Bewitched Reboot.... - Bewitched (1964) Discussion

[–] [email protected] (1732) 5 years ago

You ARE aware of the premise, I'm assuming.

Samantha is an African American single mother with magical powers, who marries Darrin, a white slacker, who
doesn't work. Sam uses her powers to try and motivate her lazy husband.

And, no, I'm not making this up. Unless they do major revisions, they have a major BOMB on their hands.

reply

[–] Galactus03 (4373) 5 years ago

I agree. Major bomb. The cast from the original show was so good I dont think they good recreate that. The movie was pretty horrible and I dont expect a new series to be any better.

reply

[–] [email protected] (5871) 5 years ago

Sometimes you shouldn't mess with perfection! Bewitched was perfect the way it was.

As for the movie, I didn't think it was horrible. The first half was fine. But then it descended into real silliness, like trying to do the show with a studio audience. How dumb. A show that uses a lot of special effects can't be done live. It seemed like the writers of the film didn't know what direction to take the second half of the movie. It was all over the place and way too silly.

The casting was fine. Nicole Kidman was sweet as a new version of Samantha. And you can't go wrong with Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine, except that the script they had to work with stunk!

reply

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

Dude, I honestly thought you were making it up, so I just checked.

In Bewitched, written by Barris and Taylor, Samantha, a hardworking black single mom who happens to be a witch, marries Darren, a white mortal who happens to be a bit of a slacker. They struggle to navigate their differences as she discovers that even when a black girl is literally magic, she’s still not as powerful as a decently tall white man with a full head of hair in America.
https://deadline.com/2018/08/bewitched-reboot-interracial-family-kenya-barris-blackish-yamara-taylor-abc-via-abc-studios-sony-tv-davis-entertainment-1202447276/

I'm starting to have problems to tell apart between parody and reality...

reply

[–] charliekelly (1018) 5 years ago

Same. How goddamned ridiculous...

reply

[–] NorthernLad (472) 5 years ago

Ugh that sounds horrid! I hope that never sees the light of day!

reply

[–] screenwriter (111) 5 years ago

All I had to read was "even when a black girl is literally magic, she’s still not as powerful as a decently tall white man with a full head of hair in America." to know where this show was going.

reply

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Last I heard, ABC passed on the pilot when it was presented to them in February. They had high hopes for this (the creative team is the same one from their hit 'Blackish') and were disappointed in the pilot. I believe it's now off the radar, as it didn't make it for the Fall 2020 season, as originally planned. Not sure if ABC will ever take an interest in it again.

There was another proposal a few years ago, where Tabitha's adult daughter is a witch, and marries a mortal like her grandmother (Samantha) did. So it was closer to the original series , only updated to the 2010s. Not sure what happened to that (I think NBC was behind that one).

reply

[–] Galactus03 (4373) 5 years ago

Good.....lol
.a continuation of the original continue would have been interesting with Samanthas granddaughter. But still i doubt they would have done it justice. Just best to let it lie.

reply

[–] pioneergrrrl (2408) 5 years ago

Well the whole series itself was originally a spoof on the furor then actually occurring over then 'controversial' interracial marriage....and interracial families in suburbia

As I am sure people are aware

Asher and his wife (yes Montgomery) made a fairy tale sitcom about a cute little white witch who fell in love with a cute little white mortal. It's constantly brought up here too that this is doing stuff outside of the norm specifically for the time.

So I doubt it would get much traction today. Or similar traction. Be next to impossible to sell it as being 'different' or 'controversial' to networks.

The closest thing was charmed where a group of sisters was living together in San Francisco and discovers they are witches but most other people were apparently trying to make ends meet to really care. Towards the ends they had a whole school ala Harry Potter---lots of people knew.

reply

[–] [email protected] (1732) 5 years ago

Bewitched was NOT "a spoof." They played the series as realistically as possible. It was fantasy, but
grounded fantasy.

reply

[–] pioneergrrrl (2408) 5 years ago

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2015/12/20/bewitched-broke-ground-45-years-ago/77115192/

Here you go---argue w USA Today if you don't believe me

reply

[–] [email protected] (1732) 5 years ago

I don't have to "argue." You, USA Today are entitled to their opinions. Too bad they're not every informed
on what the series was all about. But neither was Nora Ephron in her HORRRID big screen version.

reply