Bewitched: Seasons One and Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Bewitched: Seasons One and Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 21, 2025

"Bewitched: Seasons One and Two" (1964-1965) arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films. The supplemental features on the release include multiple new audio commentaries; archival programs on the making of the TV show; archival program about various continuity errors made in season two; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Even witches fall in love -- truly, madly, deeply.

It will not be too long before you begin comparing Bewitched to various similar contemporary TV shows because it is inevitable that you become very impressed with its top-quality writing, top-quality acting, and top-quality directing. Nearly all of the content in Bewitched is masterfully edited, too. It is why viewing its short episodes quickly becomes incredibly addictive. They keep dazzling with a remarkable consistency, making it awfully easy to lose track of the time and spend most of your night laughing instead of having a deep and rejuvenating sleep.

The catalyst of all laughs is a most unusual relationship. Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery), a beautiful young witch from another world, falls madly in love with Darrin (Dick York), a mortal, hard-working advertising executive. Without revealing that she is different, Samantha marries Darrin and the two become a typical suburban couple -- or at least until Samantha’s mother, Endora (Agnes Moorehead), also a witch with an even deeper bag of tricks, appears and begins ‘helping’. When Samantha eventually reveals to Darrin that he has married a truly special girl, the two agree she must behave like a mortal so that they can fit properly into his world. But the agreement lasts just a few hours. With Endora helping Samantha choose a new house, the seemingly perpetually suspicious neighbor Gladys Kravitz (Alice Pearce) always snooping around, and Darrin’s interactions at work routinely introducing interesting new characters with surprising ambitions, witchcraft quickly proves to be most beneficial. Despite the inevitable minor disagreements that all newlyweds endure, and while learning from the minor failures and triumphs they produce, Darrin then gradually becomes comfortable with Samantha’s witchy side.

Created by Sol Saks sixty years ago, Bewitched is like a special race car built by Mercedes. It does not reinvent the wheel, but the precision with which it performs and gets where it wants to go is hugely impressive. There are other similar great shows from its era that are easy to praise too, but virtually all do some guessing work as to what the ideal balance between comedy and thought-provoking satire should be, which is why the consistency of their material is not the same.

The first two seasons of Bewitched feature the most diverse and brilliantly penned material. However, this was an unavoidable development for two reasons. First, these seasons cover a lot of ground, ensuring that most new material will inevitably end up rehashing some of the comedy, melodrama, and satire that defined Samantha and Darrin’s relationship. Second, York’s replacement with Dick Sargent in 1969 introduced a new type of energy and, more importantly, comedic contrasts. While also likable, Sargent was not quite as effective as York, especially while trying to replicate the chemistry between his character and the witch, which often hurt the quality of the laughs.

Imprint Films’ fifteen-disc set presents recent restorations of all seventy-four episodes from the first two seasons of Bewitched, completed by Sony Pictures. Also included are colorized versions of these episodes in standard definition. The quality of the original and colorized presentations is rather dramatically different.

Bewitched: Seasons One and Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080p transfers, seasons one and two of Bewitched arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films.

This fifteen-disc set presents recent restorations of all seventy-four episodes from the first two seasons of Bewitched, completed by Sony Pictures. Also included are colorized versions of these episodes in standard definition. I viewed the restored versions of all episodes and only quickly tested several of the colorized versions.

The gap in quality between the black-and-white versions and the colorized versions is massive, and not only because the colorized versions are in standard definition. The original presentations look a lot healthier, too. On my system, delineation, clarity, and depth were near flawless, and the density levels of all black-and-white episodes were outstanding. All episodes looked spotless. To be honest, I was a little surprised that all episodes looked so pristine because this is not my first encounter with Bewitched and I have never before seen any of the show's episodes looking so impressive. In other words, the first two seasons are not remastered, but properly restored. The grayscale is beautifully balanced. Blacks are lush but do not appear boosted, while grays and white complement each other very well. As a result, all indoor and outdoor footage looks equally impressive. Image stability is excellent. While I think that some minor encoding optimizations could have been introduced to ensure that all episodes look equally great, I did not encounter any troubling encoding anomalies. (Note: This is a Region-Free release. Therefore, you will be able to play all discs in it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Bewitched: Seasons One and Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for each episode.

The quality of the audio is terrific. While a lot of material was shot in a controlled environment, there is also outdoor footage, like the one from the baseball game, and both sound equally great. I think it is pretty easy to tell that during the restoration process the audio was properly redone, because the consistency of the quality of each track is identical to that of the visual quality of each episode. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to mention in our review.

Bewitched: Seasons One and Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

NOTE: Only the discs specified below have bonus features. All other discs have only colorized versions of each episode.

SEASON ONE - DISC ONE

• Commentary One - this exclusive new audio commentary for I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha was recorded by Bewitched historian Herbie J. Pilato, Chris York (son of actor Dick York), and film & television historian Rob Ray.

• Commentary Two - this exclusive new audio commentary for Mother Meets What's-His-Name was recorded by Bewitched historian Herbie J. Pilato, Chris York (son of actor Dick York), and film & television historian Rob Ray.

SEASON ONE - DISC FOUR

• Commentary Three - this exclusive new audio commentary for A is for Aardvark was recorded by Bewitched historian Herbie J. Pilato, Chris York (son of actor Dick York), and film & television historian Rob Ray.

SEASON TWO - DISC THREE

• Commentary Four - this exclusive new audio commentary for Aunt Clara's Old Flame was recorded by Bewitched historian Herbie J. Pilato, actor David Mandel (Adam Stephens) and film & television historian Rob Ray.

SEASON TWO - DISC FOUR

• Commentary Five - this exclusive new audio commentary for And Then There Were Three was recorded by Bewitched historian Herbie J. Pilato, actor David Mandel, and film & television historian Rob Ray.

SEASON TWO - DISC EIGHT

• Bewitched: Behind the Magic - in this new program, author and historian Herbie J. Pilato explains how producer and director William Asher and Elizabeth Montgomery met and then the original concept for a TV show they had was pitched to executive producer Harry Ackerman, who reshaped it and Bewitched came to exist. Pilato also discusses the production history and unique qualities of the TV show as well. Actor Eric Scott, makeup artist Steve Olim, and historian Rob Ray also discuss Montgomery's image and performance. In English, not subtitled. (30 min).

• The Magic Unveiled - this archival program takes a closer look at the conception, production, and success of Bewitched. Included in it are clips from interviews with Sol Saks, author and historian Herbie J. Pilato, director and producer William Asher, and actress Kasey Rogers, amongst others. The program is presented in two parts. In English, not subtitled. (17 min).

• Bewitched, Bewildered and Be-Bloopered! - this archival program takes a closer look at continuity errors in the second season of Bewitched. In English, not subtitled. (7 min).

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

• Book - a 172-page book featuring original production and story information for every episode of the first two seasons of Bewitched.

Bewitched: Seasons One and Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In an archival program, Herbie Pilato, author of "Bewitched Forever", declares: "There was a very strong chemistry between Dick York, as Darrin, and Elizabeth Montgomery, as Samantha. You really believed that they were in love." It is true. However, the first two seasons of Bewitched are special for a number of other reasons, too. For example, the quality of the writing is outstanding. It mixes hilarious material and witty innuendo in a way that feels almost revolutionary for a TV show conceived during the 1960s. This recent box set from Australian label Imprint Films offers gorgeous transfers of the original black-and-white episodes of the first two seasons, complemented by a nice selection of new and archival bonus features. It is Region-Free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.