Bewitched on Blu-ray? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

JRegis · 09-07-2021, 12:37 PM

Seeing as I DREAM OF JEANNIE is finally getting a release on the 21st, I have seen much discussion over the possibility of BEWITCHED on Blu-ray as well given the show’s similarities. In my recent phone conversation with Mill Creek, it may interest you all to know they said no plans were in place right now to do BEWITCHED, although it’s a possible consideration they are discussing. But...it would largely be dependent on how the IDOJ sales fare. As incredibly rare as it is for a show this old to see a BD release, I just find it ironic how these “rival” shows are forevermore bound together by fate still after almost 60 years. So, once again they tag along with each other here, with BEWITCHED actually totally reliant on IDOJ’s success in terms of potential Blu-ray presentation.

Arfies · 09-08-2021, 10:24 AM

AFAIK “Bewitched” is more popular than IDOJ, so going through the effort to do that on Blu-Ray first doesn’t really make sense to me.

JRegis · 09-08-2021, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arfies

AFAIK “Bewitched” is more popular than IDOJ, so going through the effort to do that on Blu-Ray first doesn’t really make sense to me.

I am certain, once upon a time, that was a given. But, perhaps with shifting gender politics and recent examination of treatment of women in the workplace (especially evident in the last few years), maybe the dynamic of housewife submitting to husband has caused BEWITCHED to fall out of favor a bit in comparison to the more liberated JEANNIE. Bear in mind, however, this is a mere assumption; there are threads in both shows’ forums that go into heavy detail about which has aged better or appears “dated” now. My point here is that the gentleman at Mill Creek made a couple comments that gave me the impression IDOJ on Blu-ray would presumably be the better seller of the two. Maybe IDOJ outsold BEWITCHED on the DVD set and that is the basis of Mill Creek’s decision? There are people far more knowledgeable on this subject than me — I merely am relaying what I was told and inferred.

Arfies · 09-08-2021, 01:54 PM

I actually think Bewitched holds up better in regards to gender politics specifically because of Endora.

Arfies · 09-09-2021, 01:41 PM

Out of curiosity, I checked Facebook to see if Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie had more fans on their respective official pages. 38k for Bewitched vs. 15k for Jeannie.

I also tried finding the largest fan group for each show (correct me if I missed it). The biggest one I could find in each was “Bewitched Fans” (50k) vs. “I Dream of Jeannie” (the fan group; 18k).

So if Bewitched is more than twice as popular as IDOJ, at least on their official Facebook pages, not sure what Mill Creek is doing? I know I didn’t buy the complete set from them only because I had already bought all the seasons individually from Sony, but if they did a really great job restoring some of the fuzzier transfers, plus added bonus features like cast commercials, I’d buy it again.

merlinjones · 09-09-2021, 07:57 PM

Maybe with Jeannie being only 5 seasons compared to Bewitched's 8 seasons, it's a less risky test to try it first.

Also Barbara will be promoting it and signing limited edition copies.

I have a feeling it will do well and we will see Bewitched too. Though they may want to spilt sets between seasons 1-5 (York) and 3-8 (Sargent).

stevea · 09-12-2021, 07:25 PM

^(You meant 6-8 [Sargent])

I'm wondering, were the IDOJ masters already converted to HD for some reason? No way of knowing, but due to the decline of physical media I'd think, yes. Why would they decide to remaster a series to HD that's already out on DVD?

Or, it may not already be converted, but there could be a reason to do it--it might not look good enough when streamed. Possibly, the existing IDOJ DVDs were mastered from videotapes done for syndication in the 90s.

If the 2nd scenario is true, we may be seeing Bewitched and many other shows coming to Blu-Ray.

tcr1701 · 12-03-2021, 08:44 PM

I hope we get Bewitched on blu ray. I got the "Jeannie" blu ray yesterday and it looks marvelous.

Arfies · 12-03-2021, 09:06 PM

Is it in 4:3 or 16:9? How does it play on a tube TV vs. a flatscreen?

tcr1701 · 12-03-2021, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arfies

Is it in 4:3 or 16:9? How does it play on a tube TV vs. a flatscreen?

I am not sure what that means...but there are black bars on the side. It's not stretched to widescreen.

It is definitely not remastered from the original film and some episodes seem to have more bright colors than others. But it is a step up from regular DVD. I only have flat screen TV though. To me at least. Others say they prefer the old DVDs.

Arfies · 12-03-2021, 09:57 PM

4:3 is the squarish old-school TV aspect ratio- 4 inches length to every 3 inches height. "Fullscreen."

16:9 is the widescreen format.

tcr1701 · 12-03-2021, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arfies

4:3 is the squarish old-school TV aspect ratio- 4 inches length to every 3 inches height. "Fullscreen."

16:9 is the widescreen format.

I thought that...but didn't want to guess. People who understand these things say the "compression has been increased"...it is not a true 1080p HD presentation and is not that much better than DVD....I liked it though.

Arfies · 12-03-2021, 11:31 PM

GACTV has BEAUTIFUL 4K Bewitched transfers. If BW goes to Blu-Ray, I hope they use those!

cloggedmind · 12-04-2021, 03:30 AM

I would only want this if it were really Hi-Def transfers in 4x3 and not from Mill Creek and not done like the Jeannie set, which by all reports is not true Hi-Def, has the same glitchy opening theme song like the dvds (though the end theme variations are intact), image instability, further audio issues, and the streaming episodes have more picture detail than what is on the discs. And run-on sentences are fun!

cloggedmind · 12-04-2021, 03:31 AM

Fixing a duplicate post..

