"Bewitched" was first telecasted on September 17, 1964 and ran for eight seasons until March 25, 1972 (Hall). Originally, it was aired Thursdays at 9:00pm on ABC. I watched it on a Tuesday night at 2:30am on Nick at Nite.
"Bewitched" is a situational comedy about a witch named Samantha and her attempts to abandon her witchcraft to please her mortal husband, Darrin. The couple was married on the first telecast, but that was the last "normal" event in their marriage. Samantha was continually tempted to use her witchly powers, done by the twitching of her nose, to get her way around the house, and sometimes outside the house. During the course of the show, she has to hide her witchly powers from anyone outside her home, while attempting to lead a normal, suburban life.
Who was the likely target audience for this TV show when it first appeared and/or today? On its original broadcasting time, Chevrolet was the show's biggest sponsor, and during the first six years practically every car in sight was a Chevrolet. The theme music to the show was a variation of the Chevrolet jingle, "See the USA in your Chevrolet "
(Hall). There is a scene in the opening credits where Samantha's broom turns into the
Chevrolet logo. When I watched the show on Nick at Night, most of the advertisements were for other shows that are on Nick at Night, as well as commercials for "Golds Bond", and other elderly-related paraphernalia. I think this is because Nick at Night is aimed at the Generation Xers, those who used to watch these shows in its prime. During the day, the network broadcasts shows aimed towards the Generation Xer's children, and at night, for them. This is an example of how networks don't design a particular show for a particular audience, but design a whole network for them, as we learned about in class. In its original telecast, Chevrolet advertised to suburbia, as did the sitcom. It was initially aired on Thursdays from 9:00