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Originally posted by FrankJSell
I'm sorry. I didn't intend to torpedo your theory, if that's what I have done. I actually agree with you on a lot of things, except for the impulsive-wish theory.
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No reason to feel bad about that. I didn't have any particular devotion to the theory I advanced. I simply mentioned it out of hand as a possibility. If it doesn't fit all the circumstances that were depicted over the course of the series--well, so be it. I rather expected that, anyway.
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(Jeannie) did get away with a lot, especially when it related to Tony's wishes (such as the time Jeannie locked him in a cage in the living room for the whole evening to keep him from going on a date).
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This is what I would have found intolerable as Jeannie's master. Admittedly, there is the lure of being able to use Jeannie's magic to feather one's nest (and I admit, I would not have been as morally reluctant to use her powers as Major Nelson was). But still, at some point, Jeannie's incorrigibility would have become such an annoyance to me that I would rather be done with her completely.
Such things have we have bandied about here were strong possibilities to have been dealt with during the first season, in which the show was more of a romantic comedy, rather than the madcap comedy it became later. (I have a strong preference for the first season.)
Especially in the first handful of episodes, both Nelson and Healey were, relative to their later depictions, less ditzy and bumbling. And the early Nelson seemed much less impotent as Jeannie's master than the later version. While never being an absolute master, the early Nelson carried his own weight, dealing with his responsibilities competently, even when thrust into the bizarre situations visited upon him by Jeannie.
Had the show continued in this vein, it is likely the matter of the conditions of Jeannie's servitude to Nelson would have been explored, as well as a deeper examination of the emotional dynamic between the two of them. It also would have been nice to view a slow maturation of Jeannie. As marvin g pointed out, she never really progressed past her childish impulsiveness and truculence.
Like many television shows,
I Dream of Jeannie never really met the promise of its situation. Unlike other "supernatural" sitcoms of the early '60's,
IDOJ never strayed even once into some of the serious undertones of its situation.
IDOJ's "arch-rival",
Bewitched was equally as "zany" and "madcap", but occasionally, it dealt with the serious problems of the situation, such as the episode in which Darrin realises that, while he will age, Samantha will retain her youth. This was a very realistic take for a madcap sitcom, and it was dealt with maturely and satisfyingly. Or the episode in which Samantha downdresses Endora for making a fool of Darrin on Hallowe'en by pointing out that her mother is acting just like the sterotypical witches that mortals hold as traditional
and she is doing it to the one mortal who was willing to believe differently.
My Favorite Martian (which was my favourite of the supernatural sitcoms) worked mostly on the strength of the chemistry between the two leads--Ray Walston and Bill Bixby. This made the rare serious moments--such as the time when the Martian noted with sincere gratitude the fact that Tim O'Hara, a newspaperman, deliberately sat on the story which would have made him famous in order to help a lost traveller stranded on Earth, or Tim's sadness the time when he thought that "Uncle Martin" had made it back to Mars--seem real and believable.
In my experience--admittedly, not comprehensive--
IDOJ never had a moment like this, at least not after the first season.