I Dream of Jeannie vs Bewitched

Bewitched had Paul Lynde so it wins!

(Oh wait so did I Dream of Jeannie)

But I Dream of Jeannie has such a positive and enlightened portrayal of Iraqi women!

That first black & white season of Bewitched is a wonderful wonderful dream of a thing. It was beautiful. But I like Bewitched even at the end better than Jeannie. Not that I didn't faithfully watch Jeannie reruns for years, I did. But Bewitched had loads of inspired characters. Even if I never understood why Sam couldn't break her Darrin-imposed "no witchcraft" rule just once to put a little "bitch, stop peeping thru my damn windows" spell on Mrs.Kravitz.

Jeannie, despite the whole "yes, master" thing, got back at her guy if he treated her wrong a lot more often than Samantha did, I think.

Jeannie and Sam both easily qualify as knockouts. Bewitched had a much longer series run, in part, due to viewers in the audience like myself, I guess.

Bewitched had Agnes Morehead as Endora. Bewitched wins.

"Bewitched." Sam didn't have to live in a bottle.

last time i saw these shows i was about 5 years old. at the time i liked jeannie more, but i suspect that for some reason i'd like bewitched more if i saw it now.

still, my vote is for jeannie.

'Bewitched' was the less bad of the two but I wouldn't walk ten paces to watch either of them.

Roger Healy>>>Mr. Tate

bewitched, it has elizabeth montgomery krowr

Yes, I'm with Stevie on this. She could have twitched her nose and got me to do whatever she wanted without any magic required.

i was *broken-hearted* when i discovered she'd died so young, a real 'pictures of lily' moment, i tells ya. she was a cool, cool person, too - feminist, early AIDS campaigner, really politicised.

Jeannie, despite the whole "yes, master" thing, got back at her guy if he treated her wrong a lot more often than Samantha did, I think.

Is this a fair judgement, btw? I used to watch "I Dream Of Jeannie" when I was very young, and only got exposed to "Bewitched" a few years ago, so maybe I'm wrong on this...but I remember Jeannie being quite wrathful when messed with (one episode ends with her locking him in a phone booth in the middle of the beach, if I remember correctly), whilst "Bewitched" to me was always just "Darrin gets in trouble (usually for something that is entirely his fault), shouts at Samantha a lot, Samantha does some magic to take care of things, hijinks ensue, Darren gently scolds Samantha and asks her not to use magic again". I mean, wtf, her magic keeps saving your worthless ass, you pompous creep!

bewitched, because eliz montgomery as serena. interesting how they both use magic to comment on technology/psychology. but both basically dumb '60s sitcoms, still. green acres is the place for me.

Bewitched, it's the nose twitching thing.

Jeanie!!! That bottle was like the hippest swinger pad ever!!!

I wonder how many of us have tried to twitch our nose at one time or another during or after an episode of Bewitched. Me, for one.

I realize it should state "I, for one." but I like it the other way.

A feminist perspective would say that Samantha vs.Jeannie (Genie) is a trump for Sam because Sam doesn't have to wear the revealing outfits and, yes, is not put into a bottle every time she "misbehaves". Plus Sam chooses to deny her powers and...Sam is allowed marriage and reproduction in her relationship.
But every girl wants her room to look like Jeannie's bottle. Not like Tabitha's room.
Bewitched rules becuse of the many names Endora called Darrin - Darwood being my favorite. Plus - Dr. Bombay! Way better than an HMO!

Bewitched, because of the proto-feminist subtext. Plus, the nose twitching thing. I spent hours trying to learn how to do it, and never could. :-(

Bewitched had a powerful homosexual subtext too - most of the cast and crew and creators were gay, and the whole premise - passing as 'normal' in society, despite being so essentially 'different' - withstands a gay reading also.

Bewitched by a million miles as the proto-feminist message is 'let the men believe they're in control; they're not' and the other one is 'how stupid are people who work in advertising, anyway?' Elizabeth Montgomery died with an FBI file bigger than John Lennon's (and like Jane Fonda she was daughter of more conservative a-list actor), Agnes Moorehead was one of *the* Orson Welles actresses and all those funny aunties with names ending in A were always venerable British character actresses. Stevie, Bewitched was actually produced by Elizabeth Montgomery's husband but yes, most of the 'support' was camp or had the sensibility at the very least.

Jeannie just gives me a vision of Dubya asking Laura if the soldiers have found where Haji lives yet. I never liked it a tenth as much as Bewitched.

For ages they were supposed to film a Bewitched remake (um, it's from the Rene Clair film I Married A Witch in the first place and Rene Clair roxor) with Nicole Kidman as Sam but until she appears to be eating some food that's a bad idea. Ed and I reckon Jim Carrey gurns in a Darren-friendly way.

another vote for bewitched. but only because of the nose thing. didn't love either of them.

Uh, Darrin...looks like I too have case of the Endoras.

eddie hurt is my hero because not only did he correctly almost point out that Serena was way better than Hajii, but also that Green Acres is the best show that was ever on TV.

Also, first season of Bewitched, Liz Montgomery = jaw-drop beautiful.

Uncle Arthur, Aunt Clara & Larry Tate were way better supporting characters than Healey & Bellows.

Spinoff topic:
TS: The "Tabitha" show -vs- The "Jeannie" cartoon. I vote for the Jeannie cartoon because she pointed her ponytail at things to cast magic on them.

Bewitched after the birth of the children is a bit of a shark-jump. Baaaaarf.

What was the sons name? one at a time, please, i feel an assault coming on.

Adam. Babysitting aunties were Hagatha and Esmeralda.

Hey - less of the 'proto'. Feminism wasn't invented in the 1970s.

Bewitched ran from 1964 to 1972; Kate Millett's Sexual Politics out 1970. People can call it proto if they want.

Kate Millett was the first feminist?

No, but the book is a useful marker for beginning of the post-Pill Ms. magazine era of what we'd have called women's rights in the early '60s and FEMINISM by the decade's end.

Hmm... the word 'feminism' had been used to refer to the championing of equal rights for much longer than that, I think.

Anyway, to answer the original question I Dream Of Jeannie is really quite awful, at least in comparison to Bewitched. Was it a cash-in?

Probably. There were a whole bunch of shows like Nanny and the Professor, I Dream of Jeannie and The Ghost and Mrs Muir (this one is absolutely brilliant in and of itself) which were all cut from the same cloth - some vaguely 'magic' character plus 'ordinary' Americans.

Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex, 1970. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1949.

And it's Bewitched by light years in terms of cast and writing. Come on. Eden vs. Montgomery still tips to Bewitched.

Bewitched by a mile. I remember an episode where Darren was given a coin or something that gave him total warlock abilities and he went totally drunk with power, teleporting home from the agency and such. "WHY was I ever such a bitch to you about this, Sam?!" Of course the enlightenment only lasted 22 minutes.

I Dream of Jeannie was such a tease, with the no-navel rule. To this day if I see a picture of Barbara Eden I just want to C in her belly button.

Did anybody see the Bewitched parody in National Lampoon with Berni(e) Wrightson art? Gladys Kravitz: "I'll just sneak over to the Stevens' house and see if Samantha's naked!"

I Dream of Jeannie is a terrible show, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to have a home like the inside of her bottle. It was fantastic!

i don't know that i could tell the difference, but i know the jingle:

bewitched, bewitched
the two dicks on bewitched
one's alive
one's dead
i don't know which is which