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On Bewitched, I wonder if Serena kind of had a thing for Darren. She kind of acted like she did, especially when she turned herself into Samantha and then would like kiss him goodbye and stuff, and Darren always acted like this was in some way objectionable to him, which I don't get. I wouldn't expect him to grab her butt or something, but she was not only totally hot, she looked just like Samantha. You might think that Serena was too cool for Darren, because he was such a square, but that's exactly my point. Sometimes opposites attract and stuff like that.
Serena kind of had that 50's- and 60's "man-hungry" thing going on, kind of like Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show. This was another way that we might say "kind of slutty." Anyway, if they made the shows today, both Serena and Sally would be made out to be kind of slutty, which is not the same thing, because I think at heart they were just lonely. It would be really obvious in Serena's case, though, because she was so hot, and Sally was....well, just not.
I do kind of wonder who Serena's parents were. We know that she was Samantha's cousin, although not necessarily her first cousin, and Sam had about a billion aunts and uncles. I think most of them were great aunts and uncles, though, because as far as I remember the only sibling either of her parents had was Uncle Arthur. It's possible that Arthur was Serena's father, even though I do remember scenes with the two of them together and she just called him "Arthur" I don't think she called him "Uncle". And even if she did, she may have just had issues with his being so flamboyantly gay.
It does get confusing, but at least we all knew who Samantha's parents were: Endora and Maurice. Endora of course was on every episode, which is probably why you hardly ever saw Maurice, who was that older British guy who kind of looked like Winston Churchill. He couldn't stand being around Endora, and come to think of it I don't think anyone really could. Most everyone was scared of her, except Samantha. I always kind of assumed that Endora and Maurice were divorced, although I don't think this was ever explicitly stated. Come to that, I wonder if it was ever even established that they were married in the first place. I can't really picture the two of them together, although it's hard to imagine Endora with a man. Unless he was totally whipped, which Maurice was not. Maurice was actually kind of cool, I think.
I always liked it when Samantha's family was nice to Darren, just because it was a change of pace, not because Darren wasn't a total ass who deserved everything he got from that family. He always acted like he totally hated them all and none of them were welcome in his house. But every so often, say, Arthur would take his side against Endora or something. Which was kind of cool. But now you have to wonder if it wasn't because he knew Darren was gay, too.
I'm not being anti-gay or have a thing about gays. It's just that in real life practically everyone on this show was gay. Endora, Arthur, the second Darren, and even one of the twins who played Tabitha grew up to be lesbian. And I don't know about Maurice, but I do know that he was British and it's a scientific fact that everyone over there is bisexual, from the Queen on down. I'm just saying.
Anyway, the thing about Darren was, the guy didn't care who you were or what you did to him, you were not welcome in his damn house!!! Unless, of course, you were a client, then it was like Drink up, everybody!! But especially if you were a witch, he was going to let you know exactly what he thought of you and your damned witchcraft.
I always thought it would have been a better show if Darren was a religious zealot who kept telling them all that they were going to hell. Then they would have this wacky odd-couple kind of thing going on, which was really lacking on this show. He wasn't far from just hating them all anyway, I mean, he barely even liked his boss Larry even though he had to kiss his ass all the time. It's no wonder every time he came home he started drinking.
I think I am done thinking about this show for now.
(Update: Darren The Religious Zealot)
Well, a bunch of guys at work were watching Bewitched with me at two in the morning in the bar at the hotel where we work, and we all kind of agreed that Samantha was totally hot and that Darren was a total doofwad who didn't deserve her. This was an episode with Maurice, who didn't seem to much care for Darren but never really screwed with him, either. Yet, again, Darren let it be known that he did not want Maurice in the house. And as we sat there talking about it, and wondering what the hell his problem was, something really struck me.
If this had been a show about a white guy who married a black woman, and he told her not to "act black" and wouldn't let black people in his house and antagonized them all the time for being black, it wouldn't have gone over so well. Yet here he was telling her not to act like a witch and didn't want witches in his house and antagonized them just for being what they were.....Darren was a sick racist bastard!!!
(From The Mailbag December 13, 2003)
(note: This is from Ronald, my old pen-pal who lives in Canberra, what a great guy!)
RE: "Bewitched": I have read 1 interpretation that argues the whole show is a metaphor for being gay - Sam is gay/magical and Darren is horrified that people will find out so forbids her to show it. I didn't know 1 of the Tabithas was gay but somehow I doubt it manifested itself at the time. Paul Lynde, on the other hand....
You only had to hear Uncle Arthur say "Oh, Sammy..." one time to know he was a Trouser Pilot. And of course the Tabitha thing didn't come til later. Still, it makes you wonder if maybe Endora didn't put a spell on the whole cast of this show.
I would buy the whole gay-metaphor thing if maybe the show had been about single-dad Darren dealing with his teenage witch daughter Tabitha, but since Darren and Samantha were married (and always groping each other) I don't know if I buy it. But Sam was the only witch we ever saw who was married, now that I think about it...hmmm.....
(Update December 25, 2003)
TV Land replayed an episode last night where Arthur and Serena both lost their powers and had to go work in an ice cream shop dipping bananas into chocolate (and there's a gay metaphor if I ever heard one). Anyway, Serena was calling him Uncle Arthur, so either he's really not her father or they are both so totally in denial about it!
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