Do Straight Guys Like The TV Show Bewitched?

[+ Gar1eth]

I've been told a lot of "us" really liked the TV Show Bewitched. At least I did. And that was long before I knew or really thought about being gay. And I don't think it had anything to do -or not much -with wanting to live in a world where I could magic my problems away. At least not more than your everyday child who wanted things to go his way. 
 

So did straight boys/men now like the show as well?  I mean it was one of my favorite TV shows for years. And if straight boys didn't like it-I wonder why. 

[+ ApexNomad]

1 hour ago, Gar1eth said:

I've been told a lot of "us" really liked the TV Show Bewitched. At least I did. And that was long before I knew or really thought about being gay. And I don't think it had anything to do -or not much -with wanting to live in a world where I could magic my problems away. At least not more than your everyday child who wanted things to go his way. 
 

So did straight boys/men now like the show as well?  I mean it was one of my favorite TV shows for years. And if straight boys didn't like it-I wonder why. 

I think what shows like Bewitched remind us is that identity isn’t always the lens through which we first connect with something. Sometimes we just like what we like—whether it’s a magical housewife, a talking car, or a gang of meddling kids with a Great Dane. That connection can come from humor, warmth, escapism, or even just the rhythm of a show that made us feel safe or seen—even before we understood why. Orientation might shape how we look back, but not always what drew us in. And honestly, that’s kind of beautiful.

[+ BOZO T CLOWN]

One of the reasons for the popularity of Bewitched with the gay community is that it seemed like half the cast was gay:

Dick Sargent - (second) Darrin 

Agnes Morehead: Endora

Paul Lynde: Uncle Arthur

Maurice Evans: Maurice 

George Tobias: Abner Kravitz

Also, one of the twins who played Tabitha grew up to be gay. Bozo also got a strong gay vibe from Dr. Bombay, though that is speculation on Bozo's part.

BTC

🤡

[pubic_assistance]

57 minutes ago, BOZO T CLOWN said:

it seemed like half the cast was gay:

Thanks @BOZO T CLOWN I knew about the rest but George Tobias is news to me! Very interesting .  

Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay) was married with children but often rumored to be bisexual.

[jeezifonly]

I imagine that with Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, the appeal to men is more about an innocent nostalgia with a pretty blond lady doing hijinks with good intentions. 
The camp and handsome leading men mean nothing. 
(Not to completely overlook Dr. Bellows…y’know)

[samhexum]

Gay guys wanted to be Samantha.  Straight guys wanted to do Samantha.

[+ Gar1eth]

5 hours ago, BOZO T CLOWN said:

One of the reasons for the popularity of Bewitched with the gay community is that it seemed like half the cast was gay:

Dick Sargent - (second) Darrin 

Agnes Morehead: Endora

Paul Lynde: Uncle Arthur

Maurice Evans: Maurice 

George Tobias: Abner Kravitz

Also, one of the twins who played Tabitha grew up to be gay. Bozo also got a strong gay vibe from Dr. Bombay, though that is speculation on Bozo's part.

BTC

🤡

But I don't think as a child I would have had any inkling of that. It premiered in 1964 when I was 3 years old. I might not remember the first season or two except from the afternoon reruns. But I'm sure by the age of 5 that  I was watching and enjoying it without any idea of the number of gay actors in it. It ended when I was 11. At that point I knew I was attracted to musclemen. But I probably didn't even really know about the birds and bees at that point. 

Funny story -about that same time period --1972 my family often drove from our smaller city in the more northern part of Texas back to our ancestral homeland of Dallas. Somewhere near Dallas -possibly towards Denton-was a farm or ranch named 'Gay Acres.'  We drove by it, and my 17 year old brother started laughing his head off. Being the inquisitive 11 year old that I was, I asked what was so funny. My mother explained it was the word 'gay'. I asked what it meant.  She replied that it referred to  people with 'hormonal problems.'  Now keep in mind that I was 11-and while the birds and the bees might have been doing it-little Gman was ignorant of what 'it' was. 
 

So a few months later -some more knowledgeable soul in my 5th grade class -a guy named Roger if I'm remembering correctly -never really liked Roger by the way-brought up something about people being gay. I said oh I know what that is. It's people with 'hormonal problems'. Well apparently Roger knew a bit more about those darn birds and bees than I did. I'm thinking little Gman was quite embarrassed that day. 
 

PS-I do have some vague memories of being attracted to Dick York-might have been his slicked back hair. And possibly also David White -but that's an even vaguer recollection, so maybe not. 

Edited June 7 by Gar1eth

[TonyDown]

The Gay Acres/ Mom's hormonal problem comment triggered a memory of watching Truman Capote speaking on TV.  I was probably 15.  I did not know who Truman Capote was. 

I was intrigued by his affected speech.  I asked my Mom why he was speaking that way.  Mom responded he sounded that way because he was homosexual.  😮

That was a shock to me.  I was just learning about homosexuality.  Affected speech was not yet on my gaydar.  