"Here, I'll play it for ya."
[materializes a toy xylophone and mallet]
"Yaga zoozie, yaga zoozie, yaga zoozie ZIMMMM!!"
[kazooo, cowbell]

09-07-2021, 12:37 PM	#1
JRegis Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Aug 19, 2012 Location: USA Posts: 20	Bewitched on Blu-ray? Seeing as I DREAM OF JEANNIE is finally getting a release on the 21st, I have seen much discussion over the possibility of BEWITCHED on Blu-ray as well given the show’s similarities. In my recent phone conversation with Mill Creek, it may interest you all to know they said no plans were in place right now to do BEWITCHED, although it’s a possible consideration they are discussing. But...it would largely be dependent on how the IDOJ sales fare. As incredibly rare as it is for a show this old to see a BD release, I just find it ironic how these “rival” shows are forevermore bound together by fate still after almost 60 years. So, once again they tag along with each other here, with BEWITCHED actually totally reliant on IDOJ’s success in terms of potential Blu-ray presentation.

09-08-2021, 10:24 AM	#2
Arfies Memberific Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: There beneath the blue suburban skies, in summer, meanwhile back.... Posts: 481	AFAIK “Bewitched” is more popular than IDOJ, so going through the effort to do that on Blu-Ray first doesn’t really make sense to me.

09-08-2021, 01:54 PM	#4
Arfies Memberific Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: There beneath the blue suburban skies, in summer, meanwhile back.... Posts: 481	I actually think Bewitched holds up better in regards to gender politics specifically because of Endora.

09-09-2021, 01:41 PM	#5
Arfies Memberific Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: There beneath the blue suburban skies, in summer, meanwhile back.... Posts: 481	Out of curiosity, I checked Facebook to see if Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie had more fans on their respective official pages. 38k for Bewitched vs. 15k for Jeannie. I also tried finding the largest fan group for each show (correct me if I missed it). The biggest one I could find in each was “Bewitched Fans” (50k) vs. “I Dream of Jeannie” (the fan group; 18k). So if Bewitched is more than twice as popular as IDOJ, at least on their official Facebook pages, not sure what Mill Creek is doing? I know I didn’t buy the complete set from them only because I had already bought all the seasons individually from Sony, but if they did a really great job restoring some of the fuzzier transfers, plus added bonus features like cast commercials, I’d buy it again.

09-09-2021, 07:57 PM	#6
merlinjones Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 30, 2019 Location: los ángeles Posts: 933	Maybe with Jeannie being only 5 seasons compared to Bewitched's 8 seasons, it's a less risky test to try it first. Also Barbara will be promoting it and signing limited edition copies. I have a feeling it will do well and we will see Bewitched too. Though they may want to spilt sets between seasons 1-5 (York) and 3-8 (Sargent).

09-12-2021, 07:25 PM	#7
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,745	^(You meant 6-8 [Sargent]) I'm wondering, were the IDOJ masters already converted to HD for some reason? No way of knowing, but due to the decline of physical media I'd think, yes. Why would they decide to remaster a series to HD that's already out on DVD? Or, it may not already be converted, but there could be a reason to do it--it might not look good enough when streamed. Possibly, the existing IDOJ DVDs were mastered from videotapes done for syndication in the 90s. If the 2nd scenario is true, we may be seeing Bewitched and many other shows coming to Blu-Ray.

12-03-2021, 08:44 PM	#8
tcr1701 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 22, 2012 Posts: 461	I hope we get Bewitched on blu ray. I got the "Jeannie" blu ray yesterday and it looks marvelous.

12-03-2021, 09:06 PM	#9
Arfies Memberific Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: There beneath the blue suburban skies, in summer, meanwhile back.... Posts: 481	Is it in 4:3 or 16:9? How does it play on a tube TV vs. a flatscreen?

12-03-2021, 09:57 PM	#11
Arfies Memberific Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: There beneath the blue suburban skies, in summer, meanwhile back.... Posts: 481	4:3 is the squarish old-school TV aspect ratio- 4 inches length to every 3 inches height. "Fullscreen." 16:9 is the widescreen format.

12-03-2021, 11:31 PM	#13
Arfies Memberific Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: There beneath the blue suburban skies, in summer, meanwhile back.... Posts: 481	GACTV has BEAUTIFUL 4K Bewitched transfers. If BW goes to Blu-Ray, I hope they use those!

12-04-2021, 03:30 AM	#14
cloggedmind Inactive Member Forum Regular Join Date: Apr 30, 2007 Posts: 529	I would only want this if it were really Hi-Def transfers in 4x3 and not from Mill Creek and not done like the Jeannie set, which by all reports is not true Hi-Def, has the same glitchy opening theme song like the dvds (though the end theme variations are intact), image instability, further audio issues, and the streaming episodes have more picture detail than what is on the discs. And run-on sentences are fun!

12-04-2021, 03:31 AM	#15
cloggedmind Inactive Member Forum Regular Join Date: Apr 30, 2007 Posts: 529	Fixing a duplicate post.. "Here, I'll play it for ya." [materializes a toy xylophone and mallet] "Yaga zoozie, yaga zoozie, yaga zoozie ZIMMMM!!" [kazooo, cowbell]