I DREAM OF JEANNIE: THE COMPLETE 1ST SEASON - DVD review

As the star of ABC's "Bewitched," Elizabeth Montgomery became America's favorite prestidigitator during the fall of 1964, and in an attempt to capture some of that magic in a bottle of their own, rival NBC turned to veteran Sidney Sheldon. For the next fall season he came up with the idea of a genie in a bottle named Jeannie who was quite a bit different from the burly and menacing sorts that usually came out of Aladdin's lamp. Jeannie (Barbara Eden) just happened to be a beautiful woman with an easy laugh, born April Fool's Day, 64 A.D. in Baghdad, Persia (now Iraq). She was turned into a genie because she refused to marry the Blue Djin. The all-powerful (and furious) genie gave her immortality, but he also popped her in a bottle and corked her up for what would turn out to be a 2000-year sentence.

Everything changed in 1965, when NASA astronaut Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman) found the bottle on a beach where his space capsule landed after an aborted mission. Jeannie, once released from the bottle, became the ultimate male fantasy: a gorgeous, doting, eager-to-please, loving woman who had the power to grant his every wish. Of course, Tony had principles (and also didn't want anyone to think he was crazy), so he tried to abandon her on that lonely beach. But, as the opening credits showed this first season, the obedient Jeannie rolled her bottle into his knapsack and hitched a ride back to Cape Kennedy and Cocoa Beach, Florida, where her new "master" lived and worked. And POOF, just like that, a fairly successful series was born. As a warm-up for the popular secret agent spoof "Get Smart" on NBC's Saturday-night line-up, "I Dream of Jeannie" cracked the Top-30 shows its first year, finishing at #27.

That sounds almost magical until you consider that same year, "Bewitched" finished #7. And while Jeannie's nose-twitching rival would place among the Top-30 shows every year of its run and earn a number of Emmy nominations, the eye-blinking blonde would only make the Top-30 once more (Season four), and the show would never earn a single Emmy nod.

In a way, that was highway robbery. If you watch this first season now, you have to marvel at the comic genius of Hagman, who's perhaps best known for his role as J.R. Ewing, Jr. in that nighttime soaper, "Dallas." Hagman does reactionary comedy as well as anyone, and the chemistry that he and Eden shared was evident even 40 years later as the aging stars appeared on camera for a DVD "making of" reminiscence. In this show, Hagman managed a range of physical comedy and expressions that was every bit as good as the talented Dick Van Dyke, and he deserved at least a nomination for his efforts. In fact, comedic sideman Bill Daily, who would go on to play the spacey navigator on "The Bob Newhart Show," was also quite good as Captain Nelson's swinging bachelor buddy, Captain Roger Healey. So was Hayden Rorke as the base psychiatrist who kept trying to catch Nelson in what he knew was craziness . . . or was he crazy?

And in fairness, Eden was also darned good . . . though it's plain to see that one reason why the show never did as well as "Bewitched" was that it was such a clichéd embodiment of fantasy male wish-fulfillments airing at a time when the women's movement was just starting to build momentum. Another reason was that the scripts were more uneven than "Bewitched." Some are quite funny, while others . . . . Well, let's just say they're nothing to write Baghdad about, though some of the most entertaining ones are those which bring Capt. Nelson and Jeannie back in time, or else transport some of the old country to Florida. But writers milked Jeannie's jealousy over other women a bit too much, and it took the show's writers and director a while to realize that they weren't using Daily or Rorke enough. Those guys were just too good to be relegated to one or two short scenes per episode, and they also gave episodes more balance and interest.

Here's how the 30 episodes play out:

1) "The Lady in the Bottle"—Jeannie speaks Farsi for a while (coached by a UCLA professor) in the pilot episode where she's found and uncorked by a good-looking astronaut.

2) "My Hero?"—In a fun episode many fans might not even remember, Jeannie transports them back to Persia so Tony can avenge her honor against Ali, Killer of Giants (Richard Kiel).

3) "Guess What Happened on the way to the Moon?"—Tony and Roger are tested for endurance on a desert exercise, but Jeannie gives Tony a perpetual oasis and skews the results, while raising Dr. Bellows' suspicions.

4) "Jeannie and the Marriage Caper"—A jealous Jeannie does all she can to sabotage her master's upcoming wedding plans.

5) "G.I. Jeannie"—Jeannie joins the Air Force in an attempt to get closer to her "master."

6) "The Yacht Murder Case"—When Jeannie pops in on Capt. Nelson at a yacht meeting and he tells her to blink off, when she disappears everyone's convinced Tony pushed her overboard.

7) "Anybody Here Seen Jeannie?"—Jeannie sabotages Tony's tests so that his life won't be put in jeopardy on an upcoming space flight.

8) "The Americanization of Jeannie"—When Jeannie reads a magazine explaining how to become the perfect American woman, she typically goes overboard.

9) "The Moving Finger"—Jeannie follows Tony to Hollywood to be close to him, and gets discovered . . . until her screen test shows that genies don't show up on film!

