Here we are exactly one month since BW S.7 was released and I'm ready for Bewitched's Eighth, and final, Season to be announced! I know it won't happen probably until the end of summer, because I'm thinking it'll be released in December, but who knows? We could get lucky...Anyway, I think it’s time to discuss the particulars of Season 8.
There were not any cast additions or switching of actors during the Eighth Season though there were cast exclusions including Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur, Sandra Gould as Mrs. Kravitz, George Tobias as Abner Kravitz, Mabel Albertson as Mrs. Stephens, Roy Roberts and Robert F. Simon as Mr. Stephens – their characters simply didn’t show up in this final season.
Also seemingly excluded was Elizabeth Montgomery’s enthusiasm for the show. It is glaringly obvious by the look in her rolling eyes that she was done being America’s favorite witch. And after having played the role for so long it is understandable. Another contributing factor to EM’s restlessness was the fact that her marriage to BW’s main director William Asher was beginning to crumble.
Another exclusion this season was that of inventiveness and originality on the part of the writers and the set decorators, the latter mentioned by virtue of the horrible sets used for some of the Europe episodes. Unbelievably almost 2/3 of the 26 episodes of this season are direct remakes of previous episodes, some even being word for word remakes! Even with all this it is interesting to note that the BW cast and crew had signed on to do episodes up through a 10th season!! Thankfully we were spared of anything worse than what comes in Season 8 by EM deciding that she had had enough and it was time to quit. Also during this season Agnes Moorehead was becoming quite ill with the effects of cancer and in fact would pass away a mere two years after the end of BW.
It was also during this season that ABC switched their schedule and BW was put on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM EST after having dominated Thursdays for the past seven years. And actually it was switched again (beginning with Episode #244: “Samantha is Earthbound” on January 15, 1972) to Saturday nights at 8 PM directly opposite of All in the Family on CBS. BW would remain at this time for the rest of it’s run. The last first run episode aired on 3/25/72 and re-runs would air until July 1, 1972 when BW was pulled from the schedule. There wasn’t a typical series finale which is too bad as it seemed the series really deserved one considering it started out so great. If anything the last episode should’ve been something spectacular like the Witches’ Council seemingly getting rid of Durwood for good only for Samantha to prove her love for him and then have it end with the same narrator from the first episode ending it with “…and they lived happily ever after” (considering it began with “Once upon a time…”). All we get for a last episode is a redo of a far superior second season episode…oh well! And as another kick in the pants the series ended ranked #72 in the ratings according to Variety (May 24, 1972), quite embarrassing for a series once topping the charts as #2.
There were some minor visual changes this season. For one, EM had suddenly gone ‘hippie chick’ (or is that chic?) with her long hair parted in the middle, short skirts, and no bra. That last item she had actually been doing since about the sixth season. I mention this as, one, it’s sorta hot, but two, there is a funny circumstance that EM related about this. During the filming of “Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster”, where her ‘freeness’ is quite visible, EM was smoking on a break when an ash fell on her blouse and started it on fire. She was about to take off the blouse when she realized she had no other covering and everyone was looking at her so she just pat the fire out. Another change was quite minor to the opening credits and that was the addition of the announcer saying “Elizabeth Montgomery in...Bewitched.” In syndication whenever the Dick Sargent years would roll around these Eighth Season credits were used and so it’s always been assumed that they’ve always had the announcer but that is not the case.
Also this season the show began to be produced by EM and BA’s production company Ashmont Productions, whose name appeared at the end of the credits. It’s interesting that though their personal life was in shambles they ventured into business together. Ashmont Productions would produce a few more series including the short lived The Paul Lynde Show.
Now, all though it may seem like I absolutely detest this season, I don’t. I do recognize that it is mainly remakes but there are some good ones among them and so at this point let’s discuss the episodes.
#229: “How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII” (Part I) 9/15/71 – While touring the Tower of London on vacation in Europe, Samantha comes across a warlock imprisoned in a painting. Feeling sorry for him she releases him to the displeasure of his “jailer”, the witch Malvina, whom he had cheated on centuries before. Malvina zaps him back and as punishment sends Samantha back to the time of King Henry VIII with no memory of who or what she is. Endora tells Durwood that the only way to return Samantha to the present is for him to go back in time and kiss her, thus restoring her memory and her powers. She sends him back to her daughter’s rescue, which she is in desperate need of as the King has a yen for this new lass in his court as he has just executed one of his most recent wives.
Laurie Main plays the Tour Guide at the Tower of London. He was one of AM’s close friends.
This episode and it’s second part are partial remakes of Season Five’s “Samantha Goes South for a Spell” and Season Seven’s “Samantha’s Old Salem Trip.”
#230: “How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII” (Part II) 9/22/71 – Durwood makes his way to Henry VIII’s castle when he hears Samantha singing. He disguises himself as a servant and tries to get Samantha to kiss him. When she protests, loudly, the King finds out and throws Durwood into jail. He calls on Endora who pops in but cannot rescue him with magic as she claims she doesn’t have any powers because she hasn’t been born yet. She manages to hypnotize the jailer (and unwittingly Durwood too) and she springs her son-in-law. They attend the King’s masked ball where Endora suggests that Durwood and the King have a wrestling match and when Durwood is hurt, Samantha kisses him thus restoring her memory. She zaps herself, her mother and Durwood back to the present.
#231: “Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster” 9/29/71 – Samantha and Durwood now move the vacation to Scotland to visit Durwood’s cousin Robbie who owns a hotel near Loch Ness, home of the famed sea monster. Robbie tells them that there hasn’t been a sighting of the monster in ages. Just then the monster pops up out of the water causing Durwood and Robbie to faint. Samantha tells the monster to knock it off and get back in the water. It turns out the monster is really Warlock Bruce in disguise, not by his choice, but courtesy of Serena who long ago had changed him into the monster she thought he was acting like. Later on Samantha finds that a German Baron is going to find the monster and kill it in order to get a substantial monetary reward. Not wanting Bruce to get hurt Samantha asks Serena to change him back. She does so but ends up being turned into a mermaid when Bruce wants to exact revenge.
Steve Franken (Bruce) cited this as his favorite role on BW at the 2008 BW Fanfare in Los Angeles. This episode, though quite entertaining solely for Serena, is a prime example of how far BW had dropped in terms of quality. The Loch Ness Monster looks like an elementary grade paper mache project and Serena’s mermaid tail is merely a rubber suit that looks like it could’ve been purchased at the K-Mart Blue Light special. Also, with these Europe episodes none of them were actually filmed in Europe like the Salem episodes were. Instead we are treated to stock footage of the various places with title placards to tell us where we are…very sad indeed.
#232: “Samantha’s Not-So-Leaning Tower of Pisa” 10/6/71 – The Stephenses now find themselves in Italy near the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Esmeralda pops in with news from home and reveals that she is the cause of the Tower leaning and she has felt bad about it ever since. Meanwhile, Larry has shown up with an Italian client who takes a liking to Esmeralda. Before he can make any advances, Durwood suggests that Samantha take Esmeralda away as she keeps on fading out. Still feeling bad about the Tower Esmeralda decides it’s time to right her mistake and casts a spell which rights the tower. Of course, all of Italy is amazed at this miracle and it causes the client to forget about his business dealings with McMann and Tate. Samantha and Durwood insist that she make it lean again as it’s the biggest source of income for the area. As she can’t recall the spell Samantha travels back in time with her to the moment when she made it lean and she does so again. Back in the present things have returned to normal and now Esmeralda has much more confidence.
