The Final Episode #20: Bewitched (1964 - 1972)

 

It's time for I think the first show from the 1960s that I've talked about. I could go back and look but I'm way too lazy for that. Anyway sitcoms from the 1960s were the goofiest things ever. Every single one of them was goofy as hell, and thus very entertaining. Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, and today's show Bewitched. The actors were always up for the goofiest stuff the writers could come up with and I am at least grateful for that.

Bewitched was a sitcom created by Sol Saks (lol) that ran from 1964 to 1972 for eight whole seasons and two hundred and fifty four episodes. That's another thing about sitcoms from the 1960s is that they made an incredible amount of episodes so if you like one of them you get a whole hell of it to watch. Bewitched was about a witch named Samantha (played by Elizabeth Montgomery) who married a mortal man (played by Dick York for five seasons and Dick Sargent for the last three). It wasn't even the only show about a magical person causing problems for someone so that we could all laugh. I Dream of Jeannie and My Favorite Martian were both on the air at the same time.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention that Bewitched was the gayest sitcom of the 1960s. This show's whole plot was pretty much about how you had to hide who you were because people would be fearful of you. Also most of the cast were also gay. Dick Sargent was gay. The guy who played Samantha's dad was gay. Her mother was gay. Her uncle was also gay. What I'm saying is witches clearly respect the LGBT community. This YouTube video points this out in a better way than I do.

My memories of this show come from TBS in the morning. I think it was around the time we actually got TBS as a part of our cable package in I want to say 1995. That makes sense because I feel I would watch this after Sailor Moon. I'm pretty sure Bewitched inspired the first magical girl series in Japan, called Sally the Witch. Bewitched inspired everyone! I remember enjoying the hell out of this show and I also enjoyed the several episodes I rewatched recently.

Despite that I wasn't huge on the Final Episode of Bewitched. Dick Sargent the second Darrin is a very boring actor. He just seems to not even want to be apart of this show. Weirdly enough he was supposed to be part of the original cast. Dick York was a lot more fun to watch. Maybe it's not completely fair to say this because I'm only seen this one episode of his but man it's not the best. The second reason is well the show repeated this plot (you'd have to to make 254 episodes to be fair) and well I'm sure the first time was done better. Bewitched clearly deserved to go out on a plot that was more original.

The plot of the Final Episode which was entitled "The Truth, Nothing But the Truth So Help Me Sam" which involves Endora, Samantha's mother putting a truth spell on the unicorn necklace that Darrin bought her and at this point it seems everyone not just Dick Sargent is going through the motions. All I know is that I only had a few laughs in this episode and they came from the couple of old people that the advertising place Darrin works with wanting them to work with them but everyone has to tell the truth and chaos happens! 

FINAL VERDICT: Yeah this show ended on a low note at least in my mind. I wish both Dick York never had any of those back problems that caused him to leave and that they got something that wasn't already done earlier in the series. Oh, and Dick Sargent's birth name was Richard Cox so he was literally Dick Cox. Yes, that's how I plan to end this column. It's my blog and I can do what I want!