Samantha Vs. Jeannie

Thank you, Nick at Nite's Block Party Summer (In Vertivision!), circa 1994, for teaching me that Bewitched is indeed far superior to I Dream of Jeannie.  (Though I'll always love you, Jeannie.  Don't you worry.)

 This painting (by ... um ... Risko?) was published that summer in Entertainment Weekly.  At some point I'll make a poster of it.  'Til then ...

Divas of Darkness

It was all the rage -- circa 1966-68 or so -- to showcase the blonde actress headlining your sitcom (or soap opera) and tart her up in a black wig; she'd usually be called upon to play a character of vastly different temperament, distinctly id-ish, a cousin, an evil sister, or perhaps a twentieth century reincarnation.  For some reason -- the wigs?!? the id-nosity?!? -- these dark haired divas have always intrigued me.  And three of my favorite 60's series totally bought into this trope:  Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Dark Shadows.  Thus I present to you:  Samantha's mischievous cousin, Serena, Jeannie's devious twin sister, creatively dubbed "Jeannie II," and Angelique's alter ego, Cassandra Collins.

Samantha

Making my way through the first season of Bewitched while perusing Adam-Michael James' The Bewitched Continuum, an in-depth analysis of each of the 254 episodes of the series (2 were recut; James analyses those as well).  With a few minor quibbles (once you point out a flaw -- i.e., the lack of supervision of Larry and Louise's mostly-unseen toddler son Jonathan -- in one episode, is it necessary to continue pointing them out in every other episode where they occur?), I'm very much enjoying his perceptions on one of my top two favorite television series of all time.