Again, another example of how poor the quality of the show had gone. The Leaning Tower is simply a cardboard cutout!
#233: “Bewitched, Bothered and Baldoni” 10/13/71 – Now in Rome, Durwood is irritated when Endora shows up while they are touring a museum. Samantha finds out that Endora has shown up because she wants to protect her daughter from being hurt by Durwood, whom she thinks will go wild with all the beautiful women in the romantic city of Rome. Samantha assures her mother she has nothing to worry about. To prove her point, Endora brings a statue of the Goddess Venus alive. When Durwood meets Venus, who calls herself Vanessa, he is smitten and suggests to Samantha that they hire her as their maid while in Rome. When Samantha sees that Larry and the client are also smitten she suspects her mother has been messing around and when she hears that the statue of Venus is missing, she knows her mother has been messing around. She pops into the museum and brings to life Adonis whom she brings back to the villa. Once Venus sees Adonis the two are inseparable and her spell is broken over the men.
This episode is actually quite good in the fact that the sexy vixen Venus shows the most skin ever on an episode of BW by coming out of a room with ONLY a maid’s apron on! And Samantha’s reaction to her is priceless! By the way, Francine York who portrays Venus is not related to Dick York.
Al Molinaro portrays the Museum Guide. He is famous to TV viewers as Al from “Happy Days.”
#234: “Paris, Witches’ Style” 10/20/71 – Now moving over to Paris on their trip Samantha finds out from her mother that Maurice is furious that Samantha didn’t come to visit him in London where he lives. Endora warns that Maurice is going to show up and he is under the impression that Durwood is the reason for Samantha not visiting. Endora zaps up a fake Durwood who is overtly nice to Maurice. When the real Durwood comes in and ruins the charade Maurice is furious and is about to obliterate him when Endora craftily changes Durwood into a bust of Napoleon. Maurice sees this new object and busts it into a million pieces and when Samantha begs him to restore her husband he claims he doesn’t have the strength. That is until Endora threatens to move in with him to nurse him back to health.
This episode is almost a direct remake of the First Season episode “Just One Happy Family” when Durwood first met Maurice. It is also the episode we get to see Picasso’s rendition of Maurice. It should be noted this is the first time since the Sixth Season that we have seen Maurice. I must say, though, that the black smoke effect when Maurice first appears is really awesome!
#235: “The Ghost Who Made a Spectre of Himself” 10/27/71 – Samantha and Durwood end up back in England for the last leg of their trip at a haunted castle courtesy of Larry and Louise Tate who wanted to spend some time with the Stephenses. Samantha meets the castle ghost, Harry, who takes a liking to her. When she refuses his advances he possesses Durwood’s body. Samantha, seeing through this, will have nothing to do with him and Larry and Louise believe that their friends are having a marital spat. Harry, still in Durwood’s body, decides to give up on Samantha and starts making passes at Louise. Now the Tate’s really think Durwood has flipped! Samantha summons up Harry’s lover from when he was living and he leaves Durwood’s body. Samantha and Durwood explain away Durwood’s irrational behavior as being tired and they decide to go back to America.
#236: “TV or Not TV” 11/3/71 – Watching the Steamboat Bill Show, Tabitha gets upset by the Punch and Judy puppets, specifically by Punch always hitting Judy, especially when Adam mimics him and hits Tabitha. She pops into the show to lecture the puppets and Durwood happens to be watching the show which is sponsored by a client. Unfortunately the client loves the addition of the little girl and wants to know who she is and when he later meets Tabitha at the Stephenses he recognizes her and insists she be on the show. When Tabitha tires of the grind of filming a TV series Samantha casts a spell on the client’s wife who insists that their daughter be given the part.
Now I hope you are sitting down for this bit o’ trivia but the part of the client’s daughter, Robin, is played by Kathleen Richards, mother of Paris Hilton!
#237: “A Plague on Maurice and Samantha” 11/10/71 – Endora finds that Samantha has lost her powers directly due to her marriage to a mortal. Endora says she can deal with it but knows that Maurice will be FURIOUS when he finds out. Maurice does show up and requests Samantha perform a trick for him that she used to when she was little. Endora performs the magic for Samantha and everything is going well until Durwood arrives at home and wants to know when Samantha got her powers back. True to Endora and Samantha’s fears, Maurice is furious and tries to turn Durwood into a lizard but finds that he doesn’t have any powers. Dr. Bombay pops in and advises that the disease Samantha has is contagious to anyone who kisses her, which Maurice had done when he arrived. Not one to be put down Maurice decides to take the opportunity to find out how the other half live and decides that he will shadow Durwood at work while waiting for Dr. Bombay to find a cure. At work Durwood finds that he isn’t getting along too well with the client when he admits to not having tried the product (chili). Maurice tastes it and comes up with a great ad thus saving the account. Dr. Bombay finally arrives with the antidote and both father and daughter’s powers are restored.
This episode is a remake only in the fact that Samantha has lost her powers so many times before. But even at that, it’s a rather enjoyable episode and quite surprising when Maurice loses his powers.
#238: “Hansel and Gretel in Samanthaland” 11/17/71 – Feeling bad for Hansel and Gretel, Tabitha zaps them out of her storybook and zaps herself into the storybook to go ask their father’s permission for them to stay over. While there the Wicked Witch in the book imprisons Tabitha. When Samantha finds out what happens she pops into the storybook and rescues her daughter. Upon returning she finds that Hansel and Gretel are missing as they have gone off to search for food but she finds them and returns them to the book.
Billie Hayes plays the Wicked Witch. She is famous for playing another witch, Witchie Poo on H. R. Puff ‘n Stuff. I had the extreme privilege of being in the small audience at the BW Fan Fare the night that Ms. Hayes showed up in honor of Alice Ghostley. A small clip from this episode was shown and everyone laughed, no one more so than Ms. Hayes. After the bit played, she had tears in her eyes and I felt that it was because she was so overwhelmed by our reaction to her small role on the show. I also got my pic with her before she left. She's a great woman and had a marvelous laugh!
This episode is almost a direct remake of “Samantha and the Beanstalk”, the Sixth Season opener.
#239: “The Warlock in the Gray Flannel Suit” 12/1/71 – Endora invites Samantha to attend her cousin Panda’s wedding in Hong Kong. Samantha says she’ll only go if Durwood can come, and he says that since they just got back from Europe, he has too much to do at the office, therefore they can’t go. Not wanting to be defeated Endora enlists the help of the hippie warlock Alonzo to de-job Durwood so that he will have nothing holding him back from going to the wedding with his wife. Alonzo shows up to McMann and Tate and casts a spell on Larry making him like anything Alonzo says, including loving the new slogan he’s come up with for the account – “Flurpity Flurp!” When Durwood seems to be losing his job he asks Samantha for help. She pops in on a meeting with the client, Larry and Alonzo and zaps Larry into saying that Durwood had all the right ideas. Alonzo realizes that he’s out witched and leaves.
