We never had cable television at my house until my grandfather moved in with us, sometime during elementary school. And then, suddenly, with the advent of cable came not only MTV, CNN, and Nickelodeon, but also TV Land.
At the time of its inception, TV Land was pretty much the coolest thing out there, at least as far as I was concerned. The network regularly showed old advertisements dubbed "retro-mercials," a fantastic slice of American life and popular culture. My favorite feature, though, was definitely the reruns of I Dream of Jeannie.
Sure, Jeannie is kind of ditzy. What do you expect from someone who's just been dropped into the modern world? But Barbara Eden plays her as full of heart and spunk., the sweetest genie you could ever hope to meet. Plus, she has that awesome hairdo.
Some of the episodes might be a little absurd. Still, that's part of the fun of the show: suspending your disbelief for 25 minutes and entering a world of slapstick effervescence. Besides, who doesn't love a couple of astronauts cavorting about the world through both time and space in the pseudo-mod atmosphere created by Sidney Sheldon and company? And what beautiful astronauts--Larry Hagman as Jeannie's master, Tony Nelson, with his classic good looks and Bill Daily as the adorable, slightly bumbling sidekick Roger Healey balance each other out and make for a good team.
I did always feel really bad for Dr. Bellows, played by Hayden Rorke, though. Not only is the man literally the only doctor the Kennedy Space Center--acting as both psychiatrist and physician to every astronaut at NASA--but he is often on the wrong end of magical highjinks, leading him to believe that he is suffering a breakdown on a pretty regular basis. Yet it is also fun to watch him attempting to figure things out.
In addition to the cast, Jeannie's absolutely of-the-moment wardrobe--when she is not decked out in her hot pink harem costume, that is--is a delight to see. Although I would not dream of wearing certain outfits of hers, the fashion sense is undeniable.
If you have not encountered this gem of a program, I highly recommend checking it out. You can start with a few episodes on Hulu and then work your way up to a full season on DVD. Happy watching!
Buy the complete I Dream of Jeannie through Best Buy for $139.99.
-Cate-
At the time of its inception, TV Land was pretty much the coolest thing out there, at least as far as I was concerned. The network regularly showed old advertisements dubbed "retro-mercials," a fantastic slice of American life and popular culture. My favorite feature, though, was definitely the reruns of I Dream of Jeannie.
Sure, Jeannie is kind of ditzy. What do you expect from someone who's just been dropped into the modern world? But Barbara Eden plays her as full of heart and spunk., the sweetest genie you could ever hope to meet. Plus, she has that awesome hairdo.
Some of the episodes might be a little absurd. Still, that's part of the fun of the show: suspending your disbelief for 25 minutes and entering a world of slapstick effervescence. Besides, who doesn't love a couple of astronauts cavorting about the world through both time and space in the pseudo-mod atmosphere created by Sidney Sheldon and company? And what beautiful astronauts--Larry Hagman as Jeannie's master, Tony Nelson, with his classic good looks and Bill Daily as the adorable, slightly bumbling sidekick Roger Healey balance each other out and make for a good team.
I did always feel really bad for Dr. Bellows, played by Hayden Rorke, though. Not only is the man literally the only doctor the Kennedy Space Center--acting as both psychiatrist and physician to every astronaut at NASA--but he is often on the wrong end of magical highjinks, leading him to believe that he is suffering a breakdown on a pretty regular basis. Yet it is also fun to watch him attempting to figure things out.
In addition to the cast, Jeannie's absolutely of-the-moment wardrobe--when she is not decked out in her hot pink harem costume, that is--is a delight to see. Although I would not dream of wearing certain outfits of hers, the fashion sense is undeniable.
If you have not encountered this gem of a program, I highly recommend checking it out. You can start with a few episodes on Hulu and then work your way up to a full season on DVD. Happy watching!
Buy the complete I Dream of Jeannie through Best Buy for $139.99.
-Cate-
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Stop posting things like this during finals. What do you think you're doing? You're not getting Robert Maxwell back.
ReplyDeleteSo, it took me a minute to figure out who Robert Maxwell is, but I've recovered, haha.
ReplyDelete