Bewitched Supernatural Sitcom

The popular comedy Bewitched is a sitcom based on supernatural theme and till date is the longest running sitcom on such a theme. It was formerly broadcast on ABC from 1964 to 1972. The series was performed by Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York from 1964 to 1969 and Dick Sargent from 1969 to 1972. It still runs in many countries under syndication. TV Guide called it the 50th Greatest Television Program of All Time.

Bewitched was firstly titled The Witch of Westport. It is about a woman, Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) who is a witch and her husband, a mortal, Darrin (Dick York and later Dick Sargent). It is a romantic comedy about how love can survive between a witch and a human even in the most peculiar of situations. Most of Samanthas family including her mother Endora played by Agnes Moorehead disapproves of the match between Darrin and Samantha.

Endora tries to break the union by casting a number of spells. Many of Bewitcheds early episodes devote much to the various ways that Samanthas mother and relatives uses to separate the two. But they avoid casting any permanent spell and Endora hopes to provoke Darrin to leave Samantha. But his love makes him overcome all such obstacles. Many episodes begin with Darrin already falling victim to spell and appearing in an enraged state. But by the end of the episode he and Samantha unite and together they repel the forces that tried to separate them.

Some of Bewitcheds episodes make reference to issues such as racism which are portrayed in a veiled way. In the episode The Witches are Out Samantha objects to Darrins portrayal of witches in a horrible and distorted appearance in a Halloween candy advertisement.

In the mid-1960s an alienated married couple was a rarity but Bewitched presented Samanthas parents very distinctively and in the episode Samanthas Good News, Endora threatens to file an ectoplasmic interloculatory or divorce in their circles. But this was a ploy to gain her husbands affection. Darin works in an advertising agency and his boss, Larry Tate appears almost regularly. He and his wife do not know that Samantha is a witch.

Aunt Clara is the only member of Samanthas family for whom Darrin has real affection. She is an aging witch whose spell-casting powers are diminishing and the spells often end with devastations. The part was played by Marion Lorne and this landed her a posthumous Emmy in 1968. She performed in 27 episodes of Bewitched. And when she died during the Fourth season, her disappearance was not explained.

There were a number of other characters who were regularly seen on Bewitched. The series also made use of the special effects that were available. Wikipedia