There’s yet another reboot coming to our TV screens, but at least this one has an interesting tweak to it, and isn’t just a reboot for the sake of nostalgia. ABC Studios has given a pilot order to a reboot of 1960s sitcom Bewitched, and while that news on its own might not rouse much excitement, the creators involved should do.
The new version will hail from Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, who sold the pitch to ABC just before he left the network to sign a lucrative deal with Netflix. This new version would be a single-camera, interracial family comedy, and joining Barris will be his fellow Black-ish writer and co-producer Yamara Taylor.
The duo will pen the show, which will revolve around a hardworking black single mother named Samantha who also happens to be a witch. She marries Darren, a white mortal who happens to be a bit of a slacker. They struggle to navigate their differences as she discovers that even if a black girl is literally magic, she’s still not as powerful as a decently tall white man with a full head of hair in America.
The original show ran from 1964-1972 and was created by Sol Saks, and followed a similar premise, but with witch Samantha having to navigate a man’s world as a housewife who struggled along with her family to use her magic to solve life’s everyday problems.
This isn’t the first time a Bewitched reboot has been attempted, as in 2005 Nora Ephron directed a film of the same named that starred Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman. That remake failed to click, and is pretty much forgotten now. Hopefully Barris and Taylor’s new version can cast a spell over audiences with its cleverly updated premise and their supreme comedic talent.
#Peace.Love.Bewitched
