Bewitched Forever by Herbie J. Pilato

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Bewitched Forever by Herbie J. Pilato
pub: Summit Publishing Group, US. 302 page softcover. Price: $16.99 (although I got this 2nd edition second-hand for $ 7.00 plus p&p). ISBN: 1-93081907-2.

You know how it is. You look for one book and up pops another that looks like an interesting read. The fact that a first edition of this book can cost over $50 and the second edition is becoming rarer made it a decision to pick a copy up through ABEbooks.com soon as I saw a cheap copy. As it turns out, the copy in my hands looks as good as new.

So why would a die-hard SF fan want a book about an American 60s-70s TV sit-com about a witch married to a mortal? Granted it’s a classic and still getting repeated endlessly on Channel 4 why would the review appear here. Maybe it’s more of this reviewer’s yen for nostalgia. Certainly all the sit-coms that have attempted this route since haven’t had the durability of ‘Bewitched’.

For those who remember how I classify SF from fantasy as being whether or not there are consistent rules being applied, then ‘Bewitched’ comes under SF. They might call themselves witches, but their abilities of teleportation, matter-transformation, etc are also the key powers of a lot of SF characters. The only difference is they dress up what they do with a few incantations.

This book covers the actors, the characters, a 254 episode guide, production side and everything else you ever wanted to know the series. There are also a lot of mini-interviews with the cast, the majority of whom have since died, making this the definitive book on the series. There’s loads of photos, too. Admittedly they’re all in black and white but I suspect going for colour would probably have raised the cost too high.

Being picky, I would say the worse problem was when reference was given to different episodes, that author Pilato might have done better by indicating its number as well as name to ensure it could be cross-checked quickly. I’d also have loved to have seen a checklist covering all the names Endora called Derwood over the episodes as well.

If you like the TV series then you’ll probably want to get hold of a copy of this book and let it stir up your memories. There were a lot of revelations. I was most surprised to discover how much of a political activist Elizabeth Montgomery was in her time not to mention how supportive she was for her fellow cast members.

Agnes Moorehead confessed to never believing the show would get past the pilot. The fact the series is still appealing today shows ‘Bewitched’ still has a timeless quality.

GF Willmetts

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