Larry Tate
Stunt Coordinator
First off the Writing on Bewitched was nothing short of Brilliant & some of the best
that TV Comedy has ever seen, right up there with I Love Lucy & the Dick Van Dyke Show.
Although Elizabeth Montgomery was the main reason Bewitched was to become the finest TV show
to ever appear on TV, it still was so superbly crafted & had such a Brilliant supporting cast with Agnes Moorehead, Dick York, David White, Alice Pierce etc., that I believe it would have been very successful even without Liz & at any point in time.
I know that it would have been fun to see more of the Witch life, but that was not what the premise
of the show was about & to stay true to the premise & the characterisations & their interaction, that part of her life had to be strictly background & in support of the relationship between Samantha & Darrin which was
what the premise entailed.
I might add that all this talk about flaws & inconsistencies do not hold much water either.
Almost any aspect of what happened on Bewitched could be explained away by the basic premise
of the show & was not inconsistent at all.
Example, she is a different age at different point in history, in each point it can be explained away in a consistent manner by the simple use of time travel.
Such as for example she is born in 1500 AD lets say, yet we hear she was 200 years old in 1200 AD, this can be explained in a consistent manner that in 1700 AD she went back in time to 1200 AD and at that point in time was 200 years old 200 years prior to her birth.
Same thing with spells being reversible, as all spells are not the same depending on the type used, the power of the witch envolved, the intent by them & the reason it is cast all effects the outcome & what the nature of the magical reality is in each instance when it is done, & there is a great range in the type & their effect
and in how they can be manipulated by a third witchly party or not, so that explains why sometimes a spell was reversible & sometimes not.
To be honest I don't see where the idea that Bewitched was formulaic in it's story lines & plot devises comes about.
Some say just about every episode was about a spell being zapped on Darrin & then what to do about it.
The stats just do not back this up.
If anything what you suggest as the constant norm was actually the rare exception & in the minority.
So to say Bewitched was just a lot of stale over worked plot devises..............well as they say in the Ozarks about the plausibility of such a statement......................................... ...that Dog just Ain't gonna Hunt.
The numbers do not lie & clearly refute the premise put forth that the show was formulaic which clearly it was not in general nor in the last 3 years of the show, these facts clearly delineated by the stats are irrefutable.
The only thing formulaic in its premise about Bewitched was the focus on the relationship between Darrin & Samantha, the rest is just not so & the facts clearly prove my point of view.
The recycling point is of limited impact in my view as that has been overblown & exaggerated to the extreme, to the point that almost if Sam twitched her nose it is called a remake.
Or if an episode evolves Spells on Darrin or Transformations of Darrin,Witch Disease for Samantha,Going back in time, Historical Figures brought to the Present or Client Episodes it is called a remake.
This of course is just not so.
These were in affect sub-premises of the main premise of the show and nothing like a remake.
Even the remakes were turned around to such an extent that they were merely similar yet different episodes in of themselves with over 95% of the dialogue being new & different from the earlier versions.
In reality there were remakes as early as season two & evolved 2 per season in seasons,3,4,5 & 3 per seasons 6,7,8 until the last 3 or 4 episodes of season 8, hardly the all or almost all of the episodes that the later years are claimed to have been remakes.
What I accept are facts that are clearly visible to one, not criticisms of the show that have no bearing in reality or existence in the show, saying it so does not make it so when the facts show clearly otherwise.
No show made by mortal man is perfect or flawless, but nor is it flawed in a way when the facts as such are misrepresented and inaccurate.
It is what it is & is not what it is not.
What it was is a show that remained true to its fundamental premise & did not stray from it, this does not constitute a series of overused plot devises.
Of course the writers were not perfect, they simply did not make the mistakes you are referring too.
The only thing that got a workout on the show were Samantha's Nose (upper lip) & our eyes watching her.
Larry Tate
Spells on Darrin:
0/36
5/36
4/33
5/33
7/30
6/30
3/28
2/26
Transformations of Darrin:
5/36
6/36
0/33
3/33
4/30
5/30
9/28
1/26
Witch Disease for Samantha:
0/36
1/36
0/33
1/33
2/30
3/30
5/28
2/26
Going back in time:
0/36
1/36
2/33
1/33
1/30
0/30
3/28
4/26
Historical Figures brought to the Present:
0/36
0/36
5/33
1/33
1/30
1/30
1/28
2/26
Client Episodes:
12/36
23/36
21/33
22/33
14/30
22/30
20/28
16/26
To err is to be Human,to be with Lizzie is Divine
that TV Comedy has ever seen, right up there with I Love Lucy & the Dick Van Dyke Show.