Back to the OP, Bewitched was widely popular, with high viewership, according to Wikipedia.  Knowing that, would it be fair to assume Bewitched appealed to straight male viewers? 

Another popular show during that era was Bonanza.  IMO that show would be have been popular with baby gays.

 

[BuffaloKyle]

Straight guys like the show, gay guys loooooove the show

[MikeThomas]

I loved Bewitched, but I loved the Beverly Hill Billies, Get Smart, McHale's Navy, The Munsters, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and all of the others of that era.  They were all funny in different ways.  

[+ Gar1eth]

On 6/7/2025 at 2:48 AM, TonyDown said:

 

Another popular show during that era was Bonanza.  IMO that show would be have been popular with baby gays.

 

I think I preferred The Big Valley over Bonanza.  I remember TBV more from afternoon reruns than when it was actually on. But my recollection-which is probably extremely biased-is that Lee Majors was stripped of his  shirts a lot more often than Pernell Roberts and Michael Landon were. And by the time TBV reruns were on in my early and late pre-teens, that was very important to me. 
 

[TonyDown]

3 hours ago, MikeThomas said:

I loved Bewitched, but I loved the Beverly Hill Billies, Get Smart, McHale's Navy, The Munsters, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and all of the others of that era.  They were all funny in different ways.  

I loved Gomer Pyle. ♥️

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

On 6/6/2025 at 3:30 PM, Gar1eth said:

So did straight boys/men now like the show as well?

You might not find enough straight boys/men on this forum to generate a wide response.

[BSR]

On 6/7/2025 at 4:48 AM, TonyDown said:

Back to the OP, Bewitched was widely popular, with high viewership, according to Wikipedia.  Knowing that, would it be fair to assume Bewitched appealed to straight male viewers? 

Bear in mind that Bewitched ran from 1964-72, when the cost of a television relative to median family income was much higher than it is today.  Most families had just one TV in the living room, and that was it.  As much as I liked the show, I just don’t see it appealing to straight men.  My guess is that straight women loved the show and asserted control over the household TV for that half-hour time slot.

[+ Gar1eth]

39 minutes ago, BSR said:

Bear in mind that Bewitched ran from 1964-72, when the cost of a television relative to median family income was much higher than it is today.  Most families had just one TV in the living room, and that was it.  As much as I liked the show, I just don’t see it appealing to straight men.  My guess is that straight women loved the show and asserted control over the household TV for that half-hour time slot.

My prize gift for my Bar Mitzvah in 1974 was a small TV for my bedroom. My brother had gotten one for his in 1967. And my sister  who didn't have a bat mitzvah for reasons I've never been entirely clear on (something about we had just moved to a different city around the time she would have been taking Hebrew lessons, maybe the rabbi where we moved was old school and wasn't in favor of them-it's always sounded funny to me-don't worry though she decided she wanted one as an adult and had one at about age 48) got one around the age of 14 or 15.
 

I knew I was getting it. I couldn't wait!!

I probably had that little black and white TV into my mid to late 20s. (I had a beanbag chair from around the ages of 16 to well into my 30's-possibly 40's.)

Edited June 8 by Gar1eth

[Nightowl]

With only three channels to choose from back then, you watched and sometimes enjoyed the best of your three options at any given time.  I don’t remember what was opposite Bewitched but I enjoyed it but not for any knowledge or understanding of gay themes, gay characters, or gay actors.  Perhaps those who discovered it later on watched it for other reasons; I just thought it was fun.

[TonyDown]

7 hours ago, BSR said:

Bear in mind that Bewitched ran from 1964-72, when the cost of a television relative to median family income was much higher than it is today.  Most families had just one TV in the living room, and that was it.  As much as I liked the show, I just don’t see it appealing to straight men.  My guess is that straight women loved the show and asserted control over the household TV for that half-hour time slot.

I recall Grandpa watched Lawrence Welk and other old timey shows on his black and white console TV.  Possibly Jackie Gleason.

We had one TV for years.  Mom and Dad read the newspaper after dinner, while us kids fiddled with the channels, however Mom tried to limit how much TV we watched.  

I remember Gilligan's Island.  Ginger's evening gowns! 

Also, The Man From Uncle. Get Smart. My Three Sons.  Mannix.

Mom insisted on Masterpiece Theater which may be why I love British period piece movies even now.

Bewitched was not big at our house, but we didn't fit the mold.

[+ poolboy48220]

We had one black and white TV until I was 9, and we bought "The Little TV" for my mom in the hospital when my little sister was born. It was our first time being able to get UHF channels. We fought over that TV.

[pubic_assistance]

On 6/8/2025 at 11:06 AM, MikeThomas said:

I loved Bewitched, but I loved the Beverly Hill Billies, Get Smart, McHale's Navy, The Munsters, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and all of the others of that era.  They were all funny in different ways.  

I remember these too. Seems like they were all shown as day time reruns for decades. 

The thing these all had in common was the various degrees of "camp" humor.

Something all the gay boys seem to love. 

