I Dream of JeannieBy Wikipedia
I Dream of Jeannie was a popular sitcom, filmed from 1965
to 1970 and produced by NBC.
It was created by Sidney Sheldon in response to the great success of
rival network ABC's Bewitched series,
which had debuted in 1964 as the second most watched program in the United
States. William Asher, the producer of Bewitched was called upon
unofficially to comment on the final script for the pilot episode which
Sheldon was hoping would capture the essential elements of Bewitched.
The premise of the two programs was very similar. Both featured
beautiful women who were possessed of magical powers, and who tried to
integrate with the mortal world to please the men they loved. The comedy
in both series was derived from her attempts at keeping her powers secret,
while very often needing to use those powers to resolve situations. Both
featured a rambunctious relative (Jeannie's sister, Samantha's cousin)
played by the lead actress, with a black wig to mark her "black
hat" status.
Jeannie was a genie awakened from her sleep when astronaut Anthony
Nelson, who worked at Cape Kennedy (the present-day Cape Canaveral) in
Florida, found a bottle washed up on a desert-island beach. As he had
found her, it was both his right and his obligation to take future
responsibility for her. Returning home to Cocoa Beach, Florida with him,
Jeannie was initially little more than a servant, but as the series
developed, so did their relationship, and eventually the couple was
married.
In most episodes Barbara Eden wore little more than her revealing
"Jeannie" costume. But despite the fact that she was allowed to
be depicted living in a house with a man to whom she was not married,
censors of the day would not allow Eden's navel to be seen. The makers of
the series were also presented with the challenge of filming around Eden's
real life pregnancy, without writing it into the Jeannie storyline.
The NASA shown in the series appears to be launching a few more flights
than real-life NASA, since Tony makes it into space at least three times
during the series, but it was rare for an astronaut to make even a second
flight. The spacecraft shown in the opening titles appears to be a one-man
Project Mercury spacecraft, but during the series' run, the two-man
Project Gemini and three-man Project Apollo craft were flying, aside from
the hiatus between Gemini 12 and Apollo 7.
I Dream of Jeannie was a moderate success on NBC but the show's
popularity exploded when the series began playing in syndication. Reruns
became one of the highest rated series during the 1970's (even more so
following the success of Larry Hagman's role as J.R. Ewing on Dallas,
and the show continues to have a cult following today. The cast reunited
for several television features, with their most recent reunion taking
place in I Still Dream of Jeannie (1991) and I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years
After (1985). Columbia Pictures is currently developing a feature film
version of I Dream of Jeannie (set for release in 2006) with Gurinder
Chadha set to direct. Jessica Alba will portray Jeannie with Jimmy Fallon
as Maj. Tony Nelson. Kate Hudson, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Paris
Hilton, Kristin Chenoweth, Parminder Nagra, Jenna Elfman, and Lisa Kudrow
have been considered for the part of Jeannie. Over the past ten years,
merchandise based on the series has been produced including numerous
dolls, ceramic pieces, lunchboxes, a board game and a series of Instant
Scratchit cards.
Main cast
- Jeannie (and sister Jeannie) — Barbara Eden
- Tony Nelson — Larry Hagman, who occasionally directed
- Roger Healey — Bill Daily, who occasionally wrote
- Dr. Alfred Bellows — Hayden Rorke
- Amanda Bellows (Dr. Bellows' wife) — Emmaline Henry
- Gen. Martin Peterson (1965-1969) — Barton MacLane
- Gen. Winfield Schaeffer (1969-1970) — Vinton Haworth
Series Outline
Captain Tony Nelson is on a space flight but his ship comes down far
from the recovery area, near a deserted island. Tony notices a strange
bottle that rolls by itself, and when he rubs it after removing the cork,
smoke starts shooting out and Jeannie materializes. "I must have gone
further into space than I thought!" he says. Eventually, Jeannie, who
was locked up in her bottle 2,000 years ago by the Blue Djinn, blinks a
searching helicopter into the area to rescue Tony, who is so grateful he
tells Jeannie that she's free. She reenters her bottle and moves it into
Tony's duffel bag, and accompanies him back home.
Tony at first keeps Jeannie in her bottle most of the time, but finally
lets up. Jeannie, however, manages to bust up Tony's engagement to the
general's daughter.
Roger, his friend, doesn't know about Jeannie for several episodes, but
when he finds out, he takes Jeannie and uses her to make him rich and
living in luxury. This is not the first time Roger demonstrates that he
wants Jeannie for himself, but except when such opportunity arises, after
this, he usually respects Tony's status as Jeannie's master. Tony is, not
long after, promoted to major, as is Roger.
Early in the fifth season, Jeannie is called upon by her Uncle Sully to
be queen of Basenji, and she decides, for his birthday gift, to give Tony
the country of Basenji, being its king. However, NASA has assigned Tony to
deal with the ambassador from Kajsa, Basenji's neighbour and enemy, to
secure finkilium, a mineral needed for the space program. Sully causes
Tony to unwittingly and repeatedly threaten Kajsa's ambassador, harming
America's friendship with Kajsa. When Roger warns Tony about Sully, Tony
tries to trap Sully and tell him he wouldn't marry Jeannie. Jeannie had
gotten Sully to leave and she was waiting to talk to Tony, so now he's
alienated himself from Jeannie, who leaves to become queen, while Tony and
Roger are exiled to a remote post in Alaska. NASA finds another source of
finkilium, and sends a dispatch that recalls Tony and Roger to Cocoa
Beach. However, the newspaper came with the message, mentioning the new
queen of Basenji. The boys fly to Basenji (somewhere near Russia) where
Tony will try to reconcile with Jeannie. They arrive back at NASA where
Tony introduces Jeannie as his fiancee.
There were inconsistencies through the series. Early on, Jeannie's
budding movie career ended when she discovered that genies cannot be
photographed, but in the middle of the series run, Jeannie was
successfully photographed. The original premise is reasserted for the
actual wedding episode.
In one episode, it is asserted that genies are forbidden to marry
mortals, but when the actual event comes about, not only does Hajii not
object, Jeannie's contrary cousins arrive to give Tony the once-over. A
fortune machine also shows a possible future: of the two children they
have, the boy is mortal but the girl is a genie. In the movie made in
1985, they have one child, Tony Jr., who turns out to be a djinn (a male
genie).
Genies have both red and green blood corpuscles.
Jeannie's sister, mentioned in a first season episode, and also named
Jeannie, turns a mean streak starting in the second season, repeatedly
trying to have Tony for herself and be not a servant but a master! One of
her final efforts comes right after Tony and Jeannie have been married.
In one two-part episode, it is established that Jeannie did not know
her birthday, and her family members couldn't agree when it was, either.
Tony and Roger use NASA's powerful new computer, and horoscopic guidance
based on Jeannie's traits, to calculate it, but Roger wants to make a game
out of telling it. Jeannie finally forces it out of Roger in the second
subsequent episode: April 1, 46 B.C.
In a four-part episode, Jeannie is locked in a safe bound for the moon,
and any attempt to force the safe or use the wrong combination will
destroy the safe with an explosive. Jeannie is in there so long, four
weeks, that whoever opens the safe will become her master. |
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