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phoebemunster's Replies
Phoebe was the name for Lily in the the original color pilot of The Munsters. She was played by Joan Marshall, before Yvonne De Carlo entered the cast.
I know, especially since they don't even show the yard. I think "Sam in the Moon" might be the only episode where they show the windows that actually would be facing the front yard.
Like others have said, I leave it at 4:3 too. It's pretty much the opposite of the old days, when people had 4:3 TVs and most widescreen movies were presented with the edges chopped off. Seasons three and four of Bewitched are now on Roku in HD in 16:9, but they appear to be brand new scans from the 35mm. They show more on the left and right, but cut off image from the the top and bottom.
I think it's in "Mrs. Stephens, Where Are You?" in season five, where Serena tells Phyllis that she's from Sam's father's side. I think later in that episode, Serena jokes she's also from Babylon.
I was really excited when I saw these two episodes were going to be on DVD, since I had never seen them in syndication. When I finally saw the Christmas one, I too thought it was odd that the opening teaser is the exact same footage as the original episode. It was convenient Sam was already wearing that large coat where she conceivably could be pregnant! They also did this with a New Year's Eve 1964 repeat of the pilot. They added a very brief scene of Sam and Darrin toasting to the New Year, then recalling the events of the pilot.
I think they got this idea from I Love Lucy, which had a lot of reruns during the original CBS run where they filmed new introductory scenes. In "The Lucy Book" by Geoffrey Fidelman, they list a lot of reruns like this that were peppered throughout season 2-5. You probably already have it, but it's a really cool book that lists every single TV appearance by Lucy (for better or worse).
Glad to see people are still posting here! I always enjoy Darrin in "Take Two Aspirin and Half a Pint of Porpoise Milk," where he's understandably very concerned about a pregnant Samantha having Square Green Spots disease and losing her powers for the first time. He goes out and acquires all the crazy ingredients for Sam's antidote, even breaking into a client's home and going to jail without much complaint.
"Playmates" is one I usually think of as boring in my mind for some reason, but I'll have to give it another shot based on your recommendation. It's one I've skipped a lot, so I probably haven't seen it in a long time.
I just looked at the DVD version and it seems like Endora's flying suit in that episode is the same as usual. I suspect that when they made this list, they were viewing a version of that episode that had incorrect color timing. Some of the masters distributed by Sony/Columbia in the 90s and earlier had issues like this. I think Sony rescanned most of the color episodes in the 2000s for the DVDs (or maybe for when the show came to TV Land in 2003?), but even then, there are a few episodes where they used old masters that have incorrect color levels ("Cousin Serena Strikes Again Part 1" in season five is a notable example).
I wonder if Agnes Moorehead's real life Christmas parties inspired them to make Endora having a Halloween party. Mikwalen, I do like your idea of the party being a "taking back" of a negative situation. Uncle Arthur mentions that last year Hagatha threw the party, so maybe it also rotates amongst the family members?
Just saw recently that she passed away in March of this year. I had been wondering whatever happened to her recently. Gbennett, she is my fave Betty too. She's the only one who seemed to be written with or acted with much depth, and she is funny. I wish she had continued past season five.
"Mr. Stephens, teddy bears don't have heart beats"
I was so disappointed in this movie. I rewatched it a few years ago, and still wasn't a fan. Nicole Kidman was fine, and I normally like Will Ferrell, but it didn't have many of the elements that make me love the original show. The only parts I liked were the characters from the show who "visited" them (Aunt Clara, Uncle Arthur and the wonderful Amy Sedaris as Gladys at the end).
I noticed that at the end of this episode when I recently rewatched it, they don't actually resolve the question of whether or not Darrin and Sam will go to the wedding, and Endora never reappears. So in my mind, I like to think he realized the error of his ways, and agreed that they could go. I do like the stuff with "Flurpity Flurp" and the almost blank ad. I know they were meant to be nonsense, but it felt a little more creative than some of the slogans from other later episodes in season seven ("Put some fun in your home with Rockford Furniture"?!).
I just finished rewatching the whole series, and you can definitely tell that season 8 was done on the cheap, or at least on the cheaper. In some episodes, there were noticeably fewer shot changes, instead having the camera just zoom in to follow the action. And of course, there was the lack of regulars as you already mentioned. It's strange, since there are those publicity photos taken during season 8 that show both Paul Lynde and Robert F. Simon. There's a space in the photos next to Simon, so perhaps they were going to insert in Mabel Albertson later. Going back to the low budget of season 8, there were a lot of remakes of previous episodes of course, which would have saved them a lot of time in the writing. I suspect that by season 6, when they renewed the show for four years, they thought that eventually only the color episodes would be syndicated, so they remade a lot of the season 1 and 2 episodes during seasons 6-8. The one that makes the least sense is "A Good Turn Never Goes Unpunished," which is a remake of the very early "Help, Help, Don't Save Me." Why would Darrin still not trust Sam after all these years? I don't think season 8 is dreadful, but it always feels so different from the other seasons. I do love some of Endora's final moments in the finale, when she says she doesn't have to be angry to be difficult, but it doesn't hurt. It felt like a throwback to the more playful Endora of season 1.
Hi everyone, glad to see some familiar names here! I had bookmarked this site back when the IMDb boards were closing, but I hadn't actually made an account yet.