MovieChat Forums > Bewitched (1964) Discussion > Marriage:Witch's Style (Serena Style)

Marriage:Witch's Style (Serena Style)

posted 7 years ago by [email protected] (5926)
9 replies | jump to latest

Just watched this one recently. Hadn't seen it in a long time. It's one of my favorite Serena outings. The one drawback is that it's a fifth season Darrin-less episode. But actually, I think it plays better without Darrin. Serena and Sam did fine without him. Serena wasn't wreaking havoc on the Stephens family. It was more of a "girls" episode.

Serena finally decides her swinging magical lifestyle is shallow. So she wants to "find a mortal and marry it." Interesting concept but Serena does not have the sincerity to follow through. And she is putting the cart before the horse. Her cousin fell in love and THEN decided on the mortal lifestyle. Serena, on the contrary, is looking for a mate to fit into her newfound plans.

One of the interesting aspects of this episode is how many times we actually SEE the actress who doubles in the role. When they are waiting for the results of Serena's matchmaking test, "Sam" turns. The double does a quarter turn too far and you can actually see her face and it's not Elizabeth Montgomery.

Later when Serena is dancing in the living room, she turns and you can see the face of the acting double.

At the end, when Sam and Serena are sitting on the couch at the new dating service, you can see it's the double who is portraying Serena. It's just a second or two, but noticeable if you have a dvd and can hit "pause". lol

At the very end, Sam and Serena peek in the door to hear the computer dating man call Serena's new date. Sam is crouched down low and Serena is above her. I suppose they couldn't do a split screen for a camera shot like that. For several seconds you can clearly see it is the "double" who is portraying Serena.

Maybe since Sam and Serena were in so many scenes together, there was no time to do all those split screens. I love seeing that stuff!

[–] adamdurrance (60) 7 years ago

I get a kick out of those scenes.
Liz really worked hard on that show. On cam the most and double duty for the Serena episodes.
She liked doing that character though.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 7 years ago

While I'm glad you guys enjoy it, I absolutely hate this episode. Intriguing idea, but it just comes off flat to me. Very
few laughs, and I loathe the time period. The last time I watched it (about a year and a half ago, I could barely get
through it). But that's why we're all different fans.

[–] [email protected] (5926) 7 years ago

LOL Well, it's only natural that we will dislike some episodes. I think I expressed similar sentiments about "Once in a Vial".

The story isn't the greatest. I just like seeing Sam and Serena sharing so much screen time.

Despite her years of experience, Serena still acts like a bored teen-ager jumping from one adventure to the next. I doubt Sam took her latest project, to marry a mortal, seriously. That's why she steered her to a dating service instead of setting her up with any of the eligible men that she might've known. Let Serena have some fun and get it out of her system.

In season one, Sam had a marriage minded friend named Gertrude in "Love is Blind". She had Darrin arrange a blind date with Kermit, a man in his office. But Sam knew her cousin wasn't really serious about matrimony. She wasn't about to set her up with a friend.

There's no way Serena could be married to a mortal like Darrin who was against using magic. She'd need a man like Tony Nelson's best friend in I Dream of Jeannie, Roger Healey. He was all for Jeannie using her magic all the time.

The twist in the episode was clever. The man Serena was paired up with WAS a lot like her! He was also a witch just looking for kicks by dating a mortal

Anyway I like this Serena episode much better than when she the blonde, guitar playing hippie.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 7 years ago

I think the idea for the script is clever. But I just can't stand this strange (and depressing) time period of the
series. Another issue I have is that I feel Montgomery overplays Serena, yet phones in her performance as
Sam (and i think she phoned in all her Sam work in the spring of '69). She suddenly finds some new
energy once season six gets underway. Just my opinion.

As for this episode, it could've been a lot wittier, but the comedy is way too forced for me.

To each his own.

[–] [email protected] (5926) 7 years ago

Actually I agree that it wasn't one of the wittier episodes. Yes, sometimes Elizabeth Montgomery seems to be having way more fun as Serena than as Samantha.

I may have chuckled a few times. But this episode didn't make me laugh out loud like "Cheap,Cheap" ,"Mirror,Mirror" or some of the other episodes when Darrin was under one of Endora's spells.

The characters I laughed at the most were Darrin, Larry and Aunt Clara.

I guess there was just something I liked about this episode. It was all about Serena without her making wisecracks at Darrin's expense.

There were other episodes where I hardly laughed. But I loved them for different reasons, such as "A is for Aardvark" and "Charlie Harper, Winner."

[–] [email protected] (1732) 7 years ago

Again, it was a clever idea. And you made a good point about it being about girls just having fun. I also
thought Lloyd Bochner was a hot actor. Nice choice in casting.

