Sketch o’the Week: Bewitched!

You’ll twitch your nose at this, but it’s time for another “Sketch o’the Week” in the distinctly unmagical series known as “TV shows Tom watched after school as a kid”. This week we should burn at the stake for our sketch of the stars of the 1960-70’s sitcom “Bewitched”, Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent!

This show has more Dicks in it than Brett Farve‘s text archives! This was one of my favorite after-school reruns to watch as a kid. One of the two “magical” sitcoms (along with “I Dream of Jeannie”), “Bewitched” had a different spin on the “supernatural character in the real world” concept. Unlike IDoJ, the magical being in “Bewitched” was trying to fit in to the human world and minimize her witchy origins. Her extended family were the comic foils. It was clever writing and a great cast.

Speaking of cast, the show famously replaced the original husband character of Darrin Stevens played by Dick York with another Dick… Dick Sargent. The reason was the failing health of York, who badly suffered from complications of a back injury he sustained doing a film years prior to the series. Eventually his back just couldn’t deal with the strain of the production, and particularly the physical nature of his portrayal of the character, and Sargent stepped in for season six and beyond. The series ran for three more seasons, but was never the ratings powerhouse it was in the early goings. I don’t think the new Darrin was to blame, the show was just aging.

Personally I preferred the York version of Darrin, although I can respect Sargent’s different take on the character. The early manic, hot-headed version seemed a lot more interesting to me than the more cool and mellow later Darrin. York’s portrayal made the antics of Samantha’s magical family seem to have a lot more potential for explosive results. Elizabeth Montgomery was bewitchingly charming, which didn’t hurt the appeal of the series. Anyway I loved this show.