A Bewitched Reboot?

Have you ever daydreamed about rebooting your favorite classic television shows with a modern twist? Bewitched has always been a beloved staple for me. Recently, I was playing around on IMDB when I discovered their somewhat social-media-esque dashboard where you can post reviews and lists, including lists of actors you would cast for shows and movies. This really got the hamster wheels moving! This was a creative exercise I could sink my teeth into. I started scouring IMDB for my dream team of actors, producers, and writers. This fabulous idea of mine, has in fact, been developed by multiple networks to remake and reboot Bewitched.….

Who would you cast? I can see Johnny Depp as Doctor Bombay, Kiernan Shipka as Samantha, and Sebastian Stan as Darrin. I would love to see Samantha with a witch’s familiar, at least the traditional black cat like the one seen in the Hannah Barbera animated show opener. I love the aesthetic that Marc Cherry brings to the set design of Desperate Housewives and Why Women Kill, so I would love to see him involved in the set design of the Bewitched reboot. I would also make Darrin’s boss, Larry, female. Enter Tiffany Haddish as La Retta Tate and her loving wife, Louise “LuLu” Tate played by Kate McKinnon. I have some more creative casting ideas, wait until you see who I cast as Tichiba, Queen of the Witches. Here are the rest of my casting selections….https://geni.us/bewitchedreboot .

In 2011, CBS ordered a script for a Bewitched remake from writer Marc Lawrence and producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher, the married duo who also produced the 2005 film remake. In 2014, NBC gave a put-pilot commitment to a follow-up series, written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, that would have followed Samantha’s granddaughter. And in 2018, black-ish creator Kenya Barris sold a Bewitched take, which he penned with Yamara Taylor, to ABC.

WandaVision paid homage to the show.
Not only was WandaVision’s second episode title sequence a spin on Bewitched’s animated intro, but the character of Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) lives in the Bewitched house, which is fitting because — spoiler alert — she’s a witch! Have you ever wanted to take a tour of the Bewitched house? Look no further….

In fact, the Bewitched house has been used many times over the years and has been seen in many other tv shows and movies including Lethal Weapon, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, the tv show Home Improvement, and the television show Gidget. In fact, the Director of Gidget, William Asher, was also the Director of Bewitched. In many episodes of Gidget, you can see the Samantha Stephens doll in Gidget’s bedroom. Later on, there is an episode where Gidget tries to deliver flowers to Elizabeth Montgomery, her neighbor across the street.

(Interesting side note: Gidget launched the show in full color while the network’s hit TV series, Bewitched, was still filmed in black and white.)

The house we have all come to know and love as Darrin & Samantha’s still stands today (the exterior) at the Warner Brothers Ranch (originally Screen Gems/Columbia), West Oak Street in Burbank, California. 1164 Morning Glory Cirlce, is the official address of the Stephens house and it is situated on a “circle” with many other famous homes used for other TV shows.

The Gidget house was also used for episodes of Bewitched including “Mrs. Parsons'” house (home to all the cats!) and Pleasure O’Reilly’s house, a sexy next door neighbor. The TV show The Monkees (1966-1968) filmed exterior shots of the guys being wacky on the ranch too.

Will there be a Bewitched reboot in the future? There seems to be some interest in developing the idea. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and maybe say a little spell.

Do you love Bewitched, too? Then you will love these bewitching finds I found on Amazon:

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