Bewitched: Season 01  (1964)

Theatrical Release Information:
Bewitched: Season 01

Filmed in black-and-white, the first season of Bewitched got under way just after the wedding of Darrin and Samantha Stephens (Dick York and Elizabeth Montgomery). The first major crisis in the marriage arises when "Sam" calmly informs her ad executive hubby, Darrin, that she is a witch -- "a genuine, broom-flying, cauldron-stirring witch" -- and proceeds to prove it by moving objects through the air and casting spells with the twitch of her nose. A mere mortal, Darrin is clearly taken aback by this revelation, but he loves Sam and is determined to make the marriage work. There is one condition, however: Sam must keep her powers a secret from others, and she must never use witchcraft in her everyday wifely activities. Though Sam does a good job with the first part of the condition (despite the suspicions of her snoopy next-door neighbor Gladys Kravitz [Sandra Gould]), she oftens finds that there is no alternative but to use her powers whenever Darrin gets into a mess, usually in connection with his job at the ad firm run by the bombastic Larry Tate (David White). Among the supporting characters making their first appearances in season one are Sam's witch mother, Endora (Agnes Moorehead), who detests Darrin and uses every power at her command to sabotage the marriage; Endora's husband, Maurice (Maurice Evans), an elegant warlock with a mercurial temperament; Sam's befuddled Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne), whose application of witchcraft is eccentric and misguided, to say the least; George Tobias as the obstreperous Gladys Kravitz's laid-back husband, Abner; and Irene Vernon as Larry Tate's good-natured wife, Louise. Guest stars this season include Adam West, Arte Johnson, Raquel Welch, Shelley Berman, June Lockhart, and, as a nervous driving instructor, Paul Lynde, two years before he became a Bewitched semi-regular in the role of Sam's prankish Uncle Arthur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide