Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, Agnes Moorehead, David White, Alice Ghostley, Sandra
Gould, Bernard Fox, Paul Lynde, Erin Murphy
Written by Sol Saks & others
UK certification U | UK RRP £34.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 512 minutes
Directed by William Asher
Ah, one of the fondest memories of my childhood — getting home from school, plonking myself down in front of the telly and watching reruns of Bewitched. This is the series where we first meet the new Darrin (aka DumDum, Derwood, DingDong, Darwin, Dobbin, Dumb-Dumb etc), Dick Sargent — who I much preferred in the role over the original, Dick York, who left the show after Season 6 due to illness. I never liked York's pointy chin, and I always found his voice grating.
But enough of the tale of two Dicks. If you've never seen Bewitched before, then I'd recommend starting at Series 1. It's a sitcom from the 1960s that focuses on the original mixed marriage — that of a witch to a mortal. Beautiful blonde Samantha (Montgomery) is married to advertising executive Darrin. Despite his pleas to live a witchcraft-free life, Sam's annoying relatives — her cruel mother, Endora (Moorehead), joker Uncle Arthur (Lynde) and brunette cousin Serena (also Montgomery) — love nothing more than making Darrin's life a misery.
For the most part, the humour in these 28 episodes has stood the test of time pretty well. What hasn't, though, is the blatant sexism — breadwinner Darrin is king of his castle, ruler of his roost, and lovely little stay-at-home wifey bows to his every command. And I never understood his constantly belittling Sam for using her magic — I'm sure that most blokes would LOVE to have a wife with magical powers. Imagine how much fun life would be!
Despite that, it's still a great show, and one of the best American sitcoms from that era. It was also a great show for guest stars. Popping up in this season are several familiar faces — Jonathan Harris (Dr Smith from Lost in Space), Ed Platt (the Chief from Get Smart), Tom Bosley (Howard Cunningham in Happy Days) and Cesar Romero (the Joker from Batman), to name but four. This seventh season was also unique in that it introduced a seven-episode story arc, which was quite unusual for an American TV show back then. The story in this one is Sam and Darrin heading to Salem — ostensibly for a vacation, but really so Sam can attend a witches' convention. It nicely sets the scene for the rest of the season which, while not the show's best, is still worth watching again. And one of the hightlights is a lovely Christmas episode all about racism, which is as relevant today as it was back in 1970.
EXTRAS None, which is a damned shame as it would be nice to get some behind-the-scenes stories, and maybe some outtakes or a documentary looking back at the show. But with most of the main cast now dead, I guess that's a little tough.