Bewitched – The Complete Fifth Season
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B
Bewitched entered the 1968 – 1969 season
benefiting from implied connections to the Women’s Movement. Much has been made of Samantha (and by
association, her daughter Tabitha) and their witchcraft-as-womanhood
connection, especially in terms of empowerment.
The idea of husband Darrin (Dick York) telling her he did not like her
using her “witchcraft” and to suppress it is obvious, though less is made of
the intended humor of Agnes Moorehead’s Endora interrupting them and their
privacy all the time.
The show
was still in healthy form and a big hit for both Screen Gems and ABC. The episodes this time around include:
1)
Samantha’s Wedding Present
2)
Samantha Goes South For A Spell (guest stars Isabel Sanford &
Jack Cassidy)
3)
Samantha On A Keyboard (guest stars Fritz Feld &
Jonathan Harris)
4)
Darrin, Gone & Forgotten (guest stars Mercedes
McCambridge)
5)
It’s So Nice To Have A Spouse (guest stars Dick Wilson)
6)
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall
7)
Samantha’s French Pastry (guest stars Paul Lynde &
Henry Gibson)
8)
Is It Magic Or Imagination? (guest stars Mabel Albertson
& Dick Wilson)
9)
Samantha Fights City Hall (guest stars Vic Tayback &
Arch Johnson)
10) Samantha Loses Her Voice (guest stars Paul Lynde as Uncle
Arthur)
11) I Don’t Want To Be A Toad, I
Want To Be A Butterfly (guest stars Mabel Albertson & Paul Sorensen)
12) Weep No More, My Willow (guest stars Bernard Fox as Dr.
Bombay)
13) Instant Courtesy
14) Samantha’s Supermaid (guest stars Virginia Gregg)
15) Cousin Serena Strikes Again (2 parts)
16) One Touch Of Midas (guest stars Cliff Norton)
17) Samantha, The Bard
18) Samantha, The Sculptress (guest stars Cliff Norton)
19) Mrs. Stephens, Where Are You? (guest stars Ruth McDevitt &
Mabel Albertson)
20) Marriage, Witches’ Style (guest stars Lloyd Bochner &
John Fiedler)
21) Going Ape (guest stars Danny Bonaduce &
Lou Antonio)
22) Tabitha’s Weekend
23) The Battle Of The Burning Oak
24) Samantha Power Failure (guest stars Paul Lynde)
25) Samantha Twitches For UNICEF (guest stars Bernie Kopell)
26) Daddy Does His Thing (guest stars Maurice Evans)
27) Samantha’s Good News (guest stars Murray Matheson
& Maurice Evans)
28) Samantha’s Shopping Spree (guest stars Dave Madden)
29) Samantha & Darrin In Mexico
City (guest stars
Victor Milan & Thomas Gomez)
This was
the peak of the show, which was about to find itself repeating itself in
formula, but that sold and the show was far from over. So what kept the show going? Why was it still a big hit? The continued appeal was undoubtedly a
combination of its quality consistency, familiarity and especially Montgomery
carrying the show so well. She was the
star and was unstoppably likable. The
supporting roles were always cast better than usual and that gave the show
distinction. More changes are on the
way.
The 1.33
X 1 image was shot in 35mm film and processed in Pathé color that looks pretty
good on most of these prints. Usually,
Sony is anxious to boast that a title is remastered in High Definition, but
these are not marked this way and still look really good. I guess the remastering that was done was
solid because these look better here than they ever did on TV except for a few
prints that are softer than usual here.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is fine and the theme song even has some
healthy bass to it. There are sadly no
extras, but this is a fine set and if you have never seen the shows on DVD, you
should see this set at least once. We
also looked at the previous season, as this link shows:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4399/Bewitched+–+The+Complete+Fourth
- Nicholas Sheffo
