Bewitched-The Complete Second Season (1964)

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Main Menu Introduction-. Main Menu Audio-. Featurette-Bewitched, Bewildered, And Be-Bloopered Trailer-Stuart Little 3, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Partridge Family
Rating
Year Of Production	1964
Running Time	932:43 (Case: 928)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (5)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	William Asher Bruce Bilson Jerry Davis Alan Jay Factor
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Elizabeth Montgomery Dick York Dick Sargent Agnes Moorehead David White Maurice Evans Alice Pearce George Tobias Irene Vernon Marion Lorne Paul Lynde Kasey Rogers Sandra Gould
Case	?
RPI	$49.95	Music	Van Alexander Warren Barker Pete Carpenter

    Season 2 of this successful 1960s TV series has now been released. I outlined the basic premise of the show in my review of Season 1 so I won't repeat myself here.

    This season picks up from Season 1 and doesn't change the successful formula too much. Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York continue their roles as Samantha and Darrin Stephens, the newly married witch and mortal. Agnes Moorehead resumes her role as Endora, the meddling mother-in-law who is a real witch, and the nosy neighbour, Gladys Kravits, is still spying; much to the disgust of her long suffering husband Abner, who incidentally gets some of the best lines. The only change this season is the addition of a baby for the Stephens.

    No surprises are in store for those who have seen Season 1, but there is still that nice, safe predictable fun that TV comedies tend to thrive on.

    The complete 38 episodes of Season 2 are on this 5 disc release.

Disc 1

Episode 1: Alias Darrin Stephens (24:47)
    Aunt Clara accidentally turns Darrin into a chimp and forgets the reversal spell.

Episode 2: A Very Special Delivery (24:39)
    Endora believes Darrin is not considerate enough about Samantha's pregnancy. To help him understand the situation, she makes him pregnant.

Episode 3: We're In For A Bad Spell (24:44)
    Samantha and Aunt Clara discover that an old friend of Darrin's is living under a family curse. The three have to help him break the curse.

Episode 4: My Grandson, The Warlock (24:39)
    Darrin and Samantha agree to mind Larry and Louise's baby for a few days. When Samantha's father arrives unexpectedly, he assumes the baby is his new grandson and is disappointed that the child is not a warlock.

Episode 5: The Joker Is A Card (24:39)
    Samantha's Uncle Arthur, a notorious practical joker, visits unannounced. Samantha, Darrin and Endora decide it is time to teach him a lesson.

Episode 6: Take Two Aspirins And Half A Pint Of Porpoise Milk (24:43)
    Samantha falls ill after being exposed to a very rare flower, and loses her power. The remedy requires Darrin to "acquire" one of the rare flowers.

Episode 7: Trick Or Treat (24:41)
    It's Halloween, and Endora turns Darrin into a werewolf when he refuses to let Samantha accompany her to a witch's Halloween event.

Episode 8: The Very Informal Dress (24:39)
    Aunt Clara tries to help out by conjuring some new clothes for Darrin and Samantha to wear to a function. Problems begin when the magical clothes start to vanish bit by bit.

Episode 9: And Then I Wrote (24:39)
    Samantha has to write a play for a Civil War commemoration. To help with her writing she uses magic to bring the characters to life, but they soon take on a life of their own.

Disc 2

Episode 10: Junior Executive (24:42)
    Samantha wonders what Darrin was like as a boy, so Endora makes him 10 years old again.

Episode 11: Aunt Clara's Old Flame (24:40)
    Aunt Clara's old boyfriend is back and Aunt Clara is embarrassed that her powers aren't what they once were, so Samantha decides to cover for her.

Episode 12: A Strange Little Visitor (24:43)
    Samantha's nephew comes to stay for a few days, but Darrin doesn't know the boy's a warlock. When he finds out, Darrin forbids the boy to do any magic, but changes his mind when a burglar breaks in.

Episode 13: My Boss The Teddy Bear (24:43)
    When Endora gets a hard to find teddy bear for Larry's child, Darrin thinks Endora has changed Larry, his boss, into the teddy bear.

