August 2, 2007

  • Harry Potter and Bewitched

    Some of you may remember me talking about that scary documentary Jesus Camp a few months back.  Most of the people in this documentary thought Harry Potter books and movies were evil.  Kids were not allowed to read the books, nor were adults.

    This brought me back to when I was a kid.  I don't remember any religious controversy involving one of my favorite shows, Bewitched.  To my knowledge, no one said the show was evil or contrary to Biblical teachings. 

    It's true, the witches and warlocks on Bewitched were always getting into trouble with their spells and what not, but they were still just as much of a witch as Harry. 

    Where was the uproar?  I think Bewitched got ripped off by not being considered controversial. 

    Anyway, thinking about Bewitched really took me back.  One of my favorite episodes was when Tabitha went to What was then called Nursery school.  Mrs. Stevens, who by the way was pretty lucky her son Darrin got such a hot wife considering he was not cute at all, made Samantha send her.

    To keep her mind off Tabitha, Mrs. Stevens took Sam shopping.  She kept popping in and out of the dressing room to check on Tabitha.

    To make a long story short, Tabitha turned her friend into a butterfly, because the bitchy teacher made her be the toad at circle time.

    Obviously, this episode had a profound effect on my life, because I have oldsheimers and I remember it pretty clearly. 

    That show was pretty funny considering the premise.  And who didn't want to marry Samantha?  Even I wanted to marry Samantha, and I'm not a lesbian.

    I mean she was adorable, beautiful eyes, a cute little twitchy nose, AND unlike her nerd husband, I would let her do all the magic she wanted.

    That's the only problem with both Bewitched and I Dream Of Jeanie, they have these beautiful women, who can literally make magic, but they forbid them to do so?  Please!

    Sometimes Jeanie got on my nerves and I wanted to pull her pony tail.  And as I stated before, I thought the black and white Darrin and the in color Darrin were not attractive enough for Samantha.

    This entry was not really about Harry Potter, it was mostly about Bewitched, but I don't need 400 comments telling be that, I already know.

     

Comments (46)

  • I don't think the fundamentalist movement was as strong back when Bewitched was on TV. Plus, Samantha was so ladylike, she probably flew under the radar.

    I saw one small clip from the Jesus Camp movie, and it was scary.

  • OMG I remember that episode.  I alway wanted to have a sleepover in Jeanie's bottle ... I mean think about it, wouldn't that be way cool?

  • How come you always blog about HP?

  • Oh the memories!!  My favorite was when they all went to the North Pole to meet Santa!

    I even had a Samatha doll.  : ) 

    I don't get it....I wasn't allowed to dance (grew up a  Baptist) but I was allowed to watch Bewitched and Dark Shadows!  Kinda comical! 

    Oh and one more thought...I never liked the "new" Darrin.  It went downhill after Dick Sargarent came to the show!! 

  • yeah -- even in the free-lovin' 60's women had to be kept under control... & i always wondered how samantha could be attracted to her husband(s)... yuck...

  • If HP and Tabitha had a baby

  • Jeannie and that "Yes, master" crap got old.  It was like they were into the bondage thing!  LOL

    I loved "Bewitched", too!  I agree, the Darrens were duds!

    I had a friend whose mother looked just like Endora!  :-p

    Kathi

  • I agree -- Darrin was totally unworthy of Samatha! And where was the outrage about witchcraft then -- it's totally possible that I was corrupted by those shows..... oh wait, no, I was always like this. Darn. Another theory and lawsuit shot.

  • I loved both shows!  I don't remember the episode you are talking about tho..... of course.... when I watched them .... they were re-runs.  They were probably originals when YOU watched them.  ROFLMAO

    ::::::runs away before you can slap the sh*t outta me::::::::

    Kisses!  Wendy

  • I always thought Samantha, Jeanie, heck all the pretty women from that tv era coulda did a lot better.

  • My.. how times have changed! Who made up the expression Politically Correct anyway? I loved Samantha too!

  • ryc: I wasn't allowed....but I ... well....I got around it!! 

    Before Mom passed away, I asked her about all her rules and she finally admitted how silly she was in some of her ways.  But, she blamed it on HER mother!!  lol 

  • I used to watch the reruns of Bewitched.  I loved that show. 

