Sunday, January 13, 2013

Memorable Entertainment Television

In Colorado, through Comcast cable, we have a channel called Memorable Entertainment Television.  This is what TV Land once was, a network dedicated to airing some of the best of classic television, both dramatic and comedic.

Two shows that they just added to the nightly line up, are Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie.  Now I grew up watching these on a local channel here in Denver, or I should say, I grew up watching maybe 25 to 50 of the episodes,  That was all that were aired here, usually the same 25 to 50 over again, with maybe one or two additional episodes scattered in for variety.

But with M.E.TV you see the whole series, from the pilot to last episode.

What has amazed me about these two shows, is how clever they were.  Both dealt with unique relationships, which if you were to analize them you could say they were dealing with inter-racial marriages or mixed religous marriages, yet doing it in a way that did not offend or preach

You had a witch and her family dealing with a mortal, there was Uncle Arthur played by comedic great Paul Lynde, Aunt Esmerelda who was always a bit slow on the uptake, and of course Endora, Samanthas mother who was a  mother who felt her daughter had made a terrible mistake marrying a mere mortal.

Then you had I Dream of Jeanie about a Jeanie who only wished to be loyal and devoted to Larry Hagman.
Captain, later Major Anthony Nelson.

With Jeanie you also had three seperate introductions.  They were

Which was used in the first two episodes of the series.

Version two used in the first season was a shortened animated version with the original theme, but without the voice over set up,
This is the most famous version of the opening in color with the animated Captain Nelson and Jeannie.
Introduced andin 1966 and used until series end in 1970



In closing, what is special about both Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, is that I actually find myself laughing as I watch these shows, yes I will pause and think about the context of the story, but I will laigh sincerely because these shows were funny.

If you love old television and have ME TV available, watch it, you will enjoy the memories and maybe just mayble laugh out loud, because something is just plain fun.

1 comment:

  1. Classic television not made anymore. This was a great review of the two and I am glad you are enjoying them.

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