‘Bewitched’, the iconic and much beloved television sit-com, aired from September 17, 1964 to July 1, 1972 for an eye popping total of 254 episodes. The first seventy-four (1964 to 1966) were in black and white. Naturally once the show went to color the credit sequence was remade in color as well, though it appears to be almost frame by frame the same sequence. Was there such a thing as ‘colorization’? Or did the executives wisely decide not to mess with a good thing–the animation and carefully structured storyline inherent in the less-than-forty seconds sequence are a model of how to set-up a show for both returning fans as well as an audience member who might be new to the concept. Certainly the beautiful theme song, composed by Jack Keller and arranged (brilliantly) by Warren Barker, received an upgrade, with strings being added and a slightly more swinging tempo being taken by the band. Here is more info than you ever thought you needed to know about the history and making of ‘Bewitched’. As a kid, it belonged to a group of shows whose theme and opening credits interested me more than the show itself, the biggest example of this being ‘Petticoat Junction’ for reasons all too obvious.
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