    That is right people.  Those were reruns.

  • I always bring up Bewitched when people start attacking Harry. I don't get it. I've blogged before.

    I watched both those shows though. I really loved Jeannies man, but now his name escapes me.... and Darrin was a twit. I always just wanted Samantha to turn Mrs. Cravets into something ugly and toadlike.... she was hateful.

    (this header isn't as scary as the last.... pretty cool actually)

  • Jesus Camp is such a wonderful documentary...I wish it had one the best documentary Oscar.

    But in any case...the whole Harry Potter controversy is so stupid. I went to a Christian school run much like "Jesus Camp" and was taught that more pop culture icons than I can count were evil for all kinds of different reasons. It was almost like the fact that they were popular was what made everyone condemn it...we just had to be different and set ourselves apart. If the whole world liked something, we had to have a distance from it. People can come up with anything to make the most innocent and random things suddenly become "controversial." It's really quite silly.

  • WON the Oscar, dammit...I really need to proofread these things, now I sound like a total moron

  • I am and was raised by good Christian mother. Here's something you forgot to mention. My good Christian mother would dress me up in a ghost or monster costume and send me off trick or treating by ourselves at the ripe old age of six or seven.

    I think what spoilt it is when we started discovering there were folks out there taking this stuff seriously. Like human sacrifice and drinking blood and killing animals and running aroung butt naked having sex outside of warlock I mean wedlock. 

    I think the religious fanatics got their first look at the non religious fanatics and freaked. There's always the flip side.

    I use to play sick and stay home and watch reruns of Leave it to Beaver, Father knows best, and Bewitched too.

  • At least they had a cute kid! I'm sure my mom made some comments about witches...but we watched it anyway...along with The Munsters and The Addams Family.

  • The Christians looked so hard at things, they even played the Led Zeplin's stairway to heaven backwards to find something dispicable against them.

    Those witchhunts were against the communists before Bewitched. Fortunately other witchhunts stayed small and I'd rather they haunt HP than real people.

    Gee why do they push blondes so much? I guess redheads have too much freckles (even though Lucile Ball didn't seem like she had freckles)

  • haha, I think my favorite part of that was when you said Bewitched got ripped off. That made me laugh.

    I wish I could remember a time when people didn't freak out over silly fantasy things like witches. 

    I'm a Christian and I LOVE Harry Potter but I'm not going to hell. Know why? Because God doesn't care. HA.

    Anyways, I like your blog, it makes me smile. :] Have a good day.

    MEgan

  • I watched Bewitched as well--not in reruns (that's how old I am), but my very favorite was "That Girl".  I wanted to be "That Girl"! 

  • I remember all of that. Yes, that episod of Bewitched popping in and out of the dressing room had me laughing.

  • We watched Jesus Camp and it scarred my 13 year old.  ;)

    I vaguely remember Bewitched, but I do remember Jeannie.  I always thought she needed to tell "master" to take a flying leap and then get dressed in some respectable clothes and get out of there. 

    It's interesting to me what the fundies choose to rally against. 

  • I asked my mom if I could legally change my name to Tabitha.  She vetoed it.

  • Bewitched and Jeannie were on before the religious nuts got so crazy about magic being evil. Like they think it's real now or something. Back then we had common sense and knew it was fantasy for entertainment purposes.

  • Hehe. Four hundred comments is quite a bit, eh?

  • I think religion is evil and I'm sending my kids to agnostic camp. There they'll get to lay hands on a giant question mark.

    Oh, and this comment is not about Harry Potter.

  • Good points.  Seriously.  ) t

  • I got in trouble at work reading your blog 'stead of workin.'

  • I used to love both of those shows.  You are right .. Samantha was way too hot for BOTH Darrins!!  oooofaaaa ... they were not worthy of such a hot piece of witch! 

    Have a great weekend!! Alicia

  • I still need to get a hold of that Scary Jesus Camp movie. But there are scary people walking around my town every day. Maybe it will be too much for me. You're right about Bewitched too. Where was the uproar? Maybe it's sexism! ?:)

  • I grew up in a Jehovah's Witness household (most of my family still is.) And I was not allowed to watch anything that had anything to do with any type of sorcery. That included Bewitched and Scooby Doo.

