Bewitched Joins The Remake Trend

Everything that was old is new again! Even the things that were not very old are getting made over for a new generation with a short-attention span and a dislike of anything made before, I dunno, the year 2000? As classic (and not-so-classic) TV shows and films get their second day in the sun, it should come as no surprise that a new version of the TV series Bewitched is in development and starting to be shopped to multiple networks.

Bewitched is not the 2005 movie with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell that made you want to stab your eardrums, by the way. No, it was originally a classic TV show starring Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, a 60s suburban housewife with a secret: she’s actually a witch. This causes comedic mayhem for Samantha and her non-magical husband Darrin (Dick York, later replaced by Dick Sargent), as Samantha’s supernatural family does not approve of her “mixed marriage.” The show ran from 1964-1972, and remains one of the most popular series from that era.

The remake from Sony Pictures TV and Red Wagon Entertainment will follow along the same lines as the original show, updated now to the post-millennium. It has no cast as yet, but has secured writers Abby Kohn and Mark Silverstein (The Vow). The idea is now being shopped around, with plenty of interest from a number of networks, so there’s a good chance we’ll see this in the coming years.

While this latest attempt at capitalizing on nostalgia – and avoiding those pesky issues like “originality” – should not surprise anyone, I do begin to wonder what we will do when we run out of shows and films to reboot. Sure, a new version of Bewitched could work just fine, but why do we really care? Let’s get something new for a change. Really. I’ll settle for anything at this juncture.