[maninsoma]

On 6/8/2025 at 12:53 PM, BSR said:

Bear in mind that Bewitched ran from 1964-72, when the cost of a television relative to median family income was much higher than it is today.  Most families had just one TV in the living room, and that was it.  As much as I liked the show, I just don’t see it appealing to straight men.  My guess is that straight women loved the show and asserted control over the household TV for that half-hour time slot.

I'm from a solidly working class family and we eventually had two televisions by the early 1970s -- the new color set in the living room and the old black-and-white set in the den.  Prior to that, the parents controlled what was watched but I don't really remember who exerted more control.  I actually don't remember watching Bewitched during first run, though.  My mom set a fairly early bedtime for us even as we got older, so we mostly got to watch reruns of prime time shows during the day.  I remember watching reruns of Bewitched and Batman on that black and white set, and to support the notion that maybe Bewitched resonated better with females and gay males than straight males my straight brother definitely wanted to watch the Batman reruns but I don't remember him being around when my sister and I watched Bewitched.  Even as a prepubescent boy with no knowledge of "camp" or gay culture, I knew Endora and Uncle Arthur, in particular, appealed to me in a special way.

Edited June 9 by maninsoma

[pubic_assistance]

24 minutes ago, maninsoma said:

I'm from a solidly working class family and we eventually had two televisions by the early 1970s -- the new color set in the living room and the old black-and-white set in the den. 

My family was blue collar.

The fact that you had TWO televisions AND a separate "den", made you rich compared to MY childhood in the 70s.

[samhexum]

On 6/9/2025 at 4:13 PM, maninsoma said:

to support the notion that maybe Bewitched resonated better with females and gay males than straight males my straight brother definitely wanted to watch the Batman reruns but I don't remember him being around when my sister and I watched Bewitched.  Even as a prepubescent boy with no knowledge of "camp" or gay culture, I knew Endora and Uncle Arthur, in particular, appealed to me in a special way.

I liked Bewitched, but Adam West in his batsuit appealed to me in a special way.

[mike carey]

I saw this on Facebook, it may or may not be true.

In the quiet winter of 1992, a car pulled up to a modest house in Rockford, Michigan. The woman who stepped out wore a long wool coat and kept her head low as she made her way to the front door. That woman was Elizabeth Montgomery. Inside, lying in a hospice bed set up in the living room, was Dick York, her former co-star from "Bewitched." The two hadn't seen each other in over two decades. York, frail and fighting emphysema, hadn't expected any visitors from his Hollywood past. When he opened his eyes and saw her, tears formed before words did.

 

Montgomery took his hand without hesitation. No press followed her, no announcement was made. The moment was private, almost sacred. A friend close to York later said she leaned in and softly said, “Hey, partner.” York smiled, whispering back, “Samantha.” It was their first conversation since 1969, when York had left "Bewitched" after collapsing on set from excruciating back pain that had plagued him for years. He had never blamed her for moving on with the show, but the goodbye had been abrupt and unfinished.

 

For hours that evening, they sat together. Montgomery brought up memories from their early shooting days, how they used to burst into laughter between takes, how he would playfully complain about the ridiculous magical plots, and how she would always nudge him with her elbow when he forgot a line. “Remember the time you sneezed during the levitation scene and we had to shoot it five times?” she asked with a faint smile. York, struggling to speak, nodded and squeezed her hand. Those memories didn’t need to be said out loud. They lived in their shared silence.

 

No photographers were allowed near the house. Montgomery had contacted one of York’s daughters to ask for permission and privacy. She arrived without a manager, without makeup, and stayed long enough to ensure York knew he hadn’t been forgotten. One of York’s caregivers later said that after she left, he kept repeating the same sentence through his oxygen mask: “She came all the way here. She still cares.”

 

In her conversations with a close mutual friend, Montgomery reflected on what that visit had meant to her. “He was more than a co-star. He was part of something magical we created together.” Those words were never spoken to the press during her lifetime. She kept the visit, and that memory, locked away.

 

Their on-screen chemistry had fueled the early seasons of "Bewitched," making Darrin and Samantha Stephens one of television’s most beloved couples. But off-screen, York’s chronic health issues had made shooting difficult, eventually forcing him to leave the series. When Dick Sargent replaced him, Montgomery adapted to the new dynamic, but the spark of that early era never quite returned.

 

What struck those around them was the tenderness of that final meeting. York, worn thin from years of illness, held onto her presence like it was a rope keeping him grounded. Montgomery, knowing her visit might be their last, made sure it wasn’t rushed. She never spoke publicly about it. Not in interviews, not in memoirs, not even in friendly retrospectives. The story only surfaced through those close to York, years later.

 

That winter night in Michigan was quiet. Snow covered the driveway by the time she left. As her car pulled away, York asked one of his daughters to help him sit up. He looked out the window for a long time, watching the car disappear into the distance.

 

Elizabeth Montgomery’s final gift to Dick York was not publicity, or forgiveness, or apology. It was presence. A quiet acknowledgment that what they shared during those five magical years on "Bewitched" still mattered.

 

She had come to say goodbye not as a star, but as a friend.