Although Elizabeth Montgomery was the main reason Bewitched was to become the finest TV show
to ever appear on TV, it still was so superbly crafted & had such a Brilliant supporting cast with Agnes Moorehead, Dick York, David White, Alice Pierce etc., that I believe it would have been very successful even without Liz & at any point in time.
I know that it would have been fun to see more of the Witch life, but that was not what the premise
of the show was about & to stay true to the premise & the characterisations & their interaction, that part of her life had to be strictly background & in support of the relationship between Samantha & Darrin which was
what the premise entailed.
I might add that all this talk about flaws & inconsistencies do not hold much water either.
Almost any aspect of what happened on Bewitched could be explained away by the basic premise
of the show & was not inconsistent at all.
Example, she is a different age at different point in history, in each point it can be explained away in a consistent manner by the simple use of time travel.
Such as for example she is born in 1500 AD lets say, yet we hear she was 200 years old in 1200 AD, this can be explained in a consistent manner that in 1700 AD she went back in time to 1200 AD and at that point in time was 200 years old 200 years prior to her birth.
Same thing with spells being reversible, as all spells are not the same depending on the type used, the power of the witch envolved, the intent by them & the reason it is cast all effects the outcome & what the nature of the magical reality is in each instance when it is done, & there is a great range in the type & their effect
and in how they can be manipulated by a third witchly party or not, so that explains why sometimes a spell was reversible & sometimes not.
To be honest I don't see where the idea that Bewitched was formulaic in it's story lines & plot devises comes about.
Some say just about every episode was about a spell being zapped on Darrin & then what to do about it.
The stats just do not back this up.
If anything what you suggest as the constant norm was actually the rare exception & in the minority.
So to say Bewitched was just a lot of stale over worked plot devises..............well as they say in the Ozarks about the plausibility of such a statement......................................... ...that Dog just Ain't gonna Hunt.
The numbers do not lie & clearly refute the premise put forth that the show was formulaic which clearly it was not in general nor in the last 3 years of the show, these facts clearly delineated by the stats are irrefutable.
The only thing formulaic in its premise about Bewitched was the focus on the relationship between Darrin & Samantha, the rest is just not so & the facts clearly prove my point of view.
The recycling point is of limited impact in my view as that has been overblown & exaggerated to the extreme, to the point that almost if Sam twitched her nose it is called a remake.
Or if an episode evolves Spells on Darrin or Transformations of Darrin,Witch Disease for Samantha,Going back in time, Historical Figures brought to the Present or Client Episodes it is called a remake.
This of course is just not so.
These were in affect sub-premises of the main premise of the show and nothing like a remake.
Even the remakes were turned around to such an extent that they were merely similar yet different episodes in of themselves with over 95% of the dialogue being new & different from the earlier versions.
In reality there were remakes as early as season two & evolved 2 per season in seasons,3,4,5 & 3 per seasons 6,7,8 until the last 3 or 4 episodes of season 8, hardly the all or almost all of the episodes that the later years are claimed to have been remakes.
What I accept are facts that are clearly visible to one, not criticisms of the show that have no bearing in reality or existence in the show, saying it so does not make it so when the facts show clearly otherwise.
No show made by mortal man is perfect or flawless, but nor is it flawed in a way when the facts as such are misrepresented and inaccurate.
It is what it is & is not what it is not.
What it was is a show that remained true to its fundamental premise & did not stray from it, this does not constitute a series of overused plot devises.
Of course the writers were not perfect, they simply did not make the mistakes you are referring too.
The only thing that got a workout on the show were Samantha's Nose (upper lip) & our eyes watching her.
Larry Tate
Spells on Darrin:
0/36
5/36
4/33
5/33
7/30
6/30
3/28
2/26
Transformations of Darrin:
5/36
6/36
0/33
3/33
4/30
5/30
9/28
1/26
Witch Disease for Samantha:
0/36
1/36
0/33
1/33
2/30
3/30
5/28
2/26
Going back in time:
0/36
1/36
2/33
1/33
1/30
0/30
3/28
4/26
Historical Figures brought to the Present:
0/36
0/36
5/33
1/33
1/30
1/30
1/28
2/26
Client Episodes:
12/36
23/36
21/33
22/33
14/30
22/30
20/28
16/26
To err is to be Human,to be with Lizzie is Divine
