Shark Bytes

This show never jumped. It wasn't on long enough to jump and was never really given a chance to succeed, which is the same problem I have with most first run television shows today. Especially serials, though that is a different topic entirely.
As for this show, it did seem like a combination of both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Bewitched. The Bewitched part didn't work too well due to a lack of continuity as has been stated earlier. The continuity makes a huge difference, because it in essence is a continuation of the Bewitched show which had run for many years previously. Even if the writing wasn't up to par, the continuity would have helped greatly, if they had any hopes of bringing in any viewers from the old Bewitched tv show. IMO, that would have had to have been the writers/creators intentions, or you don't even attempt to write this show in the first place.
Regardless of how bad anyone things this shows is, it is still far more watchable than the Bewitched movie which I reluctantly admit I went to the theater to see. IMO, that was one of the worst movies I have ever seen and given all of the acting talent involved in that movie, I still shake my head at how bad it was. Keep in mind that I also went to the theater to see the movie North, which IMO is perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen. I believe the Bewitched movie is only slightly more watchable than North, but I am splitting hairs here.

Lisa Hartman was by far the coolest person on Television in the 70's.
The writing was not very good but I watched the show just for her. I bought all of her records too!

Tabitha was bad from day one! I'm a huge fan of Bewitched so, I finally decided to watch this (having seen an episode or two on TV Land a few years back) when it came on dvd. I rented the entire (and only) season on dvd from Netflix. Needless to say, it was the only time I have ever returned a dvd the same day I received it. I tried to let the little things go (Adam being older than Tabitha, etc) but, the the rip offs were just too much to take. Adam constantly disapproved of Tabitha's witchcraft just like Darrin did with Sam. That angle got to be annoying on Bewitched so why the creators tried it again is beyond me. Aunt Minerva was less talented version of Endora, the only difference being she was younger and seemingly hornier. It really made no sense for Minerva to be an enemy of sorts with Adam (a la Darrin & Endora) but, they used that angle too.

Along with the unoriginal characters, Tabitha just had crap writing and really bad story lines. The cast was good enough but, there's only so much you can do with shoddy material. Tabitha did have a few redeeming qualities though. The theme song (sung by Lisa Hartman) was catchy & cute. It was also fun to see characters like the Kravitiz's & Dr Bombay make appearances.

It's really not surprising that Elizabeth Montgomery never made an appearances on this show. Not only did she want to distance herself from the role of Samantha, I think she also realized this show was disaster that she shouldn't associate herself with.

"Tabitha" was a decent idea that was executed so badly, execution would ahve been preferable.

The only good feature was the final coda to the Kravitzs' relationship with the Stevens'; When Abner reveals to Tabitha that he KNEW Samantha was a witch, and he didn't mind at all . . . And keeping quiet and ignoring all the wierd gogins-on served to annoy Gladys, which he enjoyed so much. Absolutely brilliant.

"Tabitha" tanked because it was a lousy show. The inconsitencies between the original show and this one didn't matter. I caught reruns on TV Land a couple of years ago, and the writing was astonishingly bad. There was nothing they could have done to make this work.

To the poster above, Darren and Samantha were mentioned every time the announcer recounted Tabitha's family story in the beginning credits during the animated child-like crayon drawings. (I think those were used to avoid having to choose between showing Dicks York or Sergeant in family photos!) Yes, I think Adam was wasted in being used as Tab's older mortal brother (he's played by David Ackrum by the way). Minerva was obviously a mix between Aunt Clara and Uncle Arthur (I hope when I get the Tabitha DVD to see the first pilot when Adam acts his "Uncle Arthur" warlock ways!) Mel Stewart was obviously supposed to be the Larry Tate-like TV boss to Tabitha and Robert Urich's Ted Baxter-like Paul character. Speaking of which, while Tabitha's initially resistant to him, by the show's next to last (twelfth) episode Paul has softened considerably for her to have some feelings for him. Since they look cute as a couple, this might have been an interesting direction. Obviously, while there were some violations with the Bewitched time line, I could take it as it was because it was still enjoyable as entertainment in my ten year-old mind and recently when I saw these shows on TV Land Kitchen. By the way, then and now whenever I saw Lisa Hartman in a bikini in the opening credits my heart (and anything else in by body) stood still!

TABITHA probably gets my vote as the worst spinoff ever (well, it's in a real horse race with CHECKING IN). This show followed the "madcap" adventures of a grown-up Tabitha Stephens, her brother Adam, and her boss played by Robert Urich,in one of his earliest roles. I think what bothered me about this show was that there was no connection to the mother show BEWITCHED...they just kind of borrowed the characters' names and built a sitcom around them. Samantha and Darrin were never even mentioned. I can't even remember the name of the actor who played Adam, that's how bad this show was. Jumped from day one.

I remember watching this as a pre-teen and wanting SO BADLY to give it a chance from growing up and loving “Bewitched” reruns (and the last bits of the actual series run). You can really tell young Lisa Hartman was doing her best to emulate the elegance of Elizabeth Montgomery’s diction pretty well. But the biggest letdown had to be how it went so far away from the original show that even guest spots by great “campy goddess” actresses like Mary Wickes couldn’t save it! Who the Hell was “Aunt Miverva” anyway and why did we never hear of her on BW (only gone off the air about 5-6 years before this mess of a show)?! Also Adam “becoming Darrin” with his disapproving attitude was ridiculous since you’d just know that being Samantha’s kids she’d have raised them with a more cool, open-minded attitude than their father’s (plus Endora/Maurice/Serena wouldn’t let “Durwood” get such an upper hand in their upbringing). Toward the end when they hinted around about “going back home to New York to visit Mom & Dad…” I kept hoping PLEASE DO! PLEASE DO! ANYTHING to get some connection to their roots! Lastly, regarding someone’s comments about a big screen “Bewitched” – I’ve heard rumors too, but Jim Carey as “Darrin” (my top choice anyhow), and I believe Nicole Kidman as “Samantha”. My other votes for characters – Lauren Bacall as Endora (she’d probably never do it, though); Beverly Archer (Iola, Mama’s Family) as the Alice Pierce Gladys Kravitz; Jack Klugman as Abner; Dame Edna Everest as Aunt Clara; Debbie Reynolds as Phyllis Stephens; Tim Curry as Uncle Arthur; and Bill Murray as Larry Tate.