This episode is hysterical if you’ve never seen it because Alonzo is so far out! Not to mention David White gives a brilliant performance as Larry. Plus it’s cool seeing Samantha in her flying suit.
Just like Samantha, EM had a cousin Panda whom she was quite close with while growing up. In fact, Panda looked like EM and was the basis for the creation of Serena.
#240: “The Eight Year Itch Witch” 12/8/71 – Endora tries again to get Samantha to question her husband’s fidelity when he is assigned to find a spokeswoman for TomCat Tractors. She transforms her familiar Ophelia into a beautiful woman who tries to work her wiles on Durwood while he is out of town at a convention concerning the new campaign. Samantha finds out and pops in invisibly to make sure that Ophelia doesn’t use any witchcraft on Durwood to prove that her mother has nothing to worry about. Durwood comes through with shining colors of course!
This episode is a mixture of remakes, first and foremost being Season One’s “It Takes One to Know One” and the second being “Ling Ling” also from Season One.
Ophelia is portrayed by Julie Newmar who is famous for playing THE Catwoman on Batman.
Ophelia, in cat form, is most likely portrayed by EM’s cat Zip Zip, who also played Ling Ling in cat form.
#241: “Three Men and a Witch on a Horse” 12/15/71 – Endora casts a gambling spell on Durwood when she says he’s too conservative. When Samantha finds out she requests that her mother remove the spell. She does but she gives him a tip on the races, giving him a bum tip. When he gets Larry and the new client to bet on the losing horse Samantha sees that there will be trouble and she transforms the loser horse into human form so she can talk to him about his problems. After this little pep talk she changes him back and he wins the race.
EM said that this is one of her favorite episodes because it dealt with horse-racing, one of her favorite past times.
This is also a remake of Season Two’s “The Horse’s Mouth.” Oddly enough, I enjoy this episode better than it’s original form.
#242: “Adam, Warlock or Washout” 12/29/71 – Endora arrives with the news that there shall be a witches coven convening at Samantha’s home to test Adam’s powers. After getting Durwood out of the house Maurice arrives for the testing. Samantha shares her concerns with him that she believes Adam may just be mortal. When Maurice tests Adam’s powers himself he finds that he has none. Not wanting to be embarrassed he endows Adam with some of his own powers. Grimalda and Enchantra arrive and begin the testing and find that Adam does incredibly well. They decide that it would be better for him to be taken to a witch’s school to continue to train in witchcraft but Samantha doesn’t want that. When Adam zaps his father back home, Durwood is furious at all the goings on. To appease his daughter’s fears, Maurice admits to giving Adam his powers and he takes them back. They decide to test him once more without the assist and find that he does have some powers. The Witches’ Coven decide that Adam may stay with his family.
This is a remake of Season Three’s “Witches and Warlocks Are My Favorite Things”. Oddly enough it seems that the general public always consider Adam to be a mortal though he proved his warlock-hood at the end of this episode. But this may be due to the fact that Adam, on the spin-off series “Tabitha” was a mortal only.
This episode marks the last appearance of Maurice.
#243: “Samantha’s Magic Sitter” 1/5/72 – Esmeralda is feeling a total failure as a witch and even more so when she finds that Samantha has asked Aunt Hagatha to babysit while she and Durwood go out with Larry, the new client Mr. Norton and his wife. When Larry phones saying the dinner with the clients is cancelled because their babysitter fell ill Samantha offers to have Esmeralda babysit their boy. Esmeralda performs all sorts of fantastic tricks for the boy who tells his school mates about them and he ends up with a black eye. This upsets Mrs. Norton who demands that her husband not deal with crackpots like the Stephens. Samantha decides to hold a magic show for the Norton’s child and Tabitha so that they can see that Esmeralda’s magic is purely innocent and that their son was telling the truth.
This is a remake of Season One’s “There’s No Witch Like an Old Witch”.
This episode is a very strange one indeed. Samantha wears a cloak to go out, she is able to reverse Esmeralda’s magic, and everyone, including Samantha, refers to Esmeralda as “Aunt Esmeralda” though she is not Samantha’s aunt. This episode also has the distinction, in my book, of being the last “new” episode of BW I had ever seen, meaning I had seen all the other episodes but this one until just a couple years ago.
#244: “Samantha is Earthbound” 1/15/72 – Samantha begins to feel very fatigued and heavy and when Durwood tries to lift her finds that she is in fact quite heavy, though her size hasn’t changed. She calls Dr. Bombay who diagnoses her with Gravititis Inflammitis, a condition peculiar to witches who do not fly very often. He prescribes a cure and leaves only for Samantha to start floating as she has been cured too well. At this moment Mrs. Prescott arrives to find out why Samantha hasn’t shown up at the Charity Bazaar she volunteered for. With Durwood’s holding on to her she goes only to end up in a tree. This looks bad for Durwood as Mr. Prescott is one of his clients and Samantha was going to be a model for his new line of shoes. Samantha says she’ll still do it and dresses like a Greek maiden, while holding a rather large and heavy golden vase, though she does still float a little. Durwood says it was all part of his idea for the campaign, that when you wear Prescott shoes, you don’t walk, you float. Back at home Dr. Bombay is called again and he cures Samantha completely.
This episode marks the change in timeslot for BW where it was put up against “All in the Family”.
#245: “Serena’s Richcraft” 1/29/72 – Serena shows up at the Stephens’ doorstep out of powers as the Contessa Pirhana stripped her of them when she found her fooling around with one of the Contessa’s boyfriends. Samantha convinces Durwood to let Serena stay. In the meantime, wealthy client Harrison Woolcott arrives and Serena is smitten with him. He also shows a yen for her and they begin to date. Realizing the problems this could cause Samantha puts Serena in the “deep freeze” and transforms herself to look like Serena and breaks off the relationship with Harrison. She then calls in the Contessa to give Serena her powers back but the Contessa refuses. At that time Durwood, Larry and Harrison walk in and Samantha zaps Harrison into falling in love with the Contessa. With the Contessa now in a pleasant mood she gives Serena her powers back.
Peter Lawford, a member of the Rat Pack, plays Harrison.
This episode was actually filmed during the Seventh Season but held for some reason so the change in Samantha’s hairstyles is pretty noticeable.
This episode is also a remake of Season Six’s “A Chance on Love” which in and of itself was also a remake of two Season One episodes “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog” and “Which Witch is Which?”
#246: “Samantha on Thin Ice” 1/29/72 – Tabitha is invited to an ice skating party but worries as she doesn’t know how to ice skate. Samantha says she’ll take lessons with Tabitha to prove to Durwood that they won’t need witchcraft when Endora reveals Samantha could ice skate when just a child. When Endora sees that Tabitha isn’t doing very well at the lessons she zaps her into a skating star, which captures the attention of Billy Blades, an ice skating champ who wants Tabitha to skate in the Olympics. Tabitha’s parents refuse but he won’t relent. When they take her to perform Endora removes the spell convinced that Tabitha won’t be happy with all the new found attention.
This episode is a remake of Season Five’s “Samantha on the Keyboard”.
#247: “Serena’s Youth Pill” 2/5/72 – A bored Serena decides to have some fun with Larry while she is babysitting Tabitha and Adam. She gives him a youth pill that not only makes him younger, but younger and younger still! When Durwood finds out what happens he is, of course, furious and Samantha gets Serena to find Dr. Bombay to get an antidote and Larry is restored to his former self.
This is the last episode involving Serena and Louise Tate.
This is a semi-remake of “There’s Gold in Them Thar Pills” as a witchly prescription is given untested to a mortal.
#248: “Tabitha’s First Day of School” 2/12/72 – The local school district finds that Tabitha hasn’t been enrolled in any type of school and insist that Samantha and Durwood enroll her at once. They do so begrudgingly worried about Tabitha using her magic out of their watch. While at school Tabitha becomes the focus of the school bully, Charlton. Fed up with his taunts she turns him into a bullfrog and is forced to leave him in the school terrarium. While the teacher’s back is turned Tabitha takes home the frog she thinks is Charlton only to discover she’s just got a normal frog. Samantha pops back over to the school, switches the frogs and comes home where she calls Charlton’s mother. Charlton’s mother says she’ll come to pick him up but in the mean time Tabitha changes him back…though he still craves flies.
This is a remake of the Fifth Season episode “I Don’t Want to be a Toad…”
#249: “George Washington Zapped Here” (Part I) 2/19/72 – Tabitha would like to bring her father’s George Washington owned buckle and button to school for show-n-tell but is told she can’t. Esmeralda decides to zap some up out of a book but instead gets George himself! Esmeralda can’t send him back and while Samantha is preparing some tea for the befuddled General he decides to go on a walk. He ends up at a park as part of a war protest and is thrown in jail. Durwood bails him out though George is ordered to appear in court. Esmeralda remembers the spell and sends him back but finds that his shoes didn’t go with him. When she tries to send those back she brings back George…..and his wife, Martha!
George Washington is portrayed by Will Geer. He is familiar to audiences as Grandpa Walton on The Waltons.
One of the protesting hippies is played by Thad Geer, son to Will Geer.
This is the only episode of the series where Samantha doesn’t use witchcraft of any kind.
This episode and it’s second part are direct remakes of the Season Three episodes about Benjamin Franklin.
#250: “George Washington Zapped Here” (Part II) 2/26/72 – With George and Martha Washington now in residence the Stephens try to explain their presence as eccentric relatives. Larry Tate wants to use George in an ad campaign for Whirlaway Washing Machines. George decides that he doesn’t want to be part of the campaign as he feels that if the machines are all the same then why tout one brand better than the next? He also goes to court and impresses the judge with his honesty. The Judge dimisses the charges and Esmeralda finally remembers how to send the Washingtons back to their own time.
This is the last episode featuring Esmeralda.
#251: “School Days, School Daze” 3/4/72 – Tabitha is nervous about taking a test at school and makes her fears known to her grandmama Endora who zaps her with great amounts of knowledge. When Tabitha finishes the test in record time with 100% accuracy and is obviously not cheating, Mrs. Peabody is astounded and takes her down to the principal’s office who is equally astounded. Samantha requests that Tabitha not be treated any differently than the other children. Mrs. Peabody thinks this remarkable child should be shared with the world and comes over to 1164 to ask Samantha about it. Samantha again tells her no and Mrs. Peabody sneaks to the back of the house to talk to Tabitha. Now Samantha is ticked and puts Mrs. Peabody up a tree and tells her that she is a witch and she is not to be messed with. Mrs. Peabody then reveals this to the principal who comes over to investigate. Samantha tells them that she was fooling with Mrs. Peabody, that her family is part of an entertainment group called “The Witches” who perform magic tricks. Endora removes the spell from Tabitha and everything is back to as normal as it can be.
This is one of a few times where Samantha really lets a mortal have it and it is one of my favorite episodes. It is also in this episode where it is painfully obvious that AM isn’t feeling well at all.
I also believe this is the last time that Tabitha and Adam are seen on the show. Their characters would resurface in a Hanna Barabara cartoon movie called Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family that aired only once and then, of course, the characters would come back for the Tabitha series starring Lisa Hartman as Tabitha.
#252: “A Good Turn Never Goes Unpunished” 3/11/72 – Durwood is having trouble coming up with effective campaigns for the Benson Mattress firm until Samantha gives him some ideas. He thinks she has used magic to give him great ideas and decides he won’t use them and ticks her off in the process as she assures him she used nothing but her own creative juices and makes herself invisible. Durwood takes his ideas to Mr. Benson which are rejected. Larry talks Mr. Benson into coming back for another meeting and this time Durwood is sure that he’ll snare Mr. Benson with what he thinks is Samantha’s witchcraft-laced ideas. Her ideas are also rejected. Durwood returns to an empty home as Samantha has flown off to Cloud 9 with her mother. He apologizes and she returns.
This episode is almost a word for word remake of Season One’s “Help, Help, Don’t Save Me”. The cool thing about this episode is that it is apparent the special effects crew were trying out new ideas. Watch the scene where the invisible Samantha is in bed. It really looks like she is sitting there BREATHING! And then when she zaps Durwood out of bed the sheets and blanket actually fall as though something had just left.
#253: “Samantha’s Witchcraft Blows a Fuse” 3/18/72 – While dining at a Chinese restaurant Samantha is given a special drink concocted by the owner which causes her to feel drunk and lose her powers. Once the drunkeness leaves she begins to acquire bright red stripes across her face. Dr. Bombay diagnoses it as Bright Red Stripes disease which is caused by a reaction to Himalayan cinnamon, an ingredient in the drink. He prescribes an antidote which requires strange and rare ingredients including the tail feather of a dodo bird. Thinking they have got everything, Samantha drinks the potion and is still afflicted. Dr. Bombay returns and reveals that he forgot one ingredient – the Himalayan cinnamon stick. Durwood breaks into the restaurant to get one (as it is late at night) and after a run-in with the police gets the stick home to be added to the potion which cures Samantha.
This is the last episode to feature Dr. Bombay.
This is also a remake of Season Two’s “Take Two Aspirin and a Half Pint of Porpoise Milk”.
#254: “The Truth, Nothing But the Truth, So Help Me, Sam” 3/25/72 – Endora assures Samantha that mortals cannot stand to tell the truth and to prove her point casts a spell on a unicorn pin that Durwood gives to Samantha which causes anyone within a short radius of it to tell what ever is on their mind. At a dinner party that evening with a client and her husband, everyone makes fools of themselves by saying exactly what they are thinking, causing hurt feelings amongst everyone. When Samantha finds out what her mother has done she demands that the spell be removed. Durwood is worried that they have lost the account as the client and her husband got into a huge argument but he later finds that they got a lot out into the open and have made up.
This is a direct remake of Season Two’s “Speak the Truth.” It’s also would become the basis (essentially) of the Jim Carrey movie “Liar, Liar.”
This is also the last episode of the entire series.
Bewitched would continue to air on Saturday nights in reruns until July 1, 1972 when “Adam, Warlock or Washout” was the last episode of the series to be seen in ABC primetime.
Were Sony to actually release this as they should the following extras should be included:
There were not any cast additions or switching of actors during the Eighth Season though there were cast exclusions including Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur, Sandra Gould as Mrs. Kravitz, George Tobias as Abner Kravitz, Mabel Albertson as Mrs. Stephens, Roy Roberts and Robert F. Simon as Mr. Stephens – their characters simply didn’t show up in this final season.
