Has Bewitched aged better than I Dream of Jeannie

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by TMC

I don't know how Bewitched's popularity measured against I Dream of Jeannie's during their original runs. I would assume that Bewitched was more popular since it had a longer run (about eight seasons on ABC compared to five on NBC for IDOJ). Regardless, both shows when you get right down to it pretty much the same concept, even some of the same sets. So what did Bewitched have that Jeannie didn't?

I know that Barbara Eden has always defended IDOJ over claims that the show was sexist. I wonder if the real problem was that at the end of the day, the character of Jeannie lacked the depth of Samantha. What I mean is that we knew more about Sam's family, history, inner monologue, motivations. With Jeannie, her entire reason for being was to serve. People simply could identify more easily with Sam and Darrin on Bewitched (junior executive with a stay-at-home wife) than with Jeannie and Tony (a literal genie in a bottle and an astronaut) on IDOJ.

Meanwhile, Samantha was torn between a stifling upper middle class existence and oodles of otherworldly possibilities. To put it in another way, Samantha was a woman struggling with her true nature and being the perfect housewife. She played down her talents to appease her husband, but always managed to assert her individuality. So you have one show that's about subservience and another show that was about independence.

I think another problem with IDOJ is that when compared to Bewitched, it lacked warmth, especially in the first few seasons. You have Jeannie, completely in love with and devoted to a stern jerk, who just bosses her around. With Bewitched, even though Darrin was angry whenever Sam used witchcraft, you still saw that he loved her whereas with Jeannie, you kind of got the sense that Tony Nelson would rather get rid of her.

Good points, it took years for Jeanne and Major Nelson to even get married.

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by Rookielove

With all these differences that you just pointed out, then how is it the "same" concept.

Definitely a riff on the same concept, as television networks tended to do back then.