By
Paul
In the eight years and 254 episodes that Bewitched
was on the air, there were so many conflicts and inconsistencies in
the dialog and story lines it has become almost a trademark for the
series. There were 62 different writers who formed 55 writing teams
to work on the stories. Each team had their own ideas about the series,
and did little comparison with past episodes when penning new scripts.
Review of available scripts and comparing them with the aired versions,
as is available at The Scripts, The Shows,
and Their Differences, shows that the production crews spent
a good deal of time removing or changing dialogue and scenes that did
not fit into the production. Add to this a facade that was not complete,
and would not support a true dwelling even if it were; a studio that
made double use of sets (i.e., the master bedroom set doubled as the
guest bedroom, sometimes Tabitha's room,
and on occasion as the Tate's bedroom); and you have a formula that
produced a lot of fun for nit-pickers.
Here are some of the verbal conflicts and inconsistencies
from Bewitched:
# 1
- Sheila says that she and Darrin were in Paris. In # 9,
Darrin says he has never been to Paris.
# 1
- Samantha tells Endora that married people should have no secrets
from each other. In # 91, she tells
Darrin that there are some things about her he should not know.
# 5
- Endora says there was a martyr in the family at the Salem witch
trials. In # 181, Maurice says
the same thing. In # 119, # 203,
and # 208 Samantha says there were
no real witches involved in the Salem trials.
# 5
- Darrin goes in the bathroom in the den to shower. In # 13,
Gertrude makes a comment about going to the powder room and heads
down the hall. In # 78, Larry hides
in the "closet." In # 154 it is
a bathroom again. In # 209, the
client comments about the dog/warlock being locked in the closet.
# 8
- The girl reporter calls and comes over the same evening. Darrin
makes a comment about her "calling several days ago," which she had
not done.
# 15
- Samantha uses the car to go shopping alone (also heard in # 24).
She did not learn to drive until # 26.
# 19
- Frank and Phyllis have been married 40 years. In # 116,
they have been married 35 years.
# 19
- Frank and Phyllis have moved to "the city" close to Samantha and
Darrin. In # 58, they fly in to
see the baby. In # 60, Phyllis keeps
the baby during the morning.
# 22
- Darrin wonders for the first of many times when Samantha was born.
Why did he not look on the marriage license? That is required information.
# 25
- Pleasure O'Reilly's house number is given as 1123 (can't be, has
to be an even number). In # 30 the
number is 1162.
# 31
- Larry asks Darrin how Samantha got to the hotel in 20 minutes. Larry
never saw Samantha in the hotel room, so how did he know she was there?
# 32
- Gladys says she and Abner have been married 30 years. In # 42,
Abner says 20 years.
# 54
- Darrin says he cannot swim a stroke. In # 69,
Samantha twitches the "party Darrin" out of the pool when
he dives in because she knows he can't swim. But, in # 99,
he races Charlie Harper across the pool.
# 54
- Mason Curry is listed in cast credits as playing "Dr. Anton", but
no doctor is seen in the episode.
# 59
- Darrin's office building is shown, at least 25 floors tall. The
elevator only goes to the 15th floor.
# 68
- When the bum gets out of the truck it is still daylight, but prior
to that Darrin and Samantha have gone to bed.
# 75
- Tabitha wiggles her nose to do magic. Samantha plainly sees her
do it, but does not react until the second time it is done.
# 80
- Darrin complains about Uncle Arthur giving him a "hot foot." In
# 150, Uncle Arthur says he gave
up giving hotfoots 400 years ago.
# 81
- The Kravitz's house number is 1168. It must be an odd number to
be across the street.
# 88
- Darrin says that he "snuck in through the back door," but he came
from the kitchen that opens to the front of the house.
# 96
- Samantha wears her "flying suit." Darrin asks what it is, acting
like he had never seen it before. He saw it during the trip to Santa's
workshop in # 15.
# 98
- Samantha keeps calling for Endora to appear, but she knew that Endora
was baby sitting Tabitha.
# 100
- The TV announcer says the north is in a bitter cold wave, but the
Stephens' grass is green and the trees are in full green leaf.
# 103
- The plot of Darrin getting rained on because he made Samantha cry
is all wet; he did not make her cry.
# 107
- Darrin has been at McMann and Tate for three years (since 1964).
In # 247 it says that Darrin went
to work for McMann and Tate on 11/15/61.
# 107
- Endora says that there is another witch doctor besides Dr. Bombay.
In # 174, she says Bombay is the
only doctor that they have. In # 118,
Samantha says to Darrin that Dr. Bombay is just their general practitioner,
and that he should see their specialist. In # 193,
Samantha says Bombay is the best doctor they have. In # 237,
Samantha says that Bombay is the only doctor who treats witches. In
# 253, Samantha says that Bombay
is their only doctor.
# 107
- Larry meets Dr. Bombay, but in # 190,
Larry does not recognize the doctor.
# 109
- The Chases are coming to dinner at 7:30. The mess with the dolls
is not cleaned up until later than that, but we never see the Chases
or find out what happened to dinner.
# 119
- It is Thanksgiving, but the grass is green and Mrs. Kravitz is outside
in short sleeves. Also it looks like late spring in Old Plymouth.
# 125
- For the only time, there is a lock on the hall closet. This closet
is frequently not even there.
# 127
- Samantha says Darrin took her to Atlantic City for their honeymoon.
In # 145 they go back to "Moonthatch
Inn," which from its design cannot be the same place as in # 1.
# 138
- Darrin stands straight up on a six-foot ladder in the bedroom. That
room must have had a high ceiling!
# 141
- Paul Lynde is given cast credit for being in this episode, but he
was not in it.
# 142
- Samantha leaves Darrin a note that she and Tabitha are going to
the store, but Tabitha is not with her when she puts on her coat and
leaves. Tabitha is also not seen when Samantha returns.
# 143
- Why did Samantha go out the kitchen door, which opens to the front,
when she says she is going out back to cut flowers?
# 147
- Larry says he is Senior Vice President of McMann and Tate. In #
191, McMann is referred to as "President
and Chairman." Other than that, Larry is always called the "President"
(e.g., # 239.)
# 159
- Samantha says Darrin's favorite meal is Irish stew. In # 164,
she says it is corned beef and cabbage.
# 167
- Maurice changes Darrin into a mule, which he calls a jackass (a
jackass is a male donkey). While Samantha calls "it" a mule and Mrs.
Kravitz uses both terms.
# 167
- Samantha says Darrin's favorite breakfast is eggs benedict. Earlier,
she said it was scrambled eggs and chicken livers.
# 171
- Tabitha is spelled with an "i," and up to this point it had been
spelled with an "a."
# 200
- Samantha would not change clothes (witch style) in Darrin's presence
until he turned his back. She had popped into a change of clothes
in front of him other times.
# 247
- Louise babysits for Samantha. Who is keeping the Tate's baby, Jonathan?
Lastly, the biggest inconsistency to fans of Bewitched
is how the witches felt about Halloween. In # 7,
Endora must retreat to the south of France to get away from the ugly
stereotypes of witches. Yet in # 43,
Endora wants Samantha to go to the "sacred volcano" with her for Halloween
as if they participate in some sort of ritual. Whereas, who could forget
Endora's huge, "annual" Halloween bash at 1164 Morning Glory Circle
in # 81. That was quite a soiree for
someone who detests the occasion. # 115
is consistent with #7, in that Samantha
says that Endora goes to the south of France until "the whole thing
blows over…"
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