God rest Elizabeth Montgomery since she died of rectal cancer in 1995, but Barbara Eden is still around.
I think both of these shows caught the zeitgiest of the time in different ways and this accounts for their success and longer life in rerun and cableland. But clearly, their hold of millions of people's interest into the 21st century is a credit to our fascination with the convergence of mortal meeting magic.
Though Bewitched was first on television, it was based on the two movies Bell, Book and Candle and I Married a Witch. Jeannie premiered shortly thereafter, but Sidney Sheldon based the show on the movie The Brass Bottle starring Barbara Eden, Burl Ives, and Tony Randall. So they were not carbons of each other, nor a rip-off, just a capturing of the public's conciousness. Both were filmed on the same lot, but Bewitched was the bigger show which lasted longer (7 seasons vs Jeannie's 5), and Elizabeth Montgomery the bigger star.
But more fascinating is that across the nation, little girly boys (like those of us posting here in this topic) were literally enchanted by these shows, so much so that it persisted into our adult lives with strong and entrenched memories. My stars, these shows were part of our lives 30 years ago! My Jeannie Mod Party doll is one of my prized possessions (thank you Sweetie).
I wish there had been playgroups for us sissyboys when we were growing up, as it would have made things so much easier. But then would not have been enough parts to go around! It could have been quite dicey AND catty- who gets to play Samanatha and who Jeannie? And then not enough innocent straight boys to play the roles of the men in these shows. I don't know if that would have been the answer (much like I don't think the segregation induced by the Harvey Milk High School is the answer either). I would rather have seen acceptance and tolerance to our fantasy games- from parents, teachers, neighbors, not raised eyebrows and isolationism ("you can't play with shim anymore"). Alas, we can't change the past. Later on in childhood around 11 and 12, when my fascination moved to the Bionic Woman, and I had found 3 other like minded individuals (meaning they were gay but we didn't know nor understand that term yet), we played being bionic, but all 4 of us were Jaime Sommers running and jumping in slow motion, but we had no one who wanted to play Steve Austin. The straight boys had moved on to football, soccer, basketball, and whatever other competitive sport I just couldn't bare to play, because I sucked, which brought on ridicule blah blah blah. Ironically, later on in life, I learned to suck in other ways that brought the boys back to play with me. Interesting how that dynamic continues on into my adult life to this day (the straight boys want nothing to do with me in public, but they will play with me in secret).
These posts are testament to our fascination with magic, and I think we all want magic so we can fantasize about fixing the things in our society that have traumatized us (or at least me)- intolerance and ridicule. Whether it be with the blink of the eyes, the twinkle of the nose, or recitation of an incantation- that is the fascination with both I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched.
If only Samantha could have cast this spell:
Sun, stars, wind and tide
In the heavens where you abide,
Before your powers, we do bow
Bring peace, tolerance & acceptance here and now