★★★★★ 0/5

Bewitched pilot on Nine

A slice of television history airs on Nine in select states.

16
Leave a comment

Here is one for true fans of television.

On Sunday you can see the very first episode of Bewitched in Melbourne & Hobart at 11:30am.

The classic sitcom ran for eight seasons from 1964 to 1972, with the wonderful talents of one Elizabeth Montgomery. Together with Agnes Moorehead, Dick York Dick Sargent, David White, Alice Pearce, Paul Lynde and Marion Lorne it was TV gold.

On Sunday the Nine Network screens the very first episode, “I, Darrin, take this witch Samantha.”

You can even see him break the “fourth wall” by talking direct to camera, a directorial style the show did not retain.

Following Bewitched is the equally classic James Dean film, Rebel without a Cause (airs 11am Perth).

16 Responses

  1. I saw this on DVD last December – I’ve got the first five seasons on DVD. Though they are all in colour and not the original B&W which is only available in the US. I saw this episode on Nine several weeks ago (when it aired in Sydney & Brisbane) and it was also in colour.
    BTW, I’m almost finished watching Season Three.
    Nine aren’t keeping Bewitched in any specific timeslot (same with Malcolm). They’ll show episodes every-so-often when they need filler between their regular programs. So it is best to keep watch on Nine’s Saturday and Sunday schedules if you want to watch these series on television.

    Sephiroth_FF Nine now have the rights to Just Shoot Me!, Seinfeld, Bewitched & The Nanny due to their (sort-of) new output deal with Sony.

  2. Wonder if 9 will keep it at consistent timeslot, or will it be moved around every weekend between sports and movies?

    As a Malcolm in the Milddle Fan its rather annoying to have to work out what weekend dayime slot they are burning off the next new epsiode at. I would buy the DVD, but according to Wikipedia there aren’t any plans to release the whole series on DVD.

  3. It was certainly interesting to see, and not nearly as formulaic as the show would quickly become. It was also colourised, but fairly well-done. Reminded me of just how good Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York were!

  5. Yep I love bewitched it is currently being shown of TV1 I and they are up to season 4 I think I am just waiting for them to reach the end and hopefully show it from the start again if they don’t then I will buy the DVDs

  6. James Deans on after, that film is great(rebel) it’s a little dated now but for 1955 see how good James Dean really was compared to his fellow actors of the day. Only two came close Brando and Clift!

  7. itsross, I know exactly what you mean. She may have died over fourty years ago but I still can’t stop thinking about how sad it is to see Alice Pearce. She had cancer during the filming of Bewitched and it still seems fresh in my mind.

  8. they showed it a few weeks ago in queensland on like a sunday afternoon too, haven’t seen any other episodes pop up any where though, just the first one.

  9. One of my favorites as well and I’m watching season 3 at the moment. It’s funny though besides a few eps I’ve never seen the first 2 seasons as they weren’t included in the reruns here. Same thing with the first season of Gilligan’s Island.

  10. Love this show. Recently been watching Season 2 on DVD. It’s so sad to see Alice Pearce (Gladys Kravitz) disappear. It feels like she’s only just died for me, as this is the first time I’ve watched many of these episodes, and certainly the first time I’ve watched any in order. Even sadder to think they’re all gone now…I guess I shouldn’t think about that…

  12. Wait a minute, they already showed the pilot episode two weeks ago in Adelaide. I guess they’re repeating it (wow, 9 are already in repeats?). It was on at 4:00pm, after Everwood.

    But how come 9 have it now? I’ve noticed with a lot of sitcoms, two stations show them like Just Shoot Me!, Seinfeld, Friends, The Nanny, etc.

    I was surprised that 9 showed the colourised episode though. I can’t remember whether 7 showed it colourised or not but the last time I saw it on 7, it was B&W.

  13. They showed the second episode of Bewitched in Adelaide at 4.00 last Sunday, was this ep on anywhere else? It was where they buy their house and the neighbour Gladys starts to realise something weird is going on across the street. Its such a laugh and really well done for its time

  15. That’s good. The kids these days miss out by not being exposed to a Gem like Bewitched. I wonder if they will show it in the orginal B&W or the annoying colourised version, like they did with I Dream Of Jeanie recently…( What happened to Jeanie, by the way…she’s disappeared.)

Leave a Reply