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BOSTON’S WB CELEBRATES THE BIG SCREEN DEBUT OF ‘BEWITCHED’ WITH A ‘BEWITCHED’ MARATHON

STARTS SATURDAY, JUNE 18 AT 12 P.M.

BOSTON - There's no need for a statue in Salem to honor the "Bewitched" revival! Instead, WLVI-TV (Boston’s WB) will conjure up a magical afternoon on Saturday, June 18 from 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.* with a 10-episode marathon of the Emmy-nominated TV favorite “Bewitched,” starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent. The film “Bewitched,” one of the summer’s most anticipated comedies, will fly into theaters on June 24. The Boston’s WB marathon will feature interviews with the upcoming film’s stars Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, as well as sneak preview clips.

The “Bewitched” television marathon episode schedule on Boston’s WB is as follows:

I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha (#1): Darrin finds out after he’s married Samantha that she’s a witch. He makes her promise never to practice witchcraft again.

The Joker Is A Card (#41): Uncle Arthur plays practical jokes on Darrin and Endora causing them to set aside their difference and join forces to get him to stop.

Witches And Warlocks Are My Favorite Things (#77): Aunt Hagatha, Aunt Enchantra, Aunt Clara and Endora come to test Tabitha’s powers of witchcraft. When she is certified a witch, they think she should go to Hagitha’s school. When Darrin, Samantha and Clara object, only Maurice can convince the aunts and Endora to reconsider.

I’d Rather Twitch Than Fight (#84): Louise and Larry Tate try to mediate when Samantha gives away Darrin’s favorite sport jacket causing a major fight. Dr. Freud may be the only one who can help the Stephens.

No Zip In My Zap (#113): Samantha loses her magical powers because of non-use and Dr. Bombay prescribes levitation for her. Meanwhile, Darrin thinks Samantha has turned herself into a fly so she can watch him and his client, who just happens to be an ex-girlfriend.

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (#111): Endora and Cousin Serena join forces to make Darrin think his marriage is in trouble. Serena pretends to be Samantha at home and causes problems for Darrin. When Samantha arrives back home with a pie, Darrin smashes it into her face thinking she is her double Serena. Eventually Endora gets pied in the face too.

Allergic To Macedonian Dodo Birds (#118): Endora’s magic gets transferred to Aunt Clara due to an allergy to the Macedonian dodo bird. The only cure is to pluck a feather from the extinct dodo bird. Darrin can’t stand having his powerless mother-in-law hanging around his house.

My What Big Ears You Have (#121): Darrin tries to hide a surprise antique rocker from Samantha. Endora thinks he is cheating on Samantha and casts a spell on him so that whenever he lies his ears grow.

Samantha Loses Her Voice (#150): Louise announces she has broken up with Larry. Uncle Arthur pulls a prank and causes Darrin and Samantha’s voices to switch. The Stephens are frantic trying to keep the voice switch a secret from the Tates, who are now at their house.

Okay, Who’s The Wise Witch (#195): Darrin, Samantha, Endora and Esmeralda get trapped inside Darrin’s model home due to “vapor lock” and only Dr. Bombay can get them out.

Boston’s WB, home of "The Ten O'Clock News," is a Tribune Broadcasting station. For additional information visit www.bostonswb.com.

** Please note, there will be interstitials and special bumpers within and/or surrounding the ten episodes, so the episodes will air off the clock and not start exactly on the half-hour (each one will be approximately 33 minutes in length).
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Media Contact: Kristen Holgerson, 617-474-5539 (office) or 617-771-5539 (mobile) kholgerson@tribune.com

