...tonight ABC re-aired Episode #210: "Samantha’s Old Man" that originally aired on December 3, 1970.
While putting away groceries Samantha discovers her mother in the refrigerator dressed as the Knave of Hearts. Apparently she has run into Samantha’s old boyfriend Rollo who is hosting a costume ball to end all costume balls at the Cosmos Cotillion and he has invited them to join him. Samantha refuses the invitation as she has too much housework and cooking to do. Annoyed, Endora pops out of the fridge and slams her axe into the kitchen island to drive home her point that she thinks Samantha’s mortal marriage has ruined everything. Just then Durwood comes in all gleeful about a great golf game but soon turns his usual glum self when he sees Endora and starts throwing unkind epithets at her. When he goes to change, Endora asks again what Samantha sees in him and Samantha tells her that if she lives to be 1,000 years she’ll always love Durwood. Wanting to be serious, Endora asks her what’s going to happen when in 30 years Durwood’s dubious charms wrinkle up. Samantha tells her she’ll still love him and with that Endora pops out only to pop back in at the base of the living room stairs where she casts a spell on Durwood to age him and she pops out. Durwood soon sees his reflection and roars for Samantha who is shocked at his appearance, but not surprised at her mother. Her calls out to the cosmos for Endora go unanswered and soon Durwood becomes restless so Samantha suggests they go to a drive-in movie as they had to cancel their plans with the Tates.
At the drive-in, Samantha goes to get some snacks and wouldn’t you know it, Larry and Louise are there and quite curious as to why Samantha and Durwood would cancel. Samantha says that Durwood really wasn’t feeling well so she came with another friend. When they follow her back, she introduces them to Durwood’s “grandfather”, Grover. The Tates are pleased and run off rather suddenly and come back with Louise’s Aunt Millicent who is single and they suggest that she join Grover for the movie. Durwood tries to fight it but they insist.
After the movie, the Tates invite Grover and Samantha over for a visit and as they talk Larry decides to set Grover and Millicent up on another date the next night to a musical. Grover has no choice but to accept and when he and Samantha goes home he requests that she call Endora again but Endora has left her answering service on.
The next morning Durwood is truly worried about his looks as he has a rather important meeting with a Mr. Booker who is only in town for a couple hours. Samantha asks if Booker has ever seen Durwood before, and when Durwood says no, she asks what difference does it make what he looks like if Booker doesn’t know what he looks like, and so reluctantly Durwood goes to the meeting.
Mr. Booker is surprised at how old “young Stephens” is, but Grover tells him it’s just that Larry thinks he acts so young that he gave him that nickname. Durwood starts getting nervous and excuses himself so he can call Samantha to see if she has contacted her mother yet, but is disappointed to find out she hasn’t. To his horror he finds that Larry has joined them and so when he gets back to the table he tells the men that Durwood was at home deathly ill and so he figured he’d help his grandson out by coming to the meeting and he proceeds to present the idea which Booker loves.
At home, Durwood tells Samantha all about getting the account and he also tells her that he will not be going out with Millicent. Just then the Tates and Millicent come knocking and Grover tells Millicent that he’s not feeling well so he is going to stay home and watch TV. Louise suggests that it doesn’t matter where the two seniors go just so long as they are together. Seeing that there is no way out of this, Samantha goes to get some snacks in the kitchen but changes herself into an old lady, zaps the doorbell to ring and pops out to the front door. When Larry answers it “Samantha” storms in claiming to be Grover’s wife of 53 years and tells him that she’ll leave him if he doesn’t go home. The Tates and Millicent are shocked and leave.
Samantha tries to convince Durwood that no matter how long Endora holds out, eventually she gives in but he tells her he’s not worried about that. He’s been thinking of what really will happen when he does get old and Samantha stays young. She assures him that she has thought of that too and that as she is a witch she can make herself look old and she gives him a preview. Disgusted that Samantha now looks twice her age, Endora pops in furious saying that she won’t stand for it. Samantha tells her that she’ll remain old as long as Durwood remains old so Endora relents and changes Durwood back to his young self at the same time that Samantha goes back to her young age.
I think it's an all right episode, not one of my favorites, but I DO love that we find out that Coke is one of the official drinks of Bewitched (along with beer and orange juice) when we get a look in the fridge.
I always like it when Durwood tells Endora that she needs to shave.
What I think is dumb is why would Durwood think that it would be better for Samantha to go get the food at the drive-in? Like anyone would recognize him. And this is one of my favorite exchanges: Larry: "I thought Darrin had told me that you had..." Durwood: "Gone to the great beyond? That boy never gets anything right...that was my wife." The way Dick Sargent says the last part is hysterical!
I thought Dick Sargent's old man make up was good except for his bald head looked a totally different shade of skin than the rest of him, not to mention his hair looked fake. And Liz’s make up always bothered me too, except when she goes to kiss him the skin around her mouth sure wrinkles up. Rolf J. Miller was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup at the Emmys for 1970 but lost to Robert Dawn for Mission Impossible.
The way cool part about this episode is Hope Summers, that plays Grover's wife, was in "The Rusty Heller Story" with Liz and David White on The Untouchables, Rosemary's Baby with Maurice Evans, and she was the voice of Mrs. Butterworth.
Mr. Booker was played by Ed Platt, better known to TV audiences as the Chief on Get Smart which had just been cancelled the previous season. He was also in They Came to Cordura with Dick York in 1955, the infamous movie wherein Dick hurt his back which led to his eventual leaving Bewitched.
And where the heck were Tabitha and Adam through all this?? My friend Sharon Orazi once remarked that, “I suppose they locked them upstairs in the closet until it all blew over. But it would have been cool to see how Tabitha reacted to Dimwit's being so old.”
The day before Agnes Moorehead appears in What’s the Matter with Helen.
Two days later Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the Doors, is found dead in a bathtub in Paris. He was only 27 years old. Renie Riano also passed away. She played Mrs. Granite in Season Two’s “Follow That Witch” part two.
Hogan’s Heroes would end its six year run on CBS on July 4. Bernard Fox was a recurring guest as the bumbling Colonel Crittenden and has cited that it was his favorite role.
Four days later the official voting age in the U.S. is lowered from 21 to 18.
"I never did dig what Sammy dug about that dodo." ~ Serena