Episode 14: Speak The Truth (24:37)
    Endora sets out to prove to Samantha that mortals can't be truthful. She gives Darrin a statue that makes everyone that comes near it say exactly what's on their mind.

Episode 15: A Vision Of Sugar Plums (24:41)
    A re-run of episode 15 in series one presented as a flash-back. Darrin and Samantha take a boy from the orphanage home to spend Christmas with them. When Samantha discovers he does not believe in Santa Claus, she determines to convince him Santa is real.

Episode 16: The Magic Cabin (24:42)
    Darrin is over-worked, so his boss lets him use an old mountain cabin for a weekend retreat. The cabin is run-down so Samantha uses witchcraft to fix it up. When a young couple arrive to view the cabin before deciding to buy it, they think they are getting a bargain.

Episode 17: Maid To Order (24:33)
    Darrin convinces Samantha to employ a maid. She hires a maid who desperately needs the job, but is clumsy and can't cook, and uses witchcraft to help her do her job. Darrin's boss is so impressed with the maid he borrows her to cater at an important dinner party he is holding.

Episode 18: And Then There Were Three (24:33)
    The time has finally arrived, and Samantha gives birth to a baby girl. Samantha's cousin Serena arrives at the hospital, and her uncanny resemblance to Samantha causes confusion for Darrin.

Disc 3

Episode 19: My Baby, The Tycoon (24:35)
    New-born Tabitha is given one share in a company as a present. When the share price unexpectedly rises rapidly, Darrin suspects that his daughter is using witchcraft to make stock market gains.

Episode 20: Samantha Meets The Folks (24:31)
    Another flash-back, this time to episode 14 of series one. Darrin's parents arrive for the weekend to meet Samantha for the first time. Samantha's Aunt Clara unexpectedly arrives at the same time.

Episode 21: Fastest Gun On Madison Avenue (24:28)
    Samantha is accosted by a drunk in a restaurant. Darrin steps in to defend her and finds himself in a fight with a much bigger man. Samantha uses witchcraft to help, and Darrin finds himself on the front pages when the man he knocks out is a boxing champion.

Episode 22: The Dancing Bear (24:29)
    Endora gives Tabitha a magical dancing bear. Darrin's father sees it and thinks it's a great marketing opportunity.

Episode 23: Double Tate (24:36)
    Darrin finds himself in a difficult situation when he is turned into his boss, Larry. Larry is in Chicago, and when his wife sees Darrin, who now looks like Larry, in town dining with an attractive young woman, she is convinced Larry is cheating on her.

Episode 24: Samantha The Dressmaker (24:31)
    Endora and Samantha pop over to Paris to view some new dresses and Samantha uses magic to make some copies for herself and some friends. The trouble starts when Darrin's new client recognises the dresses as his own new designs.

Episode 25: The Horse's Mouth (24:35)
    A race horse escapes and arrives at the Stephens' house. Samantha turns the horse into a human so she can ask her what's wrong. When the horse hears Darrin's cousin talking about his money problems, she gives him racing tips.

Episode 26: Baby's First Paragraph (24:29)
    Endora makes Tabitha speak to Gladys Kravits and Gladys tells the press about the amazing speaking baby.

Episode 27: The Leprechaun (24:29)
    Darrin is shocked to discover that he has a distant cousin who is a leprechaun. He is even more shocked to learn that the leprechaun has lost his last pot of gold, and he wants Darrin to help him find it.

Disc 4

Episode 28: Double Split (24:31)
    Darrin and Larry have a fight and Darrin quits his job. Samantha and Louise conspire to get the two to make up.

Episode 29: Disappearing Samantha (24:30)
    Darrin and Samantha attend a lecture by a noted author who is trying to prove witches do not exist. The author accidentally puts a spell on Samantha that causes her to vanish.

Episode 30: Follow That Witch - Part 1 (24:32)
    A new client of Darrin's hires a private investigator to investigate Darrin and Samantha. The detective discovers Samantha is a witch and blackmails her.