    To do this day most die hard Jehovah's Witnesses are still like that. No Lord of the Rings, no Harry Potter, nothing like that.

    I also remember something about the Smurfs. I was a teenager then so I didn't watch them, but I heard adults talking about how their kids were not allowed to watch the Smurfs.

  • You make a good point. My parents, who you would probably describe as religious nuts, didn't mind me watching Bewitched. Or I Dream of Jeanie, or Twilight Zone. They never batted an eye when it came time for Halloween and trick or treating either. But they had something to say when I started taking my then 9 year old to the Lord of the Rings movies. They almost pitched a fit when I let him buy a Scream mask for his tenth Halloween. Seriously, something is wrong with this picture...

  • Unfortunately the religious zealots give the rest of us a bad name. I always found the whole Harry Potter controversy to be pretty ridiculous-didn't those people ever have a nursery rhyme read to them? Geez!

  • It was a different time in America back then. The culture wars were just beginning to flare up.   I watched an old Boston Legal episode two nights ago where a Christian couple and a Wiccan couple teamed up to sue  the school district over Halloween. The Christian couple was portrayed like they were from the devil(mean, spiteful, accusatory, proud) while the Wiccan couple was  portrayed like they were the true children of God(kind, sincere,apologetic, humble)  The media now knows inflammitory newcasting  increases ratings and fills the pockets with cash. 

  • Obviously, you missed the episode when Tabitha accidentally summoned Satan with the pentagram etched into the floor of the Stevens' basement dungeon...

  • Bewitched made me nervous and anxious.  I was always worried she would get caught. 

  • Funniest damn thing I've read all day.  I was so jealous of Samantha.  What a great gift that would be.  I twitch my nose and the hairs just tickle.  Shit.

  • Lots of Christians on the island preach against Harry Potter which is really, really great as the kids save up their pocket money and then buy it.  I expect its the first real book a lot of them have read.  Can't comment on Bewitched, we don't have it on the island nor did we in Wales where I grew up.  Sounds good though.

    Funny thought: I've never heard of the most fundamentalist of fundamentalists actually objecting to Cinderella, same genre.

  • Religious nuts seriously annoy me. I used to love watching Bewitched when I was a kid.

  • I 've always wondered the same thing also? I am not a fan of Harry Potter myself but I do remember watching Bewitched when I was younger. It did have one adverse affect on me(when I was little), an unhealthy fantasy of wiggling my nose to do evil things to people who made me mad. I would have had toads for brothers.

  • I loved Bewitched - I remember one year on spring break, I got up extra early each day to catch reruns because they were starting over, and those first few episodes, when Darin first learns she's a witch, are priceless. And I definitely remember the preschool/butterfly one - always liked it. How could you not like Samantha? Mrs. Stevens was the ultimate nasty MIL ... though she had competition from Endora.

    Jeannie is lame in comparison. I have Jesus Camp on my Netflix queue and am eager to see it. Did you see the movie Saved? Too funny. I have friends who are quite Christian and both read HP and celebrate Halloween. What is wrong with some people?

  • Man, I loved that show.  I watched it on reruns all the time I was growing up.  I kind of wished Samantha was my mom, or like a really cool aunt or something.  I completely lost interest when that little boy was born, though.  (Adam, right?)

    Also:  my hub wasn't allowed to watch Bewitched when he was a kid, and he wasn't raised by freaky fundamentalists, quite.  "They" (the church) just thought it was a bad idea to influence kids that "magic" was good.

    Eye roll, please.

  • I always thought that too. And what about shows like "Charmed," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Sabrina, The Teenaged Witch"?

    HMmmmm...

  • MY brother and his wife wll not allow their children to be corrupted by the *evil* Harry Potter either.....they are STRICT born again christian/evangicals and they think my family are heathens, especially since they LOVE Harry Potter (and so do i ...i just finished the last book yesterday:)

  • Been a while since I stopped by....yes remember Bewitched and the wrinkly nose bit.

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment