ABC has given the green light to a reboot of the popular 1960s witch comedy Bewitched, but this time with a multi-racial twist.
The show will feature a black Samantha, a hardworking, single mom who also just happens to be a witch, who marries a white slacker named Darren. But Samantha will find that even with magic at her command she can’t get ahead in America because she is not a white male.
ABC has ordered the reboot from Black-ish co-creators Kenya Barris and Yamara Taylor.
The original series ran for eight popular seasons and starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha and both Dick York and later Dick Sargent as Darren. The original series featured a mortal Darren as a hardworking newlywed to his witchy wife, Samantha. But the new series will apparently turn the hardworking Darrin into a privileged, slacker who vexes his black wife.
To many, the original series was one of the early “female empowerment” movement TV shows as the central figure was clearly a hardworking wife (and later a mother) who in the end was always smarter and wiser than the rest of the cast. Indeed, the series turned traditional gender roles on their heads as even though husband Darren was a smart, serious fellow with a steady, high-end job, he was always subordinate to his magical wife and constantly struggled with the fact that his wife was more powerful than he in their relationship. Sadly, the reboot, as it is described in early reports, will be a less clever version of the original with a some political correctness mixed with magic.
The popular 60s series has been treated to reboot efforts several times both on TV and on the big screen but all to little success.
Kenya Barris recently announced his ABC exit to take on new opportunities at Netflix, but will remain the executive producer of the new Bewitched, sources say. Taylor will apparently take the lead with assistance from John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment for the series to be produced for ABC Studios and Sony Pictures Television.
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