Bewitched was more than magical, it tackled important issues with humor

Growing up, I had a few shows I loved that I could only watch in reruns because they had aired before I was born and I think with cable TV, we all have shows like this. Certain TV shows transcend time and you can enjoy them even though they were from a time you may not relate to completely.

Bewitched is a show about a witch, Samantha (played brilliantly by Elizabeth Montgomery) who falls in love with and marries a mortal man, Darrin Stephens (Played perfectly by Dick York at first and then later by the equally talented Dick Sergeant). This poses two problems: First, Darrin can’t tell his family that his new bride is a witch. They would never understand and most definitely be freaked out by it. Second, Samantha’s family pretty much detest Darrin for being mortal and not good enough for their daughter. The biggest resistance comes from Samantha’s mother, Endora (the incomparable Agnes Morehead), a powerful and at times vengeful witch who enjoys toying with her mortal son-in-law. All of this is a recipe for constant comical situations that were usually resolved in a half hour.

Samantha’s family popping in all the time creates stress and causes many things to happen that need to be hidden from the mortals in the couples lives, with poor Darrin being the brunt of the shenanigans most of the time. When Samantha gives birth to their daughter, Tabitha (the adorable Erin Murphy) it creates even more chaos with a young witch in the house who at times doesn’t understand the “no magic” rule.

I would love to dissect a few episodes of this show because somehow, even as a youngster, I was analytical in nature. In my mind, since the show aired in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, it could have been about any marriage between people of different backgrounds (race, creed, nationality, “status”, etc).

One episode I would like to discuss right now actually dealt with race. In ‘Sisters at Heart’ (Season 7 episode 13, available on DVD or streaming from Amazon) young Tabitha wants to be sisters with her friend Lisa who is black so she casts a spell which ends up giving them each polka-dots so they are each black and white. In this episode, Darrin (who is an advertising executive) has a client who wants him off the account because he thinks Lisa is Darrin’s daughter and his racist mind can’t accept there is an interracial marriage.

Since Lisa had been staying with the Stephens while her parents were away for the weekend, Samantha is left with the task of rectifying the polka-dot situation before their return and teaching Mr Brockway a life lesson. Of course, Darrin has to lift his no witchcraft rule so Sam can both reverse the spell Tabitha cast and use her witchy charms on Brockway to get him to see the error of his ways. In the end, he does admit to being a racist and promises to work on changing his ways and Lisa is returned to her parents in the same condition they dropped her off in.

The beauty of this show is always how it incorporates issues like race, bullying, sexism, and more into the humor and fantasy of the show.

I encourage you to give the episode a look (or another look) as well as the entire series if you haven’t yet. Let me know your thoughts on it and if you have episodes or shows you’d like to discuss, feel free to send them along so I can add them to my stories (tommy@teeco71.com). I would love to hear about the shows that inspire, affect, and move you!