Bewitched Magical World-building

Bewitched--that show about a witch (Samantha), her mortal husband (Darrin), and the hijinks they endure navigating her family and his career--has been a staple of syndicated programming my entire life. I have never really thought of it as much beyond light entertainment, seasoned with a scornful eye on bigotry.

Last week, I saw about five minutes of an episode, basically one scene. It was enough, however, to make me think this show old enough to straddle the transition from black & white to color TV had some serious world-building chops.

The gist of the episode was what to do about Samantha and Darrin's daughter (Tabitha), a late toddler at the time, and her education. Three of Samantha's aunts, and her mother, have gotten together and decided that Tabitha would attend a prestigious witch school run by one of the aunts. Samantha and Darrin don't like it, one of the aunts join them, and they call on Samatha's father to intervene. Which he does.

There are seven active participants in this scene, plus a cameo by Tabitha as she is magically summoned into the arms of her grandmother and magically returned to her room by her grandfather. There is also a pair of brief cut-aways as Samantha's father briefly sends the meddling witches to the top of Mt. Everest for a moment to think about what they've done. At the end, Tabitha will go to mortal school, the meddling witches go back to where ever they live most of their lives, and Samantha's father departs in flamboyant style with the good aunt.

Simple scene, but chock full of world-building.

• Samantha and her mother have a complex relationship, made more so by her marriage to Darrin
• There is a network of witch schools, implied by the existence of one, and the need (perceived by some) to decide which one Tabitha will attend
• Tabitha is special, being the first of her generation (leading to the unasked questions: how many witch children are there, and how does witch school work?)
• Witches can cast spells affecting the actions of others, but not always their wills (the meddling witches cast a spell which keep Samantha, Darrin, and the good aunt from walking, and another which makes their talk sound like bird jabber)
• Witches cannot undo the spell effects of other witches, so Samantha's father has to prevail upon the meddling witches to change their minds, and to undo their spells
• Samantha's mother and father do not get along (are they divorced? were they ever married? are these meaningful categories? doesn't matter--what matters is that they have history and it is an independent dynamic 
• Indeed, Samantha's father has pre-existing relationships with each of the witches in the scene, and they are not all the same--history matters in this scene

What this scene demonstrates that a few rules, and a bit of character history, allow even a silly mid-century sit-com was able to build a world with interesting characters, compelling problems, and resolutions to problems unique to the story being told.

Not bad for a show which also managed to be funny, and to give viewers fun performances from its actors.