Episode 31: Follow That Witch - Part 2 (24:34)
    Samantha has to find a way to deal with the blackmailing private investigator.

Episode 32: A Bum Raps (24:31)
    Darrin's uncle is coming to stay and Samantha mistakes a tramp who arrives at the door for the uncle. He allows them to think he is the uncle while he plans to rob them.

Episode 33: Divided He Falls (24:32)
    Darrin is unable to take Samantha on a holiday they had planned due to work. Endora divides Darrin's fun side from his reliable side so the fun side can take Samantha on holiday.

Episode 34: Man's Best Friend (24:29)
    A young warlock who has a crush on Samantha arrives to convince Samantha to run off with him. Samantha sends him away, but he returns as a dog and tries to split Darrin and Samantha. A very young Richard Dreyfuss co-stars in this episode.

Episode 35: The Catnapper (24:29)
    Endora thinks Darrin is cheating on Samantha with a business client and turns her into a cat. The private investigator from Follow That Witch is snooping around again and sees the spell. He kidnaps the cat and holds it to ransom.

Episode 36: What Every Young Man Should Know (24:40)
    Samantha wonders if Darrin would still have married her if he had known she was a witch before to the wedding. Endora sends her back in time to find out.

Disc 5

Episode 37: The Girl With The Golden Nose (24:35)
    Darrin is given a big account by his boss and becomes convinced that Samantha is giving him a charmed life. Samantha decides to teach him a lesson.

Episode 38: Prodigy (24:33)
    Samantha helps Gladys Kravits' brother, a fine violinist, get over his fear of performing.

Video

    Once again we are only offered the colourised version of this series. Those who have read my review on Season 1 will know my thoughts on colourisation, and I won't repeat them again. It would have been nice to at least have the choice between colourised and the original Black and White as they do in Region 1.

    That aside, the quality of this series is much the same as Season 1. The colourisation is a fairly good effort with many of the horrors of the past eradicated, but skin tones can still be a little variable and that strange, almost black and white look to mouths and teeth still occurs occasionally.

    There were more film artefacts in this series. Episode 3 was plagued throughout with white spots and episode 11 suffered from a bout of rampant black spots. Black spots also appeared around 22:23 in episode 14 and a scratch line was present for a few seconds at 5:30 in episode 15.

    Sharpness is always an issue with older TV series, as you would expect, and these discs are no exception. The sharpness tends to vary a bit between takes, but there is a particularly bad period at the beginning of episode 15. In addition there is some pronounced edge enhancement present on occasion throughout the series which may be a result of the colourisation process.

    I also had problems with navigating from the menu to episodes and back again. This was an extremely slow process sometimes and once, when I tried to jump from an episode back to the menu on disc 4, the disc hung completely and I had to eject and reload to continue. I was given review discs rather than the retail version, so I don't know whether this will be a problem with the released set or not.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    As was the case with season 1, audio is displayed as Dolby Digital 2.0, but in reality is mono, as you would expect from the era. Dialogue is clear and the audio track is free from hiss, pops and other nasties. Nothing really to complain about nor to criticise.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Extras, such as they are, are included on disc 5. I found the to be pretty uninspiring and would not have missed them if they were left out.

Bewitched, Bewildered, And Be-Bloopered (6:55)

    A series of continuity error and mistakes, such as visible strings on things that float and so on. These are not particularly funny and hardly worth the effort.

Trailers

    Three trailers for forthcoming DVDs; Stuart Little 3 (1:15), I Dream Of Jeannie (0:50) and The Partridge Family (1:00)

    Region 1 content appears to be the same as Region 4 but, since Region 1 allows the option of purchasing the original Black and White transfer, once again Region 1 is the winner.

    If you enjoyed Season 1, you will also enjoy Season 2. I have always found Bewitched to be a nice light view when you just want to sit down for half an hour or so and enjoy TV from a simpler, more innocent age.

    As with the Season 1 release, I do wish they had done a restoration rather than colourisation, but the show is still watchable and enjoyable despite this.

    Video is fair to good.

    Audio is good, if unexciting.

    Extras are disappointing.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall