You Wish

Take Jeannie, give her a sex-change operation, deduct her charm and good nature, and you have this show's "Genie". "You Wish" is but the latest in a series of misguided attempts to remake "I Dream of Jeannie". John Ales's "Genie" is crude, obnoxious, and self-indulgent. Avoid this show at all costs; this supposed sitcom is not funny.

This show tried hard. First, it was fun to see a male character with magic powers. I loved Samantha and liked Jeannie, Sabrina and the others, but it was almost always a woman who got to do the magic stuff.

John Ales was so cute as the manic Genie. He was kind of like a humanoid Bugs Bunny. His magic reflected his off-the-wall personality beautifully.

In retrospect, the show should have been more of a romantic comedy, playing on the tension between Genie and Gillian (the fabulous Harley Jane Kozak). Yes, that would have made it more like _I Dream of Jeannie_,but that formula works better in this genre than the family sitcom with kids having to learn a "valuable lesson". It tried to be a little of both, leaning toward the family sitcom, which weakened it. Adding Jerry Van Dyke was a mistake. He is a wonderful comic actor, but he detracted from the Genie/Gillian relationship.

They put forth an earnest effort, but ultimately it went down the wrong path. It would be interesting to see a new version of this concept--the magical romantic comedy--with either a magical male character and a mortal woman, or, perhaps, a magical male character and a mortal man!

This is a good show! I know everybody hates it, personally i can't stand the grandpa, but it's funny. The sparks that shoot from Gillian to Genie are great. The kids never seem to be very big on this show, Mickey is kinda shallow but nice, Travis doesn't seem to have character. If you like low depth humor, and left wanting more (and enjoy Teen Angel) this show is for you. Right now it's on the family channel on the weekends on 11:30.

I can't believe I'm the only person to comment on this sensational show! This was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it show that lasted for one season on ABC's TGIF lineup in 1997 until 1998. John Ales played a genie living in a rug that Gillian Apple (Harley Jane Kozak) buys one day. Her kids, Mickey(Alex McKenna) and Travis(Nathan Lawrence) discover the genie and persuade their mom to let them keep the rug. below is one of my favorite quotes. This starts with the genie taking a bath in the sink.

Gillian: Get your genie butt outta there!

Genie: OK, but don't look in the fridge!

This show didn't deserve its cruel fate!

Grade: A