When Bewitched premiered in 1964, it was an instant hit, spending its first season in the number two slot.
Although the ratings slipped a bit in the years to come, Bewitched remained a wildly popular series throughout its eight seasons, and is considered today to be one of TV's all time classics. On Sunday, Oct. 14, Bewitched makes its debut on Logo with an all-day marathon, then moves to a Wednesday evening slot that will air 7-10 p.m. ET each week.
Some people might wonder what a mainstream sitcom is doing on Logo. But as Logo's press release points out, Bewitched has a decidedly gay sensibility.
It begins with a "mixed marriage." When Darren Stephens (Dick York, later Dick Sargent) married Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery), it was a love match between two different species: a mortal man and a centuries old witch. Through the medium of comedy, Bewitched often presented sharp observations on the roles of men and women in society: the somewhat sexist Darren forbade his new bride from practicing her craft: she loved to cook and clean for him. Darren thought he was in control, but in fact he was under the control of mother-in-law Endora (Agnes Moorehead) a fun loving, somewhat drag queenish character who took no prisoners. Endora was one of the strongest, most self assured female characters prime time TV had seen up to that point.
Then there was Uncle Arthur, Endora's warlock sibling. Arthur was a practical jokerwas also a flamboyant, unashamed screaming queen. In that regard he was quite similar to actor Paul Lynde, the semi-out gay actor who hurled scores of thinly veiled gay innuendos during interviews or on his many appearances on the game show Hollywood Squares.
Today, it's easy to dismiss Arthur/Lynde as a "negative stereotype." However, in those bygone days, when gay people were invisible in popular culture, millions of gay men could look at Lynde and realize that there were indeed other gay people out there. And while Arthur may have been a bit of a stereotypical "flamer," he was no "bitchy" queen. While he liked to laugh and have fun at the expense of others, he was actually a nice guy who had a good heart. To see such a portrayal of a gay character on 1960s TV was groundbreaking, to say the least.
Bewitched could have its serious moments. In "The Witches Are Out," a first-season episode, Samantha objects to ad executive Darren's portrayal of witches as ugly and deformed. The well-written script served as a metaphor for racism-it aired the same year the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed. The far more direct "Sisters at Heart" episode from the seventh season was written by a mixed-race 10th-grade class of Bewitched fans. "Sisters at Heart" drew a lot of attention and got people talking when it was first seen in the early 1970s. The script had little witch Tabitha (Erin Murphy) befriending a young Black girl. Wanting her and her new friend to be treated the same, Tabitha changed their skin colors to matching black and white polka dots!
For its final three seasons, Darren was played by Dick Sargent, Dick York having left the series for health reasons. Twenty years after its 1972 cancellation, Bewitched made headlines when Sargent came out as a gay man. In 1992, he and Elizabeth Montgomery served as grand marshals of the Los Angeles Pride Parade.
These days, one can look back on Bewitched and enjoy it as nothing more than silly fun, but there was so much more going on if one reads between the lines of it's witty scripts. Bewitched was most definitely a gay friendly series, one that was produced by people who were indeed our friends.
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