Tabitha

_Bewitched_ is probably in my top five favourite TV series of all time. The series went off when I was about three, but reruns were a staple in our house for years.

Trying to create a sequel just a few years after the parent show's demise would not have worked under the best of circumstances, starting with the point that, in 1977, Tabitha and Adam still would have been children. Also, late in the original series, it was revealed that Adam was, in fact, a warlock. This was reflected in the pilot of _Tabitha_ where he was an Uncle Arthur-type character. It is also rumoured that, in the pilot, Adam was intended to be gay. This may well be what led the powers that be to render him powerless once the series was picked up. Warlock Adam was the most entertaining part of the pilot. Without him, it was bland and boring. _Bewitched_ was always character-driven with outrageous witches (Endora, Maurice, Aunt Clara, Serena, Esmeralda, the aforementioned Uncle Arthur) and clueless, but entertaining mortals (Gladys Kravitz, Larry Tate and Phyllis Stephens--and their respective long-suffering spouses) and Sam and Darrin as the calm centre. This tension was not present in _Tabitha_, especially after the reworking.

Had the pilot been made 20 years later--about the time _Sabrina_ hit the air--it may well have worked. The characters would have had time to reach the ages at which they were presented. And, contemporary with _Ellen_ and _Will and Grace_, audiences may have been willing to accept a gay warlock Adam. Unfortunately, someone couldn't wait and a fabulous show has this sequel that is best forgotten.

I can't understand why shows like "Sabrina" and "Out of This World" can be hits with huge fan bases while "Tabitha" just seems to sit barely noticed in the corner. Lisa Hartman, later of "Knot's Landing," was a cute and sexy Tabitha even if the real Tabitha Erin Murphy was still a kid when this show was on. As Hartman once said, "if it hadn't been continually bumped for tv specials, it might have lasted." The problem was the rest of the cast was not very good; Robert Urich just couldn't do comedy very well and another thing is that there was not enough to connect it to "Bewitched." Every fan on that show can name all the characters, so just where did "Aunt Minerva" come from (the actress that played her even played a witch on "Sabrina." Maybe if the show was tried again today with Tabitha married and Sabrina working with her husband at a tv network, maybe ?

I just finished watching all 12 episodes plus the original pilot with Liberty Williams (Jana of the Wonder Twins.) The writing is just awful. Really really bad. But I could not help myself. Checking out one episode turned into a insurmountable urge to watch the entire run.

Lisa Hartman (Pre-Movie-of-the-Week-Perma-Scowl) is absolutely adorable as Tabitha. She's cute, she's bouncy, and she does a pretty spot-on Elizabeth Montgomery impersonation, with the voice, the speech patterns, and that big shocked "O" she does with her mouth. And then there is the sexy outfits they rotate her through. Damn the 70's were sexy. Nothing now on Network TV comes close.

At the beginning Adam took on the Darwin role being disapproving of the magic. But the producers obviously saw the bit was a turkey and dropped it.

I didn't think that Tabitha and Robert Urich were a good romantic fit, she being smart, and him smarmy, but the producers were doing a good job of slowly getting them together.

Aunt Minerva started off as an Andora clone, but quickly found her own voice.

And we got 2 visits from the wonderful Dr. Bombay!!!

I think had the show been picked up for an entire season, they really could have made a go of it.

On the other hand, with only 12 episodes, I have watched the entire run and feel great about it. Had there been more, and they sucked, it might have lost it's charm and become grating.

Recommendation: Buy it now, because Sony is not going to keep it in print for long. So for the $15-$30 you can find it now, it is worth it. Five to Ten years down the road, when you have to pay $50-$100 for a used copy, it just won't be worth it.

Like a few others, I was disappointed with the series. I was hoping it would live up to "Bewitched" but there really wasn't anything to set it apart from the other bland sitcoms surrounding it. Aunt Minerva really seemed like a tired retread of Endora with a smattering of Aunt Clara or Esmerelda, and Adam substituting for Durweed...Dogwood...Darrin seemed pointless (apparently, continuity wasn't considered. Maybe they thought the younger audience they were shooting for wouldn't have noticed or watched the original series?) The only thing it had going for it was the theme song. While Lisa Hartman was a decent choice for the role physically, it looked like her main direction was "pretend you're Elizabeth Montgomery playing Samantha". Overall, the show didn't feel very original.

When I was a kid, I pretty much enjoyed this show due to the fact that it was pretty much an interesting show. However, since I have gotten older, I pretty much see it as a show that was wrong on several counts. First off, this show tried to be a combination of its parent show and "Mary Tyler Moore" with its concept of a witch who is also a career girl. Unfortunately, this combination was not a success and was probably the main reason this show was not a success. Also, this was an odd show due to the fact that when "Bewitched" went off the air in 1972, Tabitha and Adam were approximately 7 and 2 respectively and in this show which aired five years later they are now in their mid-20's whereas they should have been roughly about 12 and 7. Also, as another commentator mentioned, where did Aunt Minerva come from? If memory serves me right, Samantha was an only child and the closest she had to a sister was her wild cousin Serena. But perhaps the biggest inconsistency of this series was that they never attempted to really develop the relationship between Tabitha and Paul. In the entire run of the show they only had one scene that was even close to romantic. The rest of the time Tabitha was trying to fight off his amorous advances. But you had to know that this show was a disaster when they began bringing back many of the former regular and semi-regular cast members of the parent show such as the Kravitzes, who's niece was one of Tabitha's neighbors, and Doctor Bombay. This show was a perfect example of the lack of originality in television. Luckily it didn't sink the careers of Lisa Hartman and Robert Urich, who went on to successful careers after this show was canceled.