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Yes, very odd - some think the statue will dishonor the memory of those persecuted in the Salem witch trials. If anything I'd think it would be triumphant for a statue of a witch, make believe or not, to be immortalized there. Hmf. I think it's wonderful. I loved Elizabeth Montgomery [daughter of Robert Montgomery], not only as Samantha, but for her protrayal as Lizzie Borden, and a movie she played in named The Awakening Land. I grew up watching her act and thought she was beautiful. I hope her family is happy about the statue. Betwitched was a wonderful show that my family watched every week, along with The Adams Family, The Munsters, I Dream of Jeannie and All in the Family. Oh I know there's more sitcoms. The believe the producer of I Dream of Jeannie asked for assistance on the "magical concept" of writing from Bewitched's producer, William Asher [one of Elizabeth Montgomery's hushand's]. As well, William Asher is the one who encouraged Elizabeth to twitch her nose. Apparently it was a nervous tick she had, and Asher was trying to formulate a way for Samantha to manifest her witchcraft. Those were the days when television was really great! Now it's just shocking, in many cases., and sometimes [isolatingly] funny. Oh yeah! In Betwitched, they always had martinis or some kind of alchohol beverages being consumed by the characters toward the end of the show. And I love how they switched Darren's, but that's a whole different story. I may have to take a long distance trek to take a picture of that statue, and go to the Salem Witch Museum.

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Salem is a charming little town, I live right down the street. Great place to go have dinner some summer evening and watch the boats go by. But what a weird attitude toward the whole witch thing they have. On the one hand they're honoring the memory of the innocent people tortured and killed for being witches. This is a *bad* time in our history. Everybody's got that.

On the other hand you've got every possible variation of shops where you can buy witchcraft related products, spells, incense, and everything else you can think of.
If you're a practitioner of wicca, Salem is the place for you.

So apparently the lesson is supposed to be "It's bad to kill people who you think are witches, not because they were innocent to begin with, but because witches are people too."

The introduction of the Bewitched thing, which basically makes fun of the whole concept of witchcraft, actually does seem odd to me. If you're wiccan then you probably feel that such a show just gives people ridiculous ideas about witches. If you think that the Salem witch trials were a dark spot in history that's not supposed to be celebrated (or profited from), a statue from a television show is hardly the thing to place next to a historical museum.

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{nodding my head} My girlfriend told me about how nice Salem is and that's why I want to go someday. I think the fact that people allowed fear to give them justification to kill people is horrifying, but this just didn't happen in Salem. The Burning List encompasses a gigantic block of time in Europe and surrounding areas where people were killed [burned, stoned, buried alive, drowned, thrown off cliffs, starved, etc] for practicing magick, or even remotely showing signs of believing in magick. I'm a history buff on this subject because I'm intriqued by Wicca and other craft religions, sects and covens [not a member * not a witch either], including the infamous Aleister Crowley. I was glad when I finally was done studying him. He was brilliant; but unfortunately he was also an evil-thinking woman-hating bastard who gave witchcraft a bad name [among others like him who are simply retarded for worshipping the devil and/or using sex acts, violence and sacrifices to polute the craft's history]. But he knew his magick, including Kabbalah - which really isn't a gentile religion folks [contrary to popular belief] but hey, who am I to judge.

Bewitched is a cake walk that gives some grace and throws some love toward the concept of magick. And believe it or not, that show is one of the reasons I studied witchcraft. There are many wonderful rituals and traditions that Samantha did edge on about in her adventures, one being Karma. But the rest of the show was devoted to light-hearted humor and old-fashioned values [some of which are extinct today]. I'd think Salem, with all their witchy stores and history, should be happy about the whole thing. But again, how am I to judge. TV Land won, so I'll be there to check it out someday. And of course I'll drop some money there because I just love witchy stuff!

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The show "Bewitched" and especially Elizabeth Montgomery has a great and affectional following around the world. To me the statue is more of a recognition of this than any connection to witchcraft. I am in the UK and wish we had some memorial to that great star!!

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It took Salem about 200 years before someone decided to "cash in" on the Witch Hysteria; the blot on our history took place about 100 years before the Constitution was written. Salem has a long and fascinating history. Curiously now the city is considering putting a Korean War Memorial in Fort Lee, a fort from the war of 1812 which helped protect us from the British.
The only good thing about the 1692 debacle is that it stopped the execution of witches in the US; they continued in the UK.

But stop and think for a moment. The kind of zealotry which caused the witch trials is alive and well. Al Queda certainly thinks that Americans should be killed as we are infidels. Remeber Lord of the Flies? The high school persecutions which lead to suicides or suicide/murders? Sanitizing this aspect of Salem's history is a bit dangerous.

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