Bothered & Bewildered.

The other day, I made mention that I'd watched the first 6 episodes of Bewitched so I thought I'd give you my opinion. I can probably pick up the box-set for the same price, but I paid 790￥ 400￥ (half-price at Book-Off) for the DeAgostino DVD and it comes with a booklet of several pages of Highlights & Trivia.

Here is the opening theme in English and, even better though unembeddable, in Japanese along with several pics taken from the B&W Japanese opening. All the videos have been colourized and I must admit that they did a wonderful job. These DVDs usually don't have any extras, but this one had a photo gallery, the monochrome opening and a 16 minute documentary about the colourization process.

From the Wiki in Japanese, I scammed the titles of the episodes.

1.花嫁は魔女だった／I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha
2.おおスイートホーム／Be It Ever So Mortgaged
3.犬になったお客様／It Shouldn't Happen To A Dog
4.ままならぬママの魔女／Mother Meets What's His Name
5.アイデア騒動／Help, Help, Don't Save Me
6.豆選手万歳!／Little Pitchers Have Big Fears

In the first episode, they crammed a lot into it with their first encounter, wooing, wedding and honeymoon where we first meet the frightful Endora (NOT endearing)! It ends with a free-for-all with guest star the stunning & bitchy Nancy Kovack as Sheila Summers (while she was still pre-Star Trek's Nona, Batman's Queenie or Get Smart's Sonja) who is extremely catty and condescending to Sam but gets hers in the end. 

Episode 2 showcases the Kravitzes. I remember Sandra Gould more profoundly as Gladys but Alice Pearce does a knock-up job as the snoopy neighbour. Her henpecked husband, Abner (George Tobias) is one of my all-time favourite characters.

"Here you see the average, normal, suburban housewife in one of her daily routine tasks: Preparing breakfast for her husband. With a modern kitchen and all conveniences at her disposal, the capable housewife moves efficiently through her tasks. Of course, sometimes there are problems, especially if your husband expects breakfast ready before he goes to work. But that's no problem for the average, normal suburban housewife, if she happens to be a witch."

#3 showcases the weaselly Larry Tate. I don't think he ever actually sold any advertising himself but always took the credit for Darrin. A sleazy Ned Beatty no Charles Durning no Jack Warden (easy to mix up) as a baby-food tycoon with the hots for Sam. In the episode, the ravishing ditsy blonde, Yeoman Rand/Grace Lee Whitney also appeared.

In episode 4, Endora is so deliciously evil. She and Derwood Darrin meet for the first time and one of them almost becomes an artichoke.

Episode 5 has Larry Tate as a weasel yet again and the ubiquitous Charles Ruggles as Mr. Caldwell their client. Sam comes up with an idea for a campaign and Darrin imagines it to be magical and they almost split up over it until he discovers that Mr. Caldwell doesn't like the pitch. You can see why Mad Men channels this show.

The last one on my list features over-protective Mom, June Lockhart squeezing this role in-between her maternal duties on Lassie & Lost in Space. Sam tries to save a neighbourhood boy, Jerry Jimmy Mathers from a life of loneliness and Darrin agrees with the mom for most of the episode. Of course the kid hits a homer and his mom gets hit on by his coach and all turns out well.

I enjoyed my little trip down memory lane with my visit to Bewitched, but I don't think I'll be purchasing any more episodes. Too bad, because I miss out on Dr. Bombay, Samantha's father, Aunt Clara, Aunt Esmerelda and Uncle Arthur though I won't miss it when the kids come in to the picture. I watched the movie a while back and although it wasn't as terrible as the critics painted it, it is not by any means a good movie.

There are many versions of this post's title track, but this is one of my favourites.