Samantha is Still Bewitching After 60 Years

Bewitched is a fantasy sitcom about a witch who marries an ordinary man and pretends to be the average housewife, but inevitably uses her magic on a regular basis. It was created by Sol Saks, who wrote the script for the Cary Grant comedy, Walk, Don’t Run, and executive produced by Harry Ackerman the producer behind Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and similar big hits.

Debuting on September 17, 1964, the show starred Elizabeth Montgomery as the witch Samantha who falls in love with a mortal Darrin Stephens (played by Dick York, then later by Dick Sargent). When she agrees to live as a normal human, her magical family disapproves of the decision and their union.

Episodes routinely started with her family using spells against Darrin, putting the couple into difficult situations with his coworkers or their neighbors. Since witches and warlocks protect themselves by hiding their magic from normal people, Samantha is put in humorous situations when she tries to resolve the spells without revealing her magic.

Samantha and Darrin live in an upper middle class neighborhood and Darrin works at an advertising agency in Manhattan. The couple try to maintain the cookie cutter image of their lives, which only adds to the humor when things go magically wrong.

Bewitched also starred Anges Moorehead as Samanatha’s mother Endora, David White as Darrin’s boss, Larry Tate, and Irene Vernon (later Kasey Rogers) as Larry’s wife, Louise Tate. The series ran for eight seasons, ending on March 25, 1972.