights. The commercial on DS VHS 54 fan favorites the last episode has it.I really was surprised to read here that Bewitched was renewed for 3 more seasons. I only knew of one. How they would have gone against the tide of the Lear comedies.Well here is the last I think of the words to Bewitched once more.
 

bretmaverick2

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And in other "Bewitched" news - NBC is prepping a new sitcom that focuses on the grandchild of Samantha and Darrin!!!!

They haven't said if the child would be Adam's daughter or Tabitha's daughter but who would have thought that would ever happen?? Especially after initiall reports were that it was gonna be a new version of the original. Now we may get a continuation!!

Umm, I just hope it skips that "Tabitha" curse!!!
 

Gary Seven

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Based on what I read, apparently the theme of the show will be quite different. The grandchild will live a "happy, dreamy life" because of her powers but will long for true love since she cannot ascertain it with those powers.
 

Garysb

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As the original series ran out of plot ideas and did remakes of earlier episodes I wonder where they could go with the this. Also since witches on the show don't age or age very slowly i wonder how they will explain that Samantha and Endora don't visit their granddaughter/ great granddaughter. Or will the characters be recast? Good idea / Bad idea ? Worked for the Star Trek movies. I think I prefer recast of existing characters to having new characters show up that act as replacements . Aunt Clara / Esmerelda for example. The granddaughter's name will be Daphne. First witch on Bewitched not to have a name that ends in "a". Described as a 20 something witch. Sounds like the Tabitha series. Hopefully they won't have someone telling her she can't use her magic. That idea has been run into the ground. Though she will probably find using her magic causes her more problems then it solves. Will Tabitha have married a mortal? Hopefully not. On the original series they said that Darren was unique ( even if he was played by 2 actors). That was one of the reasons given for not killing off the character and having Samantha fall in love with someone else when Dick York left the series. They should keep it that way.
 

Mark Collins

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I did a marathon of the first episodes last night and they look great. You see a great deal of material that of course is edited on syndication. Many episodes are new and fresh to me because I have not watched the show in years. I was so very surprised how well that held up and do not look dated.

I remember reading as a kid when their set burned downed but I believe they were filming the Salem shows while it was rebuilt.

I did go to the Julie Newmar episode first though from the last season and loved that. Man that price from Amazon is fantastic.
 

Mark Collins

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Man tonight I watched the first Halloween episode with Aunt Clara!!!! I always loved her. The Thanksgiving episode is a classic and seldom mentioned. I always loved when she stood with Sam and Darren who were at odds with Sam's family. I cannot wait to find that episode.

I only saw a few episodes of the spin off but now I am thinking about it. Man I can see why ABC was so happy with the show!! Sorry but remember Peyton Place was also grabbing ratings right the same night. Voyage too!!
 

Ron Lee Green

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Mark Collins said:
I did go to the Julie Newmar episode first though from the last season and loved that.
Did you know that the Julie Newmar episode (episode 240: "The Eight Year Itch-Witch") was a remake of an earlier b&w episode (episode #11: "It Takes One to Know One")? They even repeat the same lines!
The popular notion is that the writers were running out of ideas, but I also read somewhere that the reason why they remade a number of the earlier episodes was because the producers didn't think the b&w episodes would sell well in syndication because color was more desirable so they redid them (the show switched to color in its third season).
Turns out they were right! Throughout most of the 1980s, the b&w episodes were withheld from the syndication package. Only seasons 3 to 8 were shown for many years.
Finally, in 1989, Nick at Nite brought them back on the air.
Then, the studio ended up colorizing the b&w episodes circa 1999, but I prefer them in b&w because I find the colorization too distracting.
 

Garysb

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Ron Lee Green said:
Did you know that the Julie Newmar episode (episode 240: "The Eight Year Itch-Witch") was a remake of an earlier b&w episode (episode #11: "It Takes One to Know One")? They even repeat the same lines!
The popular notion is that the writers were running out of ideas, but I also read somewhere that the reason why they remade a number of the earlier episodes was because the producers didn't think the b&w episodes would sell well in syndication because color was more desirable so they redid them (the show switched to color in its third season).
Turns out they were right! Throughout most of the 1980s, the b&w episodes were withheld from the syndication package. Only seasons 3 to 8 were shown for many years.
Finally, in 1989, Nick at Nite brought them back on the air.
Then, the studio ended up colorizing the b&w episodes circa 1999, but I prefer them in b&w because I find the colorization too distracting.
I don't think the B&W episodes were a problem at the time the show was made through 1972. Many people still had B&W sets and color TVs were still expensive and the color was not anywhere as good as it is today. The show, including the B&W episodes were shown on ABC daytime. It was only later, as you said, in the 1980's that the B&W episodes were removed from syndication. I remember when Nik at Night began showing them that they promoted them as not having been seen in 10 years. In fact I don't recall any other show doing remakes or being known for doing this like Bewitched was. I am surprised they didn't do clip shows instead of remakes. What removing the first two seasons of the show did do was make the number of Dick York episodes about equal to the number of Dick Sargent shows. In this way one was not overshadowed by the other and many people who watched the show in syndication actual prefer Dick Sargent . In my opinion the show should have ended after 5 years. At the time most sitcoms ran for about 5 or 6 years and were done. There were exceptions such as Ozzie and Harriett and Donna Reed but even I Love Lucy ended after 6 years. The funny thing was when they introduced a new idea, they didn't do much with it. An example was when they made Samantha Queen of the Witches. They had an episode where she became Queen, another where Serena pretended to be Samantha as Queen, and that was it. Later on they mentioned she was a former Queen.
 

LeoA

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The only other episode that was remade that I can even recall outside of this series was Petticoat Junction with their Christmas episode. Minus slight variations in characters and being in color, the latter episode is nearly a line for line remake of a season 1 B&W episode.

But Bewitched stayed around for too long. 5 seasons would've been best, I think. But lasting longer probably helped it in syndication since only three color seasons being available might've hindered it.

Despite the tv situation in 1970 where B&W was dominant still, CBS with Petticoat Junction seemed to have realized before the series finished that it was likely going to be the color seasons that would have syndication value in the future. I believe in an interview in one of the PJ DVD's, it's even said that getting a 5th color season for syndication is why CBS commissioned a 7th season instead of cancelling it.

So it wouldn't shock me if similar thoughts played a role in the many remakes on Bewitched to future proof it and save money at the same time.
 

classicmovieguy

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LeoA said:
The only other episode that was remade that I can even recall outside of this series was Petticoat Junction with their Christmas episode. Minus slight variations in characters and being in color, the latter episode is nearly a line for line remake of a season 1 B&W episode.

But Bewitched stayed around for too long. 5 seasons would've been best, I think. But lasting longer probably helped it in syndication since only three color seasons being available might've hindered it.
I believe Bill Asher and Elizabeth Montgomery both wanted to end "Bewitched" much earlier but the network still wanted the show, and offered Elizabeth part ownership of the show as part of a new contract.
 

Mark Collins

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Still love to binge Bewitched. Working a project and I watch 18 episodes of the first color year 1966. Did not know or forgot they mention what went on in the last episode aired and it was not a two part episode.







 

Mark Collins

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I purchased the Sony condensed version with the first 2 years in color. Wanted to make that clear.
 

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