10) Djin & Water"—Jeannie summons great-grandfather Bilejik to help Tony with his plan to desalinate sea water. A fun one.

11) "Whatever Became of Baby Custer?"—Tony's 8-year-old neighbor causes trouble when he tells Dr. Bellows about the levitating girl he saw.

12) "Where'd You Go-Go?"—Jeannie goes out with Roger in order to make Tony jealous.

13) "Russian Roulette"—In an entertaining episode, a visiting female Russian cosmonaut becomes Jeannie's master for a while.

14) "What House Across the Street?"—Jeannie blinks a house in existence, and a pair of parents too.

15) "Too Many Tonys"—When Dr. Bellows says that married men make better astronauts, Jeannie asks Tony to marry her. And when he turns her down, she conjures up one who's more her type.

16) "Get Me to Mecca on Time"—Jeannie is fading, and unless they get her to Mecca and take part in a ritual, she'll lose her powers and have to live in limbo forever. A far-fetched one.

17) "The Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World"—Roger learns about Jeannie (and becomes her master for a while) when he pops the cork . . . and his own lid, as he gets momentarily power-crazy.

18) "Is There an Extra Jeannie in the House?"—Roger's demands are annoying Tony and wearing Jeannie out. But he gets his come-uppance when he keeps Dr. Bellows niece out too late.

19) "Never Try to Outsmart a Jeannie"—Jeannie schemes to accompany Tony on a trip to Italy.

20) "My Master, the Doctor"—Jeannie blinks Tony a doctor, and it complicates his life, as usual.

21) "Jeannie and the Kidnap Caper"—When Tony is captured by spies, he regrets making Jeannie promise not to use her magic to help him. A plot straight out of "Bewitched."

22) "How Lucky Can You Get?"—To celebrate promotions, Tony and Roger go to Reno and Roger smuggles Jeannie along for luck.

23) "Watch the Birdie"—Jeannie helps Tony's golf swing, and it lands Tony a spot on the General's team for an important match.

24) "The Permanent House Guest"—Dr. Bellows sees an elephant in Tony's bedroom, and decides the only way to find out for sure if he's nuts or if Tony's pulling stunts is to move in and observe him on a daily basis.

25) "Bigger Than a Bread Box and Better Than a Genie"—A fortune teller enters Roger's life and it's up to Tony to expose the fraud in an episode that guests real pilot Chuck Yeager.

26) "My Master, the Great Rembrandt"—Jeannie blinks Tony's copy into an original, and leaves Tony searching for an explanation.

27) "My Master, the Thief"—In a fun episode Jeannie reclaims a pair of slippers that were once hers . . . only they were on display in a museum.

28) "This is Murder"—Tony's assignment to shadow a visiting princess gets complicated when it turns out Jeannie is obliged to kill her because of a long-standing feud. Another plot lifted from "Bewitched."

29) "My Master, the Magician"—Dr. Bellows sees Tony levitating and the only way he can get out of it is to claim to be an amateur magician.

30) "I'll Never Forget What's Her Name"—Tony gets amnesia and a spell that makes him fall in love with the first woman he sees. Guess who?

Video: Sony is releasing this one in the original black and white and a color version which was colorized in 2000 for TV syndication. Being a purist, I opted for black and white, but the quality isn't as good as I had hoped. There are plenty of dirt flickers, some graininess, a few thin vertical lines that crop up from time to time, and variation from episode to episode in terms of general picture quality. I'm betting that the color version might make these defects seem less apparent. That said, the picture quality isn't bad. It's just not what I'd hoped for.

Audio: The audio is a no-frills Dolby Digital Mono, with a slight hollowness at times that sounds as if you could be inside Jeannie's bottle. Nothing severe, mind you, but something you notice at times.

Extras: There are two extras. An audio commentary with Eden, Hagman, and Daily on the pilot episode isn't full of much information—mostly Daily commenting on how good the show is and how surprised he is that it's good, with the trio mostly reminiscing about who's who ("Oh, there's so-and-so. She was beautiful.") The most interesting remarks come from Eden, who tells about the professor who taught her Farsi, recalls how a driver gave her bourbon one day when he noticed her goose bumps, and points out a scene where she broke her tooth and hurt Hagman's knee. Those insights are fun and much better than no commentary, but in truth this one is sub-par.

The other feature is a short "I Dream of Jeannie: Out of the Bottle" reminiscence which shows the trio on camera. Eden has weathered time the best, and also provides the most insight once more. But Hagman explains the special effects, and it's also fascinating to hear Sheldon talk about the no-navel censorship issue and explain how he wrote "a script a day" that year as he commuted between New York and writing for "The Patty Duke Show" and L.A. and "I Dream of Jeannie." You have to admire the man's talent, but can't help but wish he'd taken two or three days more on some of these episodes.

Bottom Line: "I Dream of Jeannie" is show that's going to trigger fond memories for some viewers and raise a few feminist hackles on others. The scripts are uneven and the storylines often redundant, but the performances—especially Hagman's—are first-rate.