I know this has been discussed before, but recently I graded each episode of each season between 1 and 10, then divided by the number of episodes in that season to get an overall rank. I always said I thought the best seasons were 1, 3 and 6, and here's what my individual rankings showed:
Season 1: 8.3 Season 2: 8.0 Season 3: 8.3 Season 4: 7.9 Season 5: 7.7 Season 6: 8.2 Season 7: 7.4 Season 8: 7.3
It's interesting that in raking each episode, it does work out that 1, 3 and 6 are my favorites.
In each season there are a handful of episodes I'd rank at 10, and the lowest I gave any episode was a 5. Oddly enough, I didn't rank any episode of seasons 3, 4, 5 or 8 as low as a 5. The only 5s were in 1, 2, 6 and 7. The one episode in season 1 that's only a 5 for me is No. 36 - Cousin Edgar. Didn't think much of that. The season with the most "10s" is 2, mostly towards the end, even though overall I liked three seasons better than that one. Season 2 was actually trending lower that the 8.0 but a bunch of really enjoyable episodes near the end of the season brought it way up.
I know some people have not been fans of season 6, but I find it one of the consistently stronger seasons. Lots of enjoyable episodes, especially in the first half of the season.
Season 7 was really strong for the Salem episodes, but after that most episodes ranked between 5 and 7 for me, much lower than most other seasons. "Sisters at Heart" is the exception - definitely at 10!
The one point difference between season 1 (8.3) and 8 (7.3) might not seem like much, but when you divide it over the 36 episodes in 1 or 26 in 8, it's actually quite significant.
I know we all have different tastes, but it's interesting to compare.
That's fascinating, torcan! I'd like to try that myself. I think that season 3 is my favorite, but using your method might lead me to a different conclusion. Good food for thought!"Witches are good! Witches are dear!"
Well my favorite season is Season five, but your method wouldn't work the same with my reasoning. My opinion doesn't have as much to do with the final product as it has to do with the effort going on behind the scenes. I think a lot of blood, sweat, tears and curse words went in to getting those episodes made. We all know about poor DY, but that is only one of the complications they had to deal with in season 5. Extra hours were put in as they rewrote scripts and changed shooting schedules. A lot of the shows they did were Serena episodes. Serena shows obviously take longer and are more difficult to shoot. EM was pregnant and probably not feeling that great. She had the added stress of carrying the show herself. I just really like the whole "The Show Must Go On!" attitude of Season 5.
I appreciate the effort you put into this torcan. I used to be totally a DY vs DS fan but I love the 6th season the best, partly because EM seems to relax and DS puts so much into the season. He had so much pressure on him and I think he has some really good episodes. I love his physical comedy in "this Phrase is Familiar".
Although I enjoyed every season of Bewitched, Seasons 1, 2 and the first half of Season 3 will always be my favorites. For me, it's all about the writing. There were too many recycled scripts and reused story lines in the later seasons. They really fell short in coming up with new ideas in later seasons and even though there were many bright spots and funny episodes, they definitely needed to increase their writing staff.
Good points, all! I never thought about all the effort expended for that 5th season, so that has given me a new perspective on what has always been one of my least favorite seasons, zapper!
My dad used to call seasons 4 and 5 the "bug-eyed" seasons, because EM and DY relied a good bit on widening their eyes in astonishment or worry or what-have-you, to often quite ridiculous extremes. Consequently, that has always "bugged" me!! "Witches are good! Witches are dear!"
OMG! I never really thought about it, but you are so right about the "Bug Eyed" seasons. I wonder if one of them started doing it and the other picked it up as well, or if they were directed that way.
Season one is my favorite. It's interesting that some of you really like season five, but that's one of my least favorites. Elizabeth's hair is too overdone and Dick York is missing a lot, especially when she announces she's pregnant with Adam. Actually, season five may be my least fav.
Re: Best Bewitched Seasons
Posted by Dr. Bombay on July 23, 2014, 1:18 am, in reply to "Re: Best Bewitched Seasons" Resident Bewitched Historian
This is a great topic!
Awhile back I did pretty much the same thing torcan did using math and all (one of the few times I enjoy using math). It turns out that my most highly rated episodes come from Season One and tied for least favorite are Seasons Six and Eight.
My rankings from least favorite to most favorite are:
Season Eight Season Six Season Five Season Seven Season Three Season Two Season Four Season One
However, based on what seasons I watch most on DVD it would mainly be Seasons Four and Seven."I never did dig what Sammy dug about that dodo." ~ Serena
on July 2, 2014, 5:29 pm