I have a question and hope that there's a fan that knows the answer...

Why do even the episodes from the 1st season (1964-1965) have a copyright date of 1966 in the opening credits? That never made a whole lot of sense to me. How can something be copyrighted or trademarked for a future date??? :confused:

Yeah, I've been watching that show since the late '60s or early '70s, and I still can't figure it out. :confused:

When Bewitched was put out on VHS by Sony vie Columbia House the syndicated openings were used from 1966 instead of the original openings from each of the first 5 seasons, so as they used the 1966 3rd season openings they have the 1966 copyright statement on them.
For the first two B/W Seasons they just took the 1966 3rd season color openings & used them in B/W instead.

Larry Tate :)

...for the great answer! I bet the earlier episodes of Bewitched had openings that were heavily tied-in to the sponsors and not at all appropriate for syndication.

Your Welcome :)
When Bewitched first started airing they were in the transition from where the sponser had almost total control over a show to where the networks called the shots with the sponser still having a lot of residual control.

The first 4 seasons it was mainly Chevrolet & Quaker Oats that shared the spnosership & their logos were used at the start of each opening & in the end credits as well.

A friend suggested something quite possible, in that the reason they never used the generic syndicated season one opening is that they didn't have it colorized & were too cheap to do so & as a result just used the color 3rd season generic syndicated opening that they already had in color.

That would be a typical cheapskate Sony move, so that makes sense.

Larry Tate :)

So, in other words, the opening credits on the episodes on the new Season One DVD set are not actually the originals????? I think it would be great to see the original opening credits on each of the episodes.

Signed,
Respectfully,
Dutch

Yes that is correct, the entire animated opening on the DVD's with the credits is not from season one but from season three.

To see the original openings you have to have a transfer of a studio 16mm print, i have lots of these from the first 5 seasons with the original sponsor openings included, looks really neat to see Sam/Darrin sitting on the Chevrolet logo in the end credits for example.

You are right though that they should have included only the original openings on the DVD set.

Larry Tate :)

Too bad. I just got the Season Four dvd set of "I Love Lucy" last week at a used cd/dvd store and I was surprised that it didn't have the original opening credits either. It had the original opening credit as one of the "bonus features" but that was it. I was a little disappointed.

Signed,
Respectfully,
Dutch

Yes i know what you mean, it is something that ticks one off when they treat the show involved with such a lack of respect, i have heard a lot of fans complaining about the incorrect opening, but sadly company's like Sony just don't give a Damm.
At least it could have been a bonus feature but we didn't even get that.

Larry Tate :)

Even when it came on Nick at Nite, the 1964-1966 episodes had the original opening from 1964, so they should have used that opening.

In fact, I wish they should have put original commercials on the DVD's. You can see them displayed on Vic's Bewitched (http://members.tripod.com/~bewitchvic/main.html). Now THAT would have been a treasure, but something to think about come future seasons of the show on DVD.