Both TV shows “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie” were actually pretty similar. They both starred beautiful blond female lead characters who had various powers. Jeannie was a genie in a bottle who had a love story with an astronaut from NASA. Samantha was a witch married to a mortal. The characters were similar, and at times, they even had very similar storylines.
While there were rumors swirling that Elizabeth Montgomery was not happy when “I Dream of Jeannie” debuted, she has confirmed that she never felt any animosity toward the cast members, Barbara Eden (Jeannie) or Larry Hagman. She was just upset about the show.
The Big Fight
The episode of “Bewitched” that was interrupted due to the announcement of the assassination was entitled “I Confess.” In this episode, Darrin and Samantha get into a quarrel because Darrin accuses her of using her magic excessively. He is worried that if she does too much magic, especially in public, she is going to let everyone know that she is a witch.
In the episode, she uses her magic to dump a bucket of water on someone's head who is drunk. After that, Darrin thinks that everyone is going to know she's a witch, so he decides he's going to tell everyone himself. Samantha, of course, will not let this happen, so she uses her magic to put a spell on Darrin which gives him a dream about what would happen if the world knew she was a witch. When he wakes up, he realizes he is not going to tell anyone.
A Documentary Star
People will always remember Elizabeth Montgomery as beautiful Samantha Stephens from “Bewitched.” however, what you may not know is that she also took on a lot of controversial work. Many people just saw her as beautiful and funny, but she wanted to do serious work.
She voiced the narration for not one, but two political documentaries which of course showcased her liberal political beliefs. The first one that she did was entitled “Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair” and that was released in 1988, long after “Bewitched.” The second one that she voiced was in 1992 and was a much more controversial documentary. However, it still won an Academy Award!
The Nervous Tick
Elizabeth Montgomery was married to “Bewitched” director, William Asher. of course, being so close to her he had all of the inside scoop to her nuances. He had stated that her little wriggle was a nervous tick that she had, and it came out when she was nervous or when she got frustrated. Elizabeth Montgomery was Asher’s 2nd wife.
Asher was a big wig director, and he was nominated 4 times for Emmy Awards! He won the award once, in 1966 for his direction of “Bewitched.” Elizabeth and William got divorced shortly after the series “Bewitched” ended in 1972. He was married two other times after the divorce.
Great Cast
“Bewitched” had an amazing starring cast. However, it has to be noted that they also had a lot of strong supporting cast members as well. A unanimous favorite among fans was the character of Uncle Arthur. He was played by actor Paul Lynde.
Paul Lynde also made appearances on “I Dream of Jeannie” not once, but three times! Some role he played on the competing show was a director, an IRS agent and a co-worker at NASA. It was always surprising when people who had supporting roles showed up on both “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie” as the two shows were in direct competition with each other.