Did you know Bewitched had a spinoff?
In 1977, the short-lived Tabitha followed the daughter of Samantha and Darren Stevens as she lived her adult wife, hid her witch powers, and worked at a TV station. Or a magazine. See there were two pilots, and both are very different.
In the original failed pilot, Tabitha Stevens worked as an “executive assistant” dealing with a mortal love interest like her mother while being bothered by her younger warlock brother Adam, who seemed to agree more with his grandmother in a dislike of mortals and living a “normal” life. In the second pilot that led to a one-season TV sitcom, pretty much everything is changed, including the actress playing Tabitha. The original pilot starred Liberty Williams as the grown-up Tabitha and Bruce Kimmel as her younger brother, Adam. It was not picked up but pilot writer William Asher would work on the series.
Said series apparently didn’t watch Bewitched before making the second pilot. Adam, who as someone that has watched maybe a handful of episodes in his lifetime I never knew existed, now has no powers and is Tabitha’s older brother, rectoning the original show. Nice job, guys. Instead he takes on his father’s position of trying to keep his now younger sister out of witchy mischief and nobody is trying to talk her into giving it all up, at least on the regular. Aunt Minerva apparently stops in now and then. Tabitha, now played by Lisa Hartman for the full series, is a production assistant at the same television station where her brother, now played by David Ankrum, also works. The show also is an early vehicle for Robert Urich, who my generation probably better knows from Vega$ and Spencer For Hire (the show where future space station captain Avery Brooks got his start).
Tonight I bring you both pilots. In the failed one, Tabitha tells her love interest that she’s a witch. Like mother, like daughter, while Adam keeps trying to tell her to leave all this mortal stuff. In the successful retcon-heavy pilot Tabitha is trying to get a guest for the show she works on. Which one do you think was the better one? Either way, enjoy.
The Failed Pilot
No, I don’t know how an unaired 1970s TV pilot gets age restricted. It’s completely stupid, but it’s the only version I could find. So you’ll have to watch it on YouTube. Sorry.
The Successful Pilot
The full series is available on the Classic TV Rewind Clips channel on YouTube.
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