Dick Sargent was no Dick York

Ah, more ignorance from lilsusieq86 (what else is new, right?).

How could Sargent be "the ruin" of Bewitched? For starters, the show
had already pretty much run its course by season five (the non-Darrin
episodes are fairly dreadful). Secondly, Sargent's first year (the
show's sixth) is actually stronger than York's last. DS may not
have possessed York's overall talent, but he was more than adequate
in the show and never terrible. Thirdly, the series continued for
three more seasons. Agreed, the last two years come nowhere near
the first six, but that's hardly Sargent's fault. The scripts would've
been just as stale with York, and Montgomery would've been just as
tired as she was with Sargent.

Dick Sargent was more than competent in the role, and physically, he was
perfectly cast. There are more than a few stand-out episodes when he
was on the series, including such offerings as "The Phrase is Familiar"
and "You are So Agreeable."

Agree. Ghostley, a talented performer otherwise, was stuck with a
charmless, unfunny, negative character. I'm not much of a Dr. Bombay
fan either.

[deleted]

Unwatchable is extreme because Season 5 did feature "Samantha the Sculptress" and a few others But I'm not too keen on time travel, Witches Council, Tabitha episodes which littered that season. Also, the absence of York toward the end .

I've recently been watching some of the Sargent episodes again. I can appreciate his subtle brand of humor more as I get older. He didn't give the manic type performance that York did. But he was funny in his own way.

I do think he suffered a bit as a character because unlike York, he didn't have the wonderful Marion Lorne to play against. Aunt Clara really showed a softer side of Darrin.

He always called her "Aunt Clara" and he had genuine affection for her. He didn't even blow his top when she used magic, usually with disastrous results.

Sargent was stuck with Esmeralda. I like Alice Ghostley. She was funny in her earlier role as the totally inept mortal maid that the Stephens hired in one of the black and white episodes. Even as Esmeralda, her line delivery was very funny.

But there was no logic in Sam and Darrin keeping such an inept bungler in their employ. With Aunt Clara it made sense because she was family and Sam's favorite aunt. They would put up with all the goofs that she made. But why would they continue to employ someone who was so inept at her job? Never made sense to me.