Also seemingly excluded was Elizabeth Montgomery’s enthusiasm for the show. It is glaringly obvious by the look in her rolling eyes that she was done being America’s favorite witch. And after having played the role for so long it is understandable. Another contributing factor to EM’s restlessness was the fact that her marriage to BW’s main director William Asher was beginning to crumble.
Another exclusion this season was that of inventiveness and originality on the part of the writers and the set decorators, the latter mentioned by virtue of the horrible sets used for some of the Europe episodes. Unbelievably almost 2/3 of the 26 episodes of this season are direct remakes of previous episodes, some even being word for word remakes! Even with all this it is interesting to note that the BW cast and crew had signed on to do episodes up through a 10th season!! Thankfully we were spared of anything worse than what comes in Season 8 by EM deciding that she had had enough and it was time to quit. Also during this season Agnes Moorehead was becoming quite ill with the effects of cancer and in fact would pass away a mere two years after the end of BW.
It was also during this season that ABC switched their schedule and BW was put on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM EST after having dominated Thursdays for the past seven years. And actually it was switched again (beginning with Episode #244: “Samantha is Earthbound” on January 15, 1972) to Saturday nights at 8 PM directly opposite of All in the Family on CBS. BW would remain at this time for the rest of it’s run. The last first run episode aired on 3/25/72 and re-runs would air until July 1, 1972 when BW was pulled from the schedule. There wasn’t a typical series finale which is too bad as it seemed the series really deserved one considering it started out so great. If anything the last episode should’ve been something spectacular like the Witches’ Council seemingly getting rid of Durwood for good only for Samantha to prove her love for him and then have it end with the same narrator from the first episode ending it with “…and they lived happily ever after” (considering it began with “Once upon a time…”). All we get for a last episode is a redo of a far superior second season episode…oh well! And as another kick in the pants the series ended ranked #72 in the ratings according to Variety (May 24, 1972), quite embarrassing for a series once topping the charts as #2.
There were some minor visual changes this season. For one, EM had suddenly gone ‘hippie chick’ (or is that chic?) with her long hair parted in the middle, short skirts, and no bra. That last item she had actually been doing since about the sixth season. I mention this as, one, it’s sorta hot, but two, there is a funny circumstance that EM related about this. During the filming of “Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster”, where her ‘freeness’ is quite visible, EM was smoking on a break when an ash fell on her blouse and started it on fire. She was about to take off the blouse when she realized she had no other covering and everyone was looking at her so she just pat the fire out. Another change was quite minor to the opening credits and that was the addition of the announcer saying “Elizabeth Montgomery in...Bewitched.” In syndication whenever the Dick Sargent years would roll around these Eighth Season credits were used and so it’s always been assumed that they’ve always had the announcer but that is not the case.
Also this season the show began to be produced by EM and BA’s production company Ashmont Productions, whose name appeared at the end of the credits. It’s interesting that though their personal life was in shambles they ventured into business together. Ashmont Productions would produce a few more series including the short lived The Paul Lynde Show.
Now, all though it may seem like I absolutely detest this season, I don’t. I do recognize that it is mainly remakes but there are some good ones among them and so at this point let’s discuss the episodes.
#229: “How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII” (Part I) 9/15/71 – While touring the Tower of London on vacation in Europe, Samantha comes across a warlock imprisoned in a painting. Feeling sorry for him she releases him to the displeasure of his “jailer”, the witch Malvina, whom he had cheated on centuries before. Malvina zaps him back and as punishment sends Samantha back to the time of King Henry VIII with no memory of who or what she is. Endora tells Durwood that the only way to return Samantha to the present is for him to go back in time and kiss her, thus restoring her memory and her powers. She sends him back to her daughter’s rescue, which she is in desperate need of as the King has a yen for this new lass in his court as he has just executed one of his most recent wives.
Laurie Main plays the Tour Guide at the Tower of London. He was one of AM’s close friends.
This episode and it’s second part are partial remakes of Season Five’s “Samantha Goes South for a Spell” and Season Seven’s “Samantha’s Old Salem Trip.”
#230: “How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII” (Part II) 9/22/71 – Durwood makes his way to Henry VIII’s castle when he hears Samantha singing. He disguises himself as a servant and tries to get Samantha to kiss him. When she protests, loudly, the King finds out and throws Durwood into jail. He calls on Endora who pops in but cannot rescue him with magic as she claims she doesn’t have any powers because she hasn’t been born yet. She manages to hypnotize the jailer (and unwittingly Durwood too) and she springs her son-in-law. They attend the King’s masked ball where Endora suggests that Durwood and the King have a wrestling match and when Durwood is hurt, Samantha kisses him thus restoring her memory. She zaps herself, her mother and Durwood back to the present.
#231: “Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster” 9/29/71 – Samantha and Durwood now move the vacation to Scotland to visit Durwood’s cousin Robbie who owns a hotel near Loch Ness, home of the famed sea monster. Robbie tells them that there hasn’t been a sighting of the monster in ages. Just then the monster pops up out of the water causing Durwood and Robbie to faint. Samantha tells the monster to knock it off and get back in the water. It turns out the monster is really Warlock Bruce in disguise, not by his choice, but courtesy of Serena who long ago had changed him into the monster she thought he was acting like. Later on Samantha finds that a German Baron is going to find the monster and kill it in order to get a substantial monetary reward. Not wanting Bruce to get hurt Samantha asks Serena to change him back. She does so but ends up being turned into a mermaid when Bruce wants to exact revenge.
Steve Franken (Bruce) cited this as his favorite role on BW at the 2008 BW Fanfare in Los Angeles. This episode, though quite entertaining solely for Serena, is a prime example of how far BW had dropped in terms of quality. The Loch Ness Monster looks like an elementary grade paper mache project and Serena’s mermaid tail is merely a rubber suit that looks like it could’ve been purchased at the K-Mart Blue Light special. Also, with these Europe episodes none of them were actually filmed in Europe like the Salem episodes were. Instead we are treated to stock footage of the various places with title placards to tell us where we are…very sad indeed.
#232: “Samantha’s Not-So-Leaning Tower of Pisa” 10/6/71 – The Stephenses now find themselves in Italy near the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Esmeralda pops in with news from home and reveals that she is the cause of the Tower leaning and she has felt bad about it ever since. Meanwhile, Larry has shown up with an Italian client who takes a liking to Esmeralda. Before he can make any advances, Durwood suggests that Samantha take Esmeralda away as she keeps on fading out. Still feeling bad about the Tower Esmeralda decides it’s time to right her mistake and casts a spell which rights the tower. Of course, all of Italy is amazed at this miracle and it causes the client to forget about his business dealings with McMann and Tate. Samantha and Durwood insist that she make it lean again as it’s the biggest source of income for the area. As she can’t recall the spell Samantha travels back in time with her to the moment when she made it lean and she does so again. Back in the present things have returned to normal and now Esmeralda has much more confidence.
Again, another example of how poor the quality of the show had gone. The Leaning Tower is simply a cardboard cutout!
