Didja See My Favorite Episode?

[Wet Water]

Here's my favorite episode of "Bewitched". It goes like this:

Endora pops in at breakfast. She insults Darrin (or Derwood, as it were). He insults her back. She gets mad and casts a spell on him and disappears. The spell causes much embarrassment for Darrin at work, until Samantha figures out how to turn it into an Ad campaign. They finally find Endora and persuade her to remove the spell. And all is well. The End.

Didja see that episode? Of course you did. That's the outline for MOST of the episodes of "Bewitched". The specific details were changed-- the insults varied, the exact nature of the spell varied, and sometimes it was Serena or Uncle Arthur, but that's the general outline.

[catlover79]

I agree that Bewitched is guilty of recycling plots like crazy - but it's a testament to the actors that they made it work as well as they did.

[Madame X]

The formula was the same but the various spells made it fun. I liked the one with the statue that made people tell the truth, and the one when Darrin's ears were huge was funny too. There are too many good ones to name.

I like the ones best when the spell is on the Stephenses and friends, rather than when they bring in a famous person like Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, Leonardo da Vinci, Prince Charming, Napoleon, etc.

[catlover79]

"Speak the Truth" (the one with the truth statue) is one of my all-time favorite Bewitched episodes. It never fails to crack me up.

[Larry Tate]

To be honest I don't see where one gets the idea that Bewitched was formulaic in it's story lines & plot devises.

Fans say just about every episode was about a spell being zapped on Darrin & then what to do about it.

The stats just do not back this up.
If anything what often is suggested as the constant norm was actually the rare exception & in the minority.

So to say Bewitched was just a lot of stale over worked plot devises..............well as they say in the Ozarks about the plausibility of such a statement............................................that Dog just Ain't gonna Hunt.

Larry Tate

Spells on Darrin:

0/36
5/36
4/33
5/33
7/30
6/30
3/28
2/26

Transformations of Darrin:

5/36
6/36
0/33
3/33
4/30
5/30
9/28
1/26

Witch Disease for Samantha:

0/36
1/36
0/33
1/33
2/30
3/30
5/28
2/26

Going back in time:

0/36
1/36
2/33
1/33
1/30
0/30
3/28
4/26

Historical Figures brought to the Present:

0/36
0/36
5/33
1/33
1/30
1/30
1/28
2/26

Client Episodes:

12/36
23/36
21/33
22/33
14/30
22/30
20/28
16/26

[Madame X]

Good post, Larry! Thanks for taking time to break down those categories. There are also the ones when Aunt Clara or Esmerelda caused trouble with their witchcraft. Actually though, those are probably some of the ones you already mentioned.

[Torgo]

How about all those episodes of I Love Lucy that had Lucy scheming, then getting yelled at by Ricky. Or all the episodes of Leave It To Beaver that had Beaver getting into trouble. Or all the episodes of Gilligan's Island where Gilligan messed up their chances of getting rescued, or some guest star not helping them get rescued...yet, like Bewitched these shows are classics...Why? Because of the characters, and the performances by the actors, and the chemistry the actors had in all of these shows.....

[Madame X]

Originally Posted by Torgo

How about all those episodes of I Love Lucy that had Lucy scheming, then getting yelled at by Ricky. Or all the episodes of Leave It To Beaver that had Beaver getting into trouble. Or all the episodes of Gilligan's Island where Gilligan messed up there chances of getting rescued, or some guest star not helping them get rescued...yet, like Bewitched these shows are classices...Why? Because of the characters, and the performances by the actors, and the chemistry the actors had in all of these shows.....

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Torgo

How about all those episodes of I Love Lucy that had Lucy scheming, then getting yelled at by Ricky. Or all the episodes of Leave It To Beaver that had Beaver getting into trouble. Or all the episodes of Gilligan's Island where Gilligan messed up there chances of getting rescued, or some guest star not helping them get rescued...yet, like Bewitched these shows are classices...Why? Because of the characters, and the performances by the actors, and the chemistry the actors had in all of these shows.....

BINGO!!!

[Larry Tate]

Originally Posted by Madame X

Good post, Larry! Thanks for taking time to break down those categories. There are also the ones when Aunt Clara or Esmerelda caused trouble with their witchcraft. Actually though, those are probably some of the ones you already mentioned.

Your very welcome Madame X, this facts just show how creative & diverse Bewitched was, that although they stuck to their main premise through all 8 years they still never became formulaic or just rehashed themselves on a regular basis, quite the opposite was the case with varied &
unique episodes being the norm the vast majority of the time rather then them being glorified remakes of each other as has been suggested.

I must say as well that episodes where a spell was placed on Darrin or when he was transformed, time travel ones back & into the future, witch illness ones etc. were never remakes but all unique & creative episodes in the form of sub premise's of the main premise, otherwise you might as well say that each time Samantha twitched her nose or Darrin kissed her that this made it a remake episode, this would make as much sense as it would be to say the ones i referred to above were remakes as well.

Larry Tate

[Tap Dancer]

Originally Posted by Wet Water

Here's my favorite episode of "Bewitched". It goes like this:

Endora pops in at breakfast. She insults Darrin (or Derwood, as it were). He insults her back. She gets mad and casts a spell on him and disappears. The spell causes much embarrassment for Darrin at work, until Samantha figures out how to turn it into an Ad campaign. They finally find Endora and persuade her to remove the spell. And all is well. The End.

No, I haven't seen that one yet. Hopefully it'll air soon.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Tap Dancer

No, I haven't seen that one yet. Hopefully it'll air soon.

[OOliver]

Most hit sitcoms have a formula which they keep reworking throughout the run (if it ain't broke, no need to fix it!). "Three's Company" ran for years on the formula of "mistaken identity" - there was always a character who's true identity was always somehow 'mistaken' by the other characters, just for the sake of pratfalls and laughs. By the end of the ep, it was all cleared up in the living room the three roomies shared.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by OOliver

Most hit sitcoms have a formula which they keep reworking throughout the run (if it ain't broke, no need to fix it!). "Three's Company" ran for years on the formula of "mistaken identity" - there was always a character who's true identity was always somehow 'mistaken' by the other characters, just for the sake of pratfalls and laughs. By the end of the ep, it was all cleared up in the living room the three roomies shared.

Or Green Acres - you knew that the phone would stop ringing whenever Oliver reached the top of the pole. You knew that every time something broke or someone needed something, Mr. Haney would magically appear. You knew Alf and Ralph would never finish the repairs on the Douglas house, etc.

[catlover79]

Or you could say every episode of Law & Order is "the same". Like Torgo said, every successful show has a formula.