Log in

View Full Version : Bewitched remake


MonnoM
08-23-18, 06:57 PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/bewitched-remake-kenya-barris-flies-abc-1137106

"ABC is conjuring up a remake of Bewitched from part of the team behind Black-ish.

The network has given a pilot production commitment to an update of the 1960s sitcom about a witch hiding in plain sight in suburbia, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and Yamara Taylor, a writer and co-producer on that series, will write the script.

The project is the last one Barris worked on under his deal at ABC Studios; he recently signed a rich overall deal with Netflix. ABC Studios; Sony, which owns the Bewitched rights; and Davis Entertainment are producing.

Bewitched aired from 1964-72 on ABC and starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stevens, a witch who marries mortal ad executive Darrin (Dick York initially, Dick Sargent in later seasons) and tries to live an everyday life — not always successfully, thanks to her supernatural family and nosy neighbors.

Barris and Taylor's update of the concept has Samantha as an African-American single mother who marries Darrin, who's something of a slacker. They will navigate their differences as Samantha discovers that even though she's literally magic, she's still not as powerful as a decently tall white man with a full head of hair in America.

The pilot will be Sony's third try at a Bewitched series remake in the past decade. Previous attempts at CBS in 2011-12 and NBC in 2014 ended up not going forward. It was also remade as a 2005 feature film starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell."

average joe
08-23-18, 10:36 PM
I think the charm of the original Bewitched was the absurd situations and characters. I Dream of Jeanie, while having a similar premise, just didn't seem to have the same creativity for me. I don't know if the creators of a new series would be wiling to make something that's just for fun like the original was. Perhaps a new approach would be interesting but why not just make it something new, with different characters, and avoid all of the comparisons, which will may work against it? They could keep the title, which really is just a ploy to get people to tune in.