Bewitched Season 3 (1 Viewer)

[Brett*H]

Jeff,you have good taste in classic tv shows!

Some of the shows in my list have been announced as "coming to dvd" but they don't come off my sig until after the release date.(I'm still remembering the "La Femme Nikita" Season 2 fiasco a few years ago.)

I know that we and a few others are waiting for the "big 2" concerning Bionics to be released in Region 1 format, so I have my fingers crossed.

 

[Brett*H]

Here's some good news for all of the "Bewitched" fans! Looks like a March 21 release date. Info and cover art are here:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4865

There's some confusion according to this news item about the 3rd season's episode count. There are 33 episodes in the 3rd season of "Bewitched". I can only assume that the confusion arises from the 2 part episode with individual episode names.They are "My Friend Ben" which would be considered part 1 and "Samantha For The Defense" which is part 2.
The episodes concern an accidental visit from Benjamin Franklin thanks to lovable Aunt Clara's attempts to fix a lamp.

 

[David*P]

I was thrilled to see the news of BW's release on March 21! It cannot come soon enough!

I see, though, that they decided that the blooper reel was lame so they passed up on it for this set...that's all right...though I wish they would've done SOMETHING as an extra like interview Erin Murphy about her time on BW as this is the first season she appears or Bernard Fox about his time as Dr. Bombay since his first episode is in this season....oh well!

I also noticed they are still using photos from random seasons...that picture of Samantha is from Season Five, Endora's is from Season Two...but they did get it right for Darrin and Tabatha...

 

[Ron Lee Green]

This is great news. I'm glad Sony has decided to put this show on the fast track like Paramount is doing with Andy Griffith, Lucy, and Brady Bunch. In less than a year's time, Sony will have released 3 seasons of Bewitched. I think the first season was released last June to tie-in with the movie. Other Sony shows like Diff'rent Strokes and The Jeffersons have had a one year wait--or longer--between releases. I know that in Japan, Bewitched is up to season 6, so hopefully we'll get another release--or dare I say two more releases?--before 2006 is over.

 

[Shane_Anthony]

How does this season compare overall to the others??

Does my favourite Paul Lynde appear??

 

[David*P]

Yes, Paul Lynde does appear this season...TWICE! The first is in Ep. #80: "Endora Moves in for a Spell" which marks his second appearance on the show as Uncle Arthur and third appearance overall. He even alludes to his first appearance as Uncle Arthur last season when Durwood comes home and he says, "Well, if it isn't my 'Yagazuzi' nephew-in-law!" Of course, that refers to the bogus spell he taught Durwood in the second season to get rid of Endora. In this episode though, he and Endora, his older sister, argue about who is the worse influence over Tabatha and she zaps in her own house across the street just so she can make sure he's not corrupting her. Of course, he zaps it out and they have a zap-fest popping it in and out.

His next appearance is the very next episode #81: "Twitch or Treat", the Halloween episode. Endora oddly enough throws her annual Halloween bash at Samantha's and Arthur attends cracking jokes the whole time and helping Samantha keep Mrs. Kravitz at bay. His interjections during Endora's recitation of "Twas the Night Before Halloween" are HILARIOUS!

This season really is, in my opinion, one of the best in the series, if not THE best! It seems like this is where the show hit it's stride, where the cast looked their best and where the writing was the best too. Some would argue and say the 1st does that but I would say this is where everyone came together and understood exactly what they were doing.

 

[Brett*H]

I see that "Bewitched" Season 3 is up for pre-order at Amazon and DeepDiscountDVD already.(You get a better deal at Amazon.)
It's great to see it rate right up there in sales rank between "Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea" and "Time Tunnel";which are two more of my "must haves" for this year.

The 3rd season of "Bewitched" was indeed very good but IMO it was only the beginning. This season paved the way for the excellent 4th season which had some of the funniest episodes.(not to mention the 1st appearance of a "hipper" Serena.Her first appearance in season 2 was rather tame compared to the 4th and later season incarnations.)

I agree with David P,this was truly when all of the series elements began to mesh. It's almost as if being filmed in color added even more "magic" to the show and the writing reflected this.

Gone,is the quaint and almost 1950s noir-ish look of the(excellent) 1st and 2nd seasons.This season embraced the 1960's and really updated the feel and look of the show.

 

[Garysb]

It was a shame in the later years of the show that they seemed to run out of ideas and just started doing remakes of earlier shows . They couldn't say that people would not notice this because at the time reruns of the early years were being shown on ABC Daytime. I believe Andy Griffith (Andy of Mayberry) Dick Van Dyke( The Dick Van Dyke Daytime Show) and Bewitched were the first shows to rerun in daytime while still producing new shows at night. Bewitched was the first I believe not to change the name of the show in daytime reruns. I think That Girl started daytime reruns while still on at night after Bewitched.

