If Bewitched was a drama instead of a sitcom, would it still have worked? Could Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York pull it off? Would it still be deemed a classic?

It's hard to say. Personally, I believe it worked best as a romantic/fantasy comedy. :D

I say a comedy

Comedy

It wouldn't have worked as a straight drama, but it might have worked as an hour long dramedy like 'Ugly Betty' or 'Desperate Housewives'.

Absolutely York, Montgomery, and Moorehead could've pulled it off. They were all great dramatic actors as well.

Although I prefer it as a comedy, I think it would've worked as a dramedy too- some of the earlier episodes were like that anyway ("A is for Aardvark," "Eye of the Beholder," etc.) I think it would be cool to see those without a laugh track- I wonder what they'd feel like. Perhaps more modern, since the trend is away from laugh tracks.

Straight drama would've worked for a while, but they might not have had enough material- plus we'd be missing out on pure comedy characters like Serena, Uncle Arthur, York's Darrin under various spells...

Absolutely York, Montgomery, and Moorehead could've pulled it off. They were all great dramatic actors as well.

Although I prefer it as a comedy, I think it would've worked as a dramedy too- some of the earlier episodes were like that anyway ("A is for Aardvark," "Eye of the Beholder," etc.) I think it would be cool to see those without a laugh track- I wonder what they'd feel like. Perhaps more modern, since the trend is away from laugh tracks.

Straight drama would've worked for a while, but they might not have had enough material- plus we'd be missing out on pure comedy characters like Serena, Uncle Arthur, York's Darrin under various spells...

I went through the foreign language audio on my Bewitched DVDs, and they don't have laugh tracks- did they ever or just not for the DVD release? It's interesting to hear more of the background music, more of "fun Darrin" singing upstairs in "Divided He Falls" (Dick York is really hamming it up!) Anyway, it would've been interesting to hear the English ones without laugh tracks.

I went through the foreign language audio on my Bewitched DVDs, and they don't have laugh tracks- did they ever or just not for the DVD release? It's interesting to hear more of the background music, more of "fun Darrin" singing upstairs in "Divided He Falls" (Dick York is really hamming it up!) Anyway, it would've been interesting to hear the English ones without laugh tracks.

In the late 70s or early 80s TBS would show one Serena (with York) episode with no laugh track. It sounded totally "off" and odd without that laugh track, ironically. But it also was not a terribly funny episode and it played more like a drama.

In the late 70s or early 80s TBS would show one Serena (with York) episode with no laugh track. It sounded totally "off" and odd without that laugh track, ironically. But it also was not a terribly funny episode and it played more like a drama.

Yes, I think that was "Hippie Hippie Hooray." I saw it on TV and actually didn't notice the lack of a laugh track until I read about it in "Bewitched Forever." It has one on the DVDs, IIRC. Oddly, I think one of the Ben Franklin episodes doesn't on the DVDs, yet did on the VHS release (which also had the light circle effect when Sam popped in a mug, cut from the DVD for some reason).