Who cares about whether the continuity between the original Bewitched and Tabitha is correct? This show is completely insipid and unfocused! It could not even decide whether it wanted to be a sophisticated comedy or a lighthearted show about witchcraft! Based on the few episodes I have seen on TV Land, I don't think I have laughed once! And too bad poor Robert Urich had was stuck in this mess! I do agree with the above posters though that Lisa Hartman was hot!

When I heard the gifted, gorgeous Elizabeth Montgomery wanted NO PART of this, I feared it would stink. I was right. Mind you, Lisa Hartman (now Black) was adorable, but this show was LAME! I've tried to watch a rare rerun from time to time, but I just can't stomach it. It WOULD be interesting to see Erin Murphy do it NOW (6/2003) even though Tabitha would be pushing 40. An interesting twist would be if her mortal husband WANTED to exploit her witchcraft, but she didn't let him. By the way, there's been talk of a Bewitched movie for years now--last I heard Reese Witherspoon was the frontrunner. Well, NO ONE could ever replace the late Ms. Montgomery, but for a big screen version, I'd vote for Renee Zellwegger, with Timothy Hutton as Darrin, and Rue McClanahan as Endora. Small screen: Erin Murphy as Samantha, and Hutton and McClanahan.

The whole point was missed. Samantha LOVED Darrin and gave up (or at least tried to control) her witchcraft because of him. Why did Tabitha have to? Minevera WASN'T FUNNY.

This series lacked the magic of Bewitched in both senses. Tabitha hardly performed any spells in the shows.

TVLand is running this series currently (November 2002) on Sunday mornings 1:30 am ET (check your time zone). There was a pilot filmed with a brunette Tabatha (spelled with an A in the middle like in the early Bewitched episodes). Liberty Williams played Tabatha, living in San Francisco. Her younger brother Adam worked at a bar and was a warlock, trying to get her to live a "witch" life instead of a mortal life. He intruded on Tabatha's date with her new boyfriend. The pilot didn't sell but they aired it in the summer as a "tryout." That fall a revamped version of the show aired on ABC with Lisa Hartman as "Tabitha" (now spelled with an I in the middle). Unfortunately they moved too far away from the Bewitched history by making Adam the older sibling and mortal, serving as the "Darrin" role to her Samantha knock-off. And yes, they tried to mimic the backdrop of the Mary Tyler Moore show newsroom, focusing too much on the ensemble cast and not enough on Tabitha. Along with Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay), original Bewitched cast members Sandra Gould and George Tobias also appeared in one episode as Gladys and Abner Kravitz, along with the introduction of their never before mentioned niece, Nancy. Too bad they didn't try the concept later, when Tabitha really would have been that age, and original portrayer Erin Murphy could have taken the part. She really did grow up to be a very beautiful young woman, and on a talk show she said a surprising number of people tell her (without knowing who she is) that she resembles a young Elizabeth Montgomery.

I did see some of the episodes of this series. The earlier posters are right on the money about Lisa Hartman being too old for the role, Adam suddenly transformed from younger to older brother (and losing his warlock powers in the process), and the invention-from-scratch of Aunt Minerva (Karen Morrow). One problem seemed to be, according to some sources, that basically this was a Mary Tyler Moore clone with witchcraft thrown in. There was Robert Urich essentially playing Ted Baxter, for one. He didn't seem too happy about it, as well he might: he was doing Soap at the same time and that was his real breakout role. (His wife Heather Menzies was doing Logan's Run during that fall of '77 too "and the marriage was going straight to hell," neither of them seemed to mind the cancellation of Tabitha and Logan's Run simultaneously despite the loss of probably $20,000 a week. (It was right at this time that Urich's character on Soap was killed off too, but he rebounded and got Vega$. Menzies has only done occasional guest spots on about a dozen Urich series since then.) Did anyone notice that, according to available pictures, Erin Murphy is MUCH prettier than Lisa Hartman (Black)? And Hartman is a beautiful lady! BTW, although I never saw him, they did pick up one regular from the old series played by the same actor: Bernard Fox as Dr. Bombay. Also BTW, a Bewitched site said that on a nostalgia show called Our Time in 1985, they actually set up a sketch where Tabitha (Hartman) would go into the Betwitched kitchen with First Darren Dick York (it was his last TV appearance) and find Second Darren Dick Sargent washing the dishes! That would have been a priceless moment, but Sargent said no at the last minute.

Jumped the shark from day one. Dreary, uninvolving and not even funny/dumb. Just dumb. They gave Tabitha an Aunt who served as a comic foil to Tabitha's boyfriend, the way Endora was a comic foil to Darren. My question is, where the heck did this Aunt come from? On Bewitched we often saw Samantha's relatives, but never this one. "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" isn't likely to go into TV'S hall of fame, either, but at least it's cute and has it's charms. Lisa Hartman and Robert Urich were certainly likable, but that was it and it wasn't enough.