The Beverly Hillbillies may have also been on in daytime but I am not sure.

 

[Caitlin-A]

David*P, would it be alright if I use your list of extras in an email I'm sending to Sony regarding their choice in cover art + extras?

 

[David*P]

Be my guest!! Do you have an email address for them? I can never find one.

I had mentioned that this season is one of the best but my favorite is the 4th season which Brett mentioned. I love the sound effects in it, I like almost every episode in that season and Serena is in it a few times, though not in the stylization that we remember her, which doesn't come along until the end of the Fifth Season and into the Sixth.

 

[Caitlin-A]

Thank you! No, but I'm working on it.

They really should listen to the fans of the show. Get the feedback of what the fans actually want..other than the episodes.

Season 3 is my all-time favorite season which is why after I saw the cover I have to step up and say something. It's kind of hideous. The pics themselves aren't it's just it doesn't work since their not season 3. I also hate the color. Bloody red doesn't go real well with Bewitched either. I love the episodes with Serena in the fourth season! If you lived in Japan you could already have 6 of the seasons on dvd. Unfortunetly, I can't afford them. :frowning:

 

[Jeff Willis]

I think I might be in the minority on this one I love S1 and am still working on it (viewing). I have S2 but haven't started on that one. I don't remember much about S3 at present but I loved "Dr Bombay". I'd never have guessed that it wasn't until S3 that he appeared in the show. I wasn't as much a fan of the later seasons. Question for DavidP: When did Dick Sargent join the cast? S6? I always liked the "Dick York" seasons best.

 

[David*P]

Oh, S.1 is one of my favorites and you'll LOVE s.2 when you get to it...there are so many great episodes in it.

Yes, Dick Sargent joined the cast at the beginning of the Sixth Season.

Even though I really don't like his portrayal of Durwood I'm really excited for when his seasons arrive on DVD as only two of his episodes have been released on video in their entirety - "Santa Comes to Visit and Stays and Stays" and "Sisters at Heart". So there will DEFINITELY be a lot of new scenes and such with his episodes.

 

[David*P]

As it's less than two months away until the release of this fantastic season, and as Sony chose not to highlight the famous people who would appear in the Third Season in the description on the back of the box, like they've done on the previous two seasons, I thought I would list some of them here.

Before that though, I would like to mention that Maurice, Samantha's father returns here for only one appearance keeping in line with his previous record of one appearance per season. He is in the third episode of the season titled "Witches and Warlocks are My Favorite Things". He breaks the one appearance per season trend next season as he doesn't show up at all and in fact he wont' be seen until the very end of the Fifth Season, where he makes up for his absence in the Fourth by appearing twice

The "big" guest stars this season include:

Kathleen Nolan (Kate McCoy from "The Real McCoys") as Geri the Wood Nymph in #79:"A Most Unusual Wood Nymph". Also in that episode is Michael Ansara (Cochise from "Broken Arrow" a 50s TV series). He was Barbara Eden's husband at the time...of course she played Jeannie on NBC, a copycat show of BW (and before I get flamed, I LOVE IDOJ, but let's be honest...had there not first been a twitch there would've been no blink).

Willie Mays, baseball hall of famer, plays himself in #81: "Twitch or Treat", where it's revealed that the reason he was such a phenom at baseball is because he is really a warlock!! I also believe he was the only African-American warlock shown on the series.

Marty Ingels plays the title character in #82: "Dangerous Diaper Dan". He is famous for being married to Shirely Partridge, I mean Jones...actually around that time he had played Sol Pomeroy in a couple episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show and had even been a star in a one season sitcom titled "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" with John Astin.

Reginald Owen makes the first of two appearances on BW as Ocky, Aunt Clara's best beau in #83: "The Short Happy Circuit of Aunt Clara". He was a very famous character actor having played Scrooge in the famous 1938 MGM "A Christmas Carol" and playing General Boom in Disney's Mary Poppins to name just a few of his famous roles.

Norman Fell plays world famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud in #84: "I'd Rather Twitch Than Fight". He is known to TV audiences as Mr. Roper from "Three's Company" and later his own spin-off "The Ropers". Also in that episode, though not really famous but noteworthy is Bridget Hanley who plays the sales lady. She was married to frequent BW writer E.W. Swackhamer (who did not write that episode LOL).

Paul Dooley plays a TV repairman in one of his earliest roles in #85: "Oedipus Hex". He is most recognized for being another Samantha's - Samantha Baker - father in the classic movie "Sixteen Candles" starring Molly Ringwald.