#233: “Bewitched, Bothered and Baldoni” 10/13/71 – Now in Rome, Durwood is irritated when Endora shows up while they are touring a museum. Samantha finds out that Endora has shown up because she wants to protect her daughter from being hurt by Durwood, whom she thinks will go wild with all the beautiful women in the romantic city of Rome. Samantha assures her mother she has nothing to worry about. To prove her point, Endora brings a statue of the Goddess Venus alive. When Durwood meets Venus, who calls herself Vanessa, he is smitten and suggests to Samantha that they hire her as their maid while in Rome. When Samantha sees that Larry and the client are also smitten she suspects her mother has been messing around and when she hears that the statue of Venus is missing, she knows her mother has been messing around. She pops into the museum and brings to life Adonis whom she brings back to the villa. Once Venus sees Adonis the two are inseparable and her spell is broken over the men.
This episode is actually quite good in the fact that the sexy vixen Venus shows the most skin ever on an episode of BW by coming out of a room with ONLY a maid’s apron on! And Samantha’s reaction to her is priceless! By the way, Francine York who portrays Venus is not related to Dick York.
Al Molinaro portrays the Museum Guide. He is famous to TV viewers as Al from “Happy Days.”
#234: “Paris, Witches’ Style” 10/20/71 – Now moving over to Paris on their trip Samantha finds out from her mother that Maurice is furious that Samantha didn’t come to visit him in London where he lives. Endora warns that Maurice is going to show up and he is under the impression that Durwood is the reason for Samantha not visiting. Endora zaps up a fake Durwood who is overtly nice to Maurice. When the real Durwood comes in and ruins the charade Maurice is furious and is about to obliterate him when Endora craftily changes Durwood into a bust of Napoleon. Maurice sees this new object and busts it into a million pieces and when Samantha begs him to restore her husband he claims he doesn’t have the strength. That is until Endora threatens to move in with him to nurse him back to health.
This episode is almost a direct remake of the First Season episode “Just One Happy Family” when Durwood first met Maurice. It is also the episode we get to see Picasso’s rendition of Maurice. It should be noted this is the first time since the Sixth Season that we have seen Maurice. I must say, though, that the black smoke effect when Maurice first appears is really awesome!
#235: “The Ghost Who Made a Spectre of Himself” 10/27/71 – Samantha and Durwood end up back in England for the last leg of their trip at a haunted castle courtesy of Larry and Louise Tate who wanted to spend some time with the Stephenses. Samantha meets the castle ghost, Harry, who takes a liking to her. When she refuses his advances he possesses Durwood’s body. Samantha, seeing through this, will have nothing to do with him and Larry and Louise believe that their friends are having a marital spat. Harry, still in Durwood’s body, decides to give up on Samantha and starts making passes at Louise. Now the Tate’s really think Durwood has flipped! Samantha summons up Harry’s lover from when he was living and he leaves Durwood’s body. Samantha and Durwood explain away Durwood’s irrational behavior as being tired and they decide to go back to America.
#236: “TV or Not TV” 11/3/71 – Watching the Steamboat Bill Show, Tabitha gets upset by the Punch and Judy puppets, specifically by Punch always hitting Judy, especially when Adam mimics him and hits Tabitha. She pops into the show to lecture the puppets and Durwood happens to be watching the show which is sponsored by a client. Unfortunately the client loves the addition of the little girl and wants to know who she is and when he later meets Tabitha at the Stephenses he recognizes her and insists she be on the show. When Tabitha tires of the grind of filming a TV series Samantha casts a spell on the client’s wife who insists that their daughter be given the part.
Now I hope you are sitting down for this bit o’ trivia but the part of the client’s daughter, Robin, is played by Kathleen Richards, mother of Paris Hilton!
#237: “A Plague on Maurice and Samantha” 11/10/71 – Endora finds that Samantha has lost her powers directly due to her marriage to a mortal. Endora says she can deal with it but knows that Maurice will be FURIOUS when he finds out. Maurice does show up and requests Samantha perform a trick for him that she used to when she was little. Endora performs the magic for Samantha and everything is going well until Durwood arrives at home and wants to know when Samantha got her powers back. True to Endora and Samantha’s fears, Maurice is furious and tries to turn Durwood into a lizard but finds that he doesn’t have any powers. Dr. Bombay pops in and advises that the disease Samantha has is contagious to anyone who kisses her, which Maurice had done when he arrived. Not one to be put down Maurice decides to take the opportunity to find out how the other half live and decides that he will shadow Durwood at work while waiting for Dr. Bombay to find a cure. At work Durwood finds that he isn’t getting along too well with the client when he admits to not having tried the product (chili). Maurice tastes it and comes up with a great ad thus saving the account. Dr. Bombay finally arrives with the antidote and both father and daughter’s powers are restored.
This episode is a remake only in the fact that Samantha has lost her powers so many times before. But even at that, it’s a rather enjoyable episode and quite surprising when Maurice loses his powers.
#238: “Hansel and Gretel in Samanthaland” 11/17/71 – Feeling bad for Hansel and Gretel, Tabitha zaps them out of her storybook and zaps herself into the storybook to go ask their father’s permission for them to stay over. While there the Wicked Witch in the book imprisons Tabitha. When Samantha finds out what happens she pops into the storybook and rescues her daughter. Upon returning she finds that Hansel and Gretel are missing as they have gone off to search for food but she finds them and returns them to the book.
Billie Hayes plays the Wicked Witch. She is famous for playing another witch, Witchie Poo on H. R. Puff ‘n Stuff. I had the extreme privilege of being in the small audience at the BW Fan Fare the night that Ms. Hayes showed up in honor of Alice Ghostley. A small clip from this episode was shown and everyone laughed, no one more so than Ms. Hayes. After the bit played, she had tears in her eyes and I felt that it was because she was so overwhelmed by our reaction to her small role on the show. I also got my pic with her before she left. She's a great woman and had a marvelous laugh!
This episode is almost a direct remake of “Samantha and the Beanstalk”, the Sixth Season opener.
#239: “The Warlock in the Gray Flannel Suit” 12/1/71 – Endora invites Samantha to attend her cousin Panda’s wedding in Hong Kong. Samantha says she’ll only go if Durwood can come, and he says that since they just got back from Europe, he has too much to do at the office, therefore they can’t go. Not wanting to be defeated Endora enlists the help of the hippie warlock Alonzo to de-job Durwood so that he will have nothing holding him back from going to the wedding with his wife. Alonzo shows up to McMann and Tate and casts a spell on Larry making him like anything Alonzo says, including loving the new slogan he’s come up with for the account – “Flurpity Flurp!” When Durwood seems to be losing his job he asks Samantha for help. She pops in on a meeting with the client, Larry and Alonzo and zaps Larry into saying that Durwood had all the right ideas. Alonzo realizes that he’s out witched and leaves.
This episode is hysterical if you’ve never seen it because Alonzo is so far out! Not to mention David White gives a brilliant performance as Larry. Plus it’s cool seeing Samantha in her flying suit.
Just like Samantha, EM had a cousin Panda whom she was quite close with while growing up. In fact, Panda looked like EM and was the basis for the creation of Serena.
#240: “The Eight Year Itch Witch” 12/8/71 – Endora tries again to get Samantha to question her husband’s fidelity when he is assigned to find a spokeswoman for TomCat Tractors. She transforms her familiar Ophelia into a beautiful woman who tries to work her wiles on Durwood while he is out of town at a convention concerning the new campaign. Samantha finds out and pops in invisibly to make sure that Ophelia doesn’t use any witchcraft on Durwood to prove that her mother has nothing to worry about. Durwood comes through with shining colors of course!
This episode is a mixture of remakes, first and foremost being Season One’s “It Takes One to Know One” and the second being “Ling Ling” also from Season One.
Ophelia is portrayed by Julie Newmar who is famous for playing THE Catwoman on Batman.
Ophelia, in cat form, is most likely portrayed by EM’s cat Zip Zip, who also played Ling Ling in cat form.
#241: “Three Men and a Witch on a Horse” 12/15/71 – Endora casts a gambling spell on Durwood when she says he’s too conservative. When Samantha finds out she requests that her mother remove the spell. She does but she gives him a tip on the races, giving him a bum tip. When he gets Larry and the new client to bet on the losing horse Samantha sees that there will be trouble and she transforms the loser horse into human form so she can talk to him about his problems. After this little pep talk she changes him back and he wins the race.
EM said that this is one of her favorite episodes because it dealt with horse-racing, one of her favorite past times.
This is also a remake of Season Two’s “The Horse’s Mouth.” Oddly enough, I enjoy this episode better than it’s original form.
#242: “Adam, Warlock or Washout” 12/29/71 – Endora arrives with the news that there shall be a witches coven convening at Samantha’s home to test Adam’s powers. After getting Durwood out of the house Maurice arrives for the testing. Samantha shares her concerns with him that she believes Adam may just be mortal. When Maurice tests Adam’s powers himself he finds that he has none. Not wanting to be embarrassed he endows Adam with some of his own powers. Grimalda and Enchantra arrive and begin the testing and find that Adam does incredibly well. They decide that it would be better for him to be taken to a witch’s school to continue to train in witchcraft but Samantha doesn’t want that. When Adam zaps his father back home, Durwood is furious at all the goings on. To appease his daughter’s fears, Maurice admits to giving Adam his powers and he takes them back. They decide to test him once more without the assist and find that he does have some powers. The Witches’ Coven decide that Adam may stay with his family.
This is a remake of Season Three’s “Witches and Warlocks Are My Favorite Things”. Oddly enough it seems that the general public always consider Adam to be a mortal though he proved his warlock-hood at the end of this episode. But this may be due to the fact that Adam, on the spin-off series “Tabitha” was a mortal only.
This episode marks the last appearance of Maurice.
#243: “Samantha’s Magic Sitter” 1/5/72 – Esmeralda is feeling a total failure as a witch and even more so when she finds that Samantha has asked Aunt Hagatha to babysit while she and Durwood go out with Larry, the new client Mr. Norton and his wife. When Larry phones saying the dinner with the clients is cancelled because their babysitter fell ill Samantha offers to have Esmeralda babysit their boy. Esmeralda performs all sorts of fantastic tricks for the boy who tells his school mates about them and he ends up with a black eye. This upsets Mrs. Norton who demands that her husband not deal with crackpots like the Stephens. Samantha decides to hold a magic show for the Norton’s child and Tabitha so that they can see that Esmeralda’s magic is purely innocent and that their son was telling the truth.
This is a remake of Season One’s “There’s No Witch Like an Old Witch”.
This episode is a very strange one indeed. Samantha wears a cloak to go out, she is able to reverse Esmeralda’s magic, and everyone, including Samantha, refers to Esmeralda as “Aunt Esmeralda” though she is not Samantha’s aunt. This episode also has the distinction, in my book, of being the last “new” episode of BW I had ever seen, meaning I had seen all the other episodes but this one until just a couple years ago.
#244: “Samantha is Earthbound” 1/15/72 – Samantha begins to feel very fatigued and heavy and when Durwood tries to lift her finds that she is in fact quite heavy, though her size hasn’t changed. She calls Dr. Bombay who diagnoses her with Gravititis Inflammitis, a condition peculiar to witches who do not fly very often. He prescribes a cure and leaves only for Samantha to start floating as she has been cured too well. At this moment Mrs. Prescott arrives to find out why Samantha hasn’t shown up at the Charity Bazaar she volunteered for. With Durwood’s holding on to her she goes only to end up in a tree. This looks bad for Durwood as Mr. Prescott is one of his clients and Samantha was going to be a model for his new line of shoes. Samantha says she’ll still do it and dresses like a Greek maiden, while holding a rather large and heavy golden vase, though she does still float a little. Durwood says it was all part of his idea for the campaign, that when you wear Prescott shoes, you don’t walk, you float. Back at home Dr. Bombay is called again and he cures Samantha completely.
This episode marks the change in timeslot for BW where it was put up against “All in the Family”.
#245: “Serena’s Richcraft” 1/29/72 – Serena shows up at the Stephens’ doorstep out of powers as the Contessa Pirhana stripped her of them when she found her fooling around with one of the Contessa’s boyfriends. Samantha convinces Durwood to let Serena stay. In the meantime, wealthy client Harrison Woolcott arrives and Serena is smitten with him. He also shows a yen for her and they begin to date. Realizing the problems this could cause Samantha puts Serena in the “deep freeze” and transforms herself to look like Serena and breaks off the relationship with Harrison. She then calls in the Contessa to give Serena her powers back but the Contessa refuses. At that time Durwood, Larry and Harrison walk in and Samantha zaps Harrison into falling in love with the Contessa. With the Contessa now in a pleasant mood she gives Serena her powers back.
Peter Lawford, a member of the Rat Pack, plays Harrison.
This episode was actually filmed during the Seventh Season but held for some reason so the change in Samantha’s hairstyles is pretty noticeable.
This episode is also a remake of Season Six’s “A Chance on Love” which in and of itself was also a remake of two Season One episodes “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog” and “Which Witch is Which?”
#246: “Samantha on Thin Ice” 1/29/72 – Tabitha is invited to an ice skating party but worries as she doesn’t know how to ice skate. Samantha says she’ll take lessons with Tabitha to prove to Durwood that they won’t need witchcraft when Endora reveals Samantha could ice skate when just a child. When Endora sees that Tabitha isn’t doing very well at the lessons she zaps her into a skating star, which captures the attention of Billy Blades, an ice skating champ who wants Tabitha to skate in the Olympics. Tabitha’s parents refuse but he won’t relent. When they take her to perform Endora removes the spell convinced that Tabitha won’t be happy with all the new found attention.
This episode is a remake of Season Five’s “Samantha on the Keyboard”.
#247: “Serena’s Youth Pill” 2/5/72 – A bored Serena decides to have some fun with Larry while she is babysitting Tabitha and Adam. She gives him a youth pill that not only makes him younger, but younger and younger still! When Durwood finds out what happens he is, of course, furious and Samantha gets Serena to find Dr. Bombay to get an antidote and Larry is restored to his former self.
This is the last episode involving Serena and Louise Tate.
This is a semi-remake of “There’s Gold in Them Thar Pills” as a witchly prescription is given untested to a mortal.
