Tabitha

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.

Having been a big fan of its parent show BEWITCHED, I really wanted this "spin-off" to work. I thought the idea of following the escapades of a now grown-up Tabitha was an interesting continuation of the BEWITCHED concept.

The first outing (with Liberty Williams as a very unlikely brunette Tabitha) bombed. I actually cringed while watching it. But ABC seemed determined to make it work (someone there was obviously just as big a fan of BEWITCHED) so they reworked the pilot episode by scrapping the entire original cast and crew.

Lisa Hartman was then cast as the lead and proved to be more charming and likeable. The rest of the cast and the writing however were no improvement over the first pilot. It was mainly a regurgitation of many of the familiar BEWITCHED plotlines and ideas, with mortal brother Adam chastising Tabitha every time she used her powers (as daddy Darrin did with Mom Samantha), and obnoxious, mischievous mortal-phobe Aunt Minerva filling in for Endora - causing problems for all the mortals in Tabitha's life. However, even with original characters from BEWITCHED turning up a few times (Dr. Bombay, Mrs. Kravitz) played by the actors who first originated them, the show seemed somehow detached and alien from the original show.

The whole thing was really not funny and only mildly entertaining, and it lasted only a handful of episodes.

Another nail in the show's coffin seemed to be that the sophisticated TV audiences of that era (the mid 70's), by then used to gritty and groundbreaking sitcoms like M*A*S*H, All In The Family, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, scoffed at such frothy nonsense. It would perhaps seem more fitting now in this current TV decade when audiences are more willing to accept such supernatural, effects-heavy shows as The X-Files, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Sabrina The Teenage Witch (which is in many ways the BEWITCHED of the 90's). With all the current nostalgia these days for the shows/music/movies of the 60's and 70's, it's only a matter of time before someone takes another crack at it...

As another person wrote What WERE they thinking?! Lisa Hartman was very cute in 1977 but her acting was just plain bad. Perhaps the director told her eye rolling, pouting, huffing and over reacting to "frustrating" situations is funny. I'm also wondering if she was told to try to act like and mimic the wonderful Elizabeth Montgomery as her vocal inflections and reactions are suspiciously very similar. OK It was 1977 a long, long, long time ago so I will cut it some slack. If you watch it for the time warp factor alone (The clothes, the bad disco music, the cheesy laugh track, and the horribly written dialog complete with lines like "Right On" "Foxy Mama" and "Shed those groovy threads") its bearable. Other than that her brother Adam (who i really don't remember much in the original Bewitched) is a dweeb, Aunt Minerva is obnoxious at best and Robert Urich seems completely out of place. Its filmed very similar to many of the TV shows of the 70's - like Wonder Woman the music swells at every commercial break and every ending has to have a close up freeze of Wonder Woman (Diane Prince) smiling and or laughing telling us stupid at home viewers that everything turned out fine. Tabitha has its same bad endings but now we forced to watch Tabitha and the rest of the cast mugging and laughing to idiotic dialog. If it ever finds it's way to TV again its worth seeing just to say I'm embarrassed for everyone involved.

2/10

_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 don't know what this other review is talking about! This show was fantastic and fun! Lisa Hartman has channeled Elizabeth Montgomery and nailed this role, as every other she has possessed! Robert Urich is charming, even as the egotistical Paul Thurston. You can easily see how much fun was had on this set. Leave the ego's at the door. There is no forced or even bad acting, this is fun TV folks! Karen Morrow is just fantastic as Aunt Minerva and we even get a few "Bewitched" stars making a surprise visit!

I just bought the DVD box set and couldn't be more thrilled. This is when TV was fun and free and not some stupid reality show which is all we have to chose from these days. Long Live the 1970's Sitcom!

Z.