J. Pat O'Malley plays Mr. Cosgrove, the client, in #86: "Sam's Spooky Chair". He was a Disney favorite appearing in many films as a voice actor. In fact he was the voices of Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, the Walrus and the Carpenter in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland". On BW his wife was played by Anne Seymour who appeared in Disney's "Pollyanna" with Agnes Moorehead.

Mike Road plays the D.A. in the two parter about Ben Franklin. He was Race Bannon's voice on the '64 version of Jonny Quest but also did a lot of voice work for Hanna Barbara on other shows. Also of note from those episodes is Fred Wayne who played Ben Franklin, not only BW but many other shows as well. He was, or is, a Ben Franklin historian to boot! Not so much famous in and of himself but Tim Rooney plays the hippie boy at the library. He is Mickey Rooney's son. And the Real Don Steele plays himself in these episodes. He was a famous disc jockey during the 60s.

Dave Madden plays Joe, a worker, in #93: "Super Car". He also plays a worker in a Fifth Season episode but is most famous for being Reuben Kincaid on "The Partridge Family".

Arthur Malet plays the ornery Judge Bean in #95: "The Trial and Error of Aunt Clara". He shows up in a lot of animated movies as a voice but in my mind he's most famous for playing Tootles in "Hook", the live action movie starring Robin Williams.

Joanna Moore plays Daphne, the wife of the title character in #99: "Charlie Harper, Winner". She was Andy Taylor's girlfriend in the Third Season of "The Andy Griffith Show" but is most famous for being the wife of actor Ryan O'Neal (whom she divorced shortly after filming her appearance on BW) and the mother of Oscar winner Tatum O'Neal.

John Fiedler makes the first of six appearances on BW as Fergus the Frog (in human form) in #106: "Nobody But a Frog Knows How to Live". He is known world-wide as the original voice of Piglet.

That's a whole lot of star power on a show that was all ready powered by a lot of stars on it's own!

 

[JohnMor]

Yeah!! I'm counting the days!! Thanks for the info David*P! It reminded me just how great S3 is.

I'd also like to mention Jane Connell, who makes her first appearance playing Queen Victoria, and would later play, Mother Goose, Hepzibah and Martha Washington. She's most famous for playing Agnes Gooch on Broadway and in the film version of "Mame."

And while they're not big stars, it's also worth pointing out that Dorothy Neumann, who plays "The Crone of Cawdor" co-starred with Liz in an epsiode of Thriller and Angus Duncan, who plays Joanna Moore's husband on BW, was also Mary Richard's live-in boyfriend, whom she practically put through medical school, and whom she left to start her life as a single woman in Minneapolis in the first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

 

[David*P]

Nice info about Angus Duncan...I didn't know that about him...I had been thinking of including Jane Connell but I wasn't sure of specifically what roles on broadway she had played.

I also wanted to mention that if any of you know of someone who really likes Marion Lorne aka Aunt Clara, then this is the season to purchase for them, or talk them into purchasing as Aunt Clara pops in 11 of the 33 episodes, the most appearances for her in one season. And there are classic Aunt Clara moments this season to boot such as her knocking out the power along the entire Eastern Seaboard (an event that really took place one year prior to this episode airing and then actually happened again about three or four years ago) in "The Short Happy Circuit of Aunt Clara"...being put on trial to be 'earthbound' as her powers have gone so wacky...and one of my favorites, making twins out of the Tate's baby just to name a few.

 

[David*P]

The final cover art for both front and back has been posted over at TVShowsonDVD.com though the photos are from OrderDVDTVShows.com





I really don't like that picture of Samantha used on the front cover...there are so many better pictures.

And the use of the picture at the bottom with Samantha in jail is odd too...

Oh well! It's going to be so great watching these all uncut!

 

[Steve Phillips]

Seasons 7 and 8 are due on DVD (in Japan) next month! Come on, Sony, speed up the schedule of US releases.

 

[JohnMor]

I agree: I don't like that picture of Elizabeth.

Also, the description on the rear cover is wrong: both Liz and Agnes received their first "Bewitched" Emmy nominations for the Second Season, not the Third. That was also the season for which William Asher won the Emmy for directing and Alice Pearce won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress, neither of which was acknowledged on the back of the Season Two box. So they finally mention the Emmys and get the info all wrong. Go figure.

Oh well, it's the episodes that really matter...

 

[David*P]

I wonder if they meant that the Emmy show where those awards were given aired during the third season...regardless, they should've included at the very least the clip where William Asher won his and AP was awarded hers.