#248: “Tabitha’s First Day of School” 2/12/72 – The local school district finds that Tabitha hasn’t been enrolled in any type of school and insist that Samantha and Durwood enroll her at once. They do so begrudgingly worried about Tabitha using her magic out of their watch. While at school Tabitha becomes the focus of the school bully, Charlton. Fed up with his taunts she turns him into a bullfrog and is forced to leave him in the school terrarium. While the teacher’s back is turned Tabitha takes home the frog she thinks is Charlton only to discover she’s just got a normal frog. Samantha pops back over to the school, switches the frogs and comes home where she calls Charlton’s mother. Charlton’s mother says she’ll come to pick him up but in the mean time Tabitha changes him back…though he still craves flies.
This is a remake of the Fifth Season episode “I Don’t Want to be a Toad…”
#249: “George Washington Zapped Here” (Part I) 2/19/72 – Tabitha would like to bring her father’s George Washington owned buckle and button to school for show-n-tell but is told she can’t. Esmeralda decides to zap some up out of a book but instead gets George himself! Esmeralda can’t send him back and while Samantha is preparing some tea for the befuddled General he decides to go on a walk. He ends up at a park as part of a war protest and is thrown in jail. Durwood bails him out though George is ordered to appear in court. Esmeralda remembers the spell and sends him back but finds that his shoes didn’t go with him. When she tries to send those back she brings back George…..and his wife, Martha!
George Washington is portrayed by Will Geer. He is familiar to audiences as Grandpa Walton on The Waltons.
One of the protesting hippies is played by Thad Geer, son to Will Geer.
This is the only episode of the series where Samantha doesn’t use witchcraft of any kind.
This episode and it’s second part are direct remakes of the Season Three episodes about Benjamin Franklin.
#250: “George Washington Zapped Here” (Part II) 2/26/72 – With George and Martha Washington now in residence the Stephens try to explain their presence as eccentric relatives. Larry Tate wants to use George in an ad campaign for Whirlaway Washing Machines. George decides that he doesn’t want to be part of the campaign as he feels that if the machines are all the same then why tout one brand better than the next? He also goes to court and impresses the judge with his honesty. The Judge dimisses the charges and Esmeralda finally remembers how to send the Washingtons back to their own time.
This is the last episode featuring Esmeralda.
#251: “School Days, School Daze” 3/4/72 – Tabitha is nervous about taking a test at school and makes her fears known to her grandmama Endora who zaps her with great amounts of knowledge. When Tabitha finishes the test in record time with 100% accuracy and is obviously not cheating, Mrs. Peabody is astounded and takes her down to the principal’s office who is equally astounded. Samantha requests that Tabitha not be treated any differently than the other children. Mrs. Peabody thinks this remarkable child should be shared with the world and comes over to 1164 to ask Samantha about it. Samantha again tells her no and Mrs. Peabody sneaks to the back of the house to talk to Tabitha. Now Samantha is ticked and puts Mrs. Peabody up a tree and tells her that she is a witch and she is not to be messed with. Mrs. Peabody then reveals this to the principal who comes over to investigate. Samantha tells them that she was fooling with Mrs. Peabody, that her family is part of an entertainment group called “The Witches” who perform magic tricks. Endora removes the spell from Tabitha and everything is back to as normal as it can be.
This is one of a few times where Samantha really lets a mortal have it and it is one of my favorite episodes. It is also in this episode where it is painfully obvious that AM isn’t feeling well at all.
I also believe this is the last time that Tabitha and Adam are seen on the show. Their characters would resurface in a Hanna Barabara cartoon movie called Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family that aired only once and then, of course, the characters would come back for the Tabitha series starring Lisa Hartman as Tabitha.
#252: “A Good Turn Never Goes Unpunished” 3/11/72 – Durwood is having trouble coming up with effective campaigns for the Benson Mattress firm until Samantha gives him some ideas. He thinks she has used magic to give him great ideas and decides he won’t use them and ticks her off in the process as she assures him she used nothing but her own creative juices and makes herself invisible. Durwood takes his ideas to Mr. Benson which are rejected. Larry talks Mr. Benson into coming back for another meeting and this time Durwood is sure that he’ll snare Mr. Benson with what he thinks is Samantha’s witchcraft-laced ideas. Her ideas are also rejected. Durwood returns to an empty home as Samantha has flown off to Cloud 9 with her mother. He apologizes and she returns.
This episode is almost a word for word remake of Season One’s “Help, Help, Don’t Save Me”. The cool thing about this episode is that it is apparent the special effects crew were trying out new ideas. Watch the scene where the invisible Samantha is in bed. It really looks like she is sitting there BREATHING! And then when she zaps Durwood out of bed the sheets and blanket actually fall as though something had just left.
#253: “Samantha’s Witchcraft Blows a Fuse” 3/18/72 – While dining at a Chinese restaurant Samantha is given a special drink concocted by the owner which causes her to feel drunk and lose her powers. Once the drunkeness leaves she begins to acquire bright red stripes across her face. Dr. Bombay diagnoses it as Bright Red Stripes disease which is caused by a reaction to Himalayan cinnamon, an ingredient in the drink. He prescribes an antidote which requires strange and rare ingredients including the tail feather of a dodo bird. Thinking they have got everything, Samantha drinks the potion and is still afflicted. Dr. Bombay returns and reveals that he forgot one ingredient – the Himalayan cinnamon stick. Durwood breaks into the restaurant to get one (as it is late at night) and after a run-in with the police gets the stick home to be added to the potion which cures Samantha.
This is the last episode to feature Dr. Bombay.
This is also a remake of Season Two’s “Take Two Aspirin and a Half Pint of Porpoise Milk”.
#254: “The Truth, Nothing But the Truth, So Help Me, Sam” 3/25/72 – Endora assures Samantha that mortals cannot stand to tell the truth and to prove her point casts a spell on a unicorn pin that Durwood gives to Samantha which causes anyone within a short radius of it to tell what ever is on their mind. At a dinner party that evening with a client and her husband, everyone makes fools of themselves by saying exactly what they are thinking, causing hurt feelings amongst everyone. When Samantha finds out what her mother has done she demands that the spell be removed. Durwood is worried that they have lost the account as the client and her husband got into a huge argument but he later finds that they got a lot out into the open and have made up.
This is a direct remake of Season Two’s “Speak the Truth.” It’s also would become the basis (essentially) of the Jim Carrey movie “Liar, Liar.”
This is also the last episode of the entire series.
Bewitched would continue to air on Saturday nights in reruns until July 1, 1972 when “Adam, Warlock or Washout” was the last episode of the series to be seen in ABC primetime.
Were Sony to actually release this as they should the following extras should be included:
- The opening/closing sponsor credits on every episode.
- The “Bewitched Back in a Moment” interstitial.
- EM’s introduction where she says, “Hi. This is Elizabeth Montgomery inviting you to stay tuned for Bewitched” at which point she pops out.
- The “Witches have strange friends” commercial.
- The Hanna-Barbera TV special Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family
- A & E's Elizabeth Montgomery Biography
- MSNBC's Headliner's and Legends about Elizabeth Montgomery
- Entertainment Tonight's Bewitched: The Untold Story
- EM's Japanese commercials from the 80s
- Nick at Nite's BW commercials and jingles
