Street Date: May 6

Official Synopsis:
The magic on Morning Glory Circle continues as Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery), Darrin (Dick Sargent), and Endora (Agnes Moorehead) return in Bewitched: The Complete Sixth Season. Notable for being Dick Sargent's first season as Darrin. Samantha, a powerful member of the society of witches that has lived apart from (and disdained) humanity for many centuries, falls in love with a mortal, Darrin Stephens. Much to the disgust of most of her family, she vows to give up witchcraft and become an ordinary suburban housewife, raising a family (bearing Tabitha and Adam). Never able to give up her heritage completely, the friction between the matriarchal, moneyless society of her birth and the patriarchal, capitalist society of modern advertising drives the comedy over eight seasons and 256 episodes, from 1964 to 1971. This four disc collection includes all 30 episodes from The Complete Sixth Season of Bewitched!

Our Take:
Hmmm… Darin looks a little different this season.

Season Six of Bewitched sees the “other” Dick take over as Samantha’s husband Darin, with Dick Sargent replacing Dick York. What’s always been amazing to me (ever since I started watching this show as a young kid when it was in reruns multiple times a day) is how indistinguishable the two actors are from each other. As an adult, I can spot the differences more easily, but the two really do look alarmingly similar, and their approaches to Darin, while slightly varied, kept the transition seamless.

Despite adding a second baby to the household, Bewitched continued to bewitch in its sixth season, giving us the usual mix of more family-oriented sitcom humor and outrageous fairy-tale/guest star outings. So in addition to the new family member, the usual Esmerelda/Darin bickering, and Tabitha getting into mischief, we also are treated to a Jack and the Beanstalk episode, and guest characters such as Julius Caesar, Mother Goose, a Playboy Bunny, Santa Claus, and Superman (well, sort of.)

As usual, there are no extra features in the Bewitched: The Sixth Season DVD set, but because TV schedules were different back then than they are now, you do at least get 30 episodes instead of the usual 22 or so.

Bewitched is a fun show that, because it’s so dated, doesn’t feel dated. It’s surpassed aging and has now become a bona fide classic. While some of the episodes are obviously better than others, after almost 40 years Bewitched holds up better than most other television shows from this era.

Overall Picture:
Show: B
DVD: C

- Mike Spring

Editor