Oddly enough, I enjoy virtually all of the non-Darrin eps in seasons three and four ("A Gazebo Never
Forgets" is my all-time fave Aunt Clara episode...and Steve Franken is adorable here)....but
Montgomery was giving energetic performances, unlike season five. It's also the psychological aspect
of knowing York will be back in those earlier seasons, where as he was sick and fired (with Sargent
already salivating in the wings) when those season five eps were filmed. I also just hate the
scripts ("Tabitha's Weekend", "Samantha's Shopping Spree", etc.).

One weird coincidence: The one non-Darrin ep I enjoy from season five is "Mrs. Stephens, Where
are You?" This is where Serena really took off as the "Serena we know!" Her banter with Darrin's
mother is hilarious. And Montgomery doesn't overplay Serena here, or phone in her performance.
The coincidence? I only found out a few years ago that this ep was filmed BEFORE York was
officially fired. It was completed in early December '68. The company took the holidays off, then
returned January 3rd 1969 for what turned out to be "Daddy Does His Thing." York shot for two
days, then collapsed, of course, with his footage used in the new "mule" ep (another season five
offering I enjoy, mainly due to Sandra Gould).

It's sad to see York so painfully thin (he looks at least ten pounds thinner in these scenes than in
his last complete episode, "Samantha, the Sculptress").

[–] [email protected] (5926) 7 years ago

Yes, I always thought Loyd Bochner was handsome. He had a very elegant quality about him, great voice too.

The Gazebo episode is one of the funniest Aunt Clara episodes. I like Steve Franken's performance, but I like him even better as Juke, the warlock under his mommy Carlotta's thumb. ha

I do enjoy the banter between Serena and Mrs. Stephens in the season five episode you mentioned. Mrs. Stephens should have known better than to be so "catty". I get a kick out of the way Serena deflects everyone of her nosy questions.

Dick York WAS so thin in the fifth season. It makes me wonder why they had him say a particular bit of dialogue in "Mirror,Mirror."

Remember when Sam catches Darrin taking an inventory of himself in the bedroom mirror?
He says that he's holding up except for a receding hairline, a double chin and a trace of a pot. All I could think is whaaaat?

Maybe if he had said, "a touch of gray and the start of crow's feet" it would've been more believable.

But he was so thin. A double chin or a potbelly? Certainly not true. Still, it's an episode i laugh through all the way.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 7 years ago

Here's York's weight history (I know, but indulge me here): In the first season (especially in those
early eps), York was painfully thin. Then in season two - boom - YORK looks almost as pregnant as
Montgomery. He gained a tremendous amount of weight, and in several eps, it doesn't look
flattering.

In season three, he looks his very best. Normal weight, tan and actually quite handsome. The
early eps of season four show the same thing. But by the end of season four, he started to get
painfully thin again (around the time he returned after missing shows).

By the beginning of season five, he was reaaaaaally thin and pale. I think he looks almost ill in
"Mirror, Mirror", and looks even worse when he's wearing that cowboy/hippie outfit (when he
returns home). Thankfully, the "Elvis" look he sports to the Tates, makes him look heavier.

One last weird (if sad) point to offer here: York looks as though he gained some much needed
weight by the time he filmed "Samantha, the Bard" and "Samantha, the Sculptress." Yes, he
looks pale, but not overly thin. Then he was gone from set for a month, and by January, when
he shot his last scenes with Maurice Evans and Liz, he looks terribly thin.

People get so defensive over York (and wrongfully blame Liz, who didn't like him), but the truth is,
the Ashers kept him on the show for a long, long time, considering his health/addiction issues.
Liz really wanted him gone by the end of season three (according to William Froug, who
produced the third year). I think they did the best they could. York simply couldn't work anymore.

[–] [email protected] (5926) 7 years ago

Yes, I think Dick York was at his handsome best in seasons three and four. I never really noticed the big weight gain in season two. He probably just looked a normal healthy weight to me since he was otherwise so painfully thin.

I've read a few stories that Elizabeth Montgomery wanted him gone. I didn't know it was as early as season three. At that point Dick York had only missed a few episodes, "A Gazebo Never Forgets" and the frog episode.

From what I can piece together, she just didn't like him. But surely she must have known what great onscreen chemistry they had! Their love seemed so convincing.

Strange irony. She disliked Dick York but their love seemed so real. Yet even though she was good friends with Dick Sargeant, their relationship never translated into a passionate love match on screen.

Sometimes I chalk that up to circumstance. In the later seasons Sam and Darrin were an "old married couple" with two kids and not the wildly passionate newlyweds of the first few seasons.

But oddly enough, Elizabeth Montgomery had more chemistry with the onscreen husband that she didn't like!