Do you get a bit nervous when you see someone twitch or blink in public? If so, you probably have a bit of MSD, magic stress disorder. It comes from watching Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie reruns. Today, I am attempting to settle the long-debated Jeannie vs Samantha question. Let me state first that I am not considering the “who is hotter” question. That argument has been going on for five decades and is a personal preference, so I’ll continue to let those people who care and have an opinion debate that issue. Also, both women could provide any wish, so it’s not about what they could do for someone else by blinking or twitching for say a million dollars.

My goal was to decide, from a mortal perspective, who would be the better woman to have a relationship with, be it a spouse, best friend, neighbor, or PTA co-chair.

There were a lot of similarities in the two shows. Bewitched began in 1964 and ran till 1972. I Dream of Jeannie debuted in 1965 and was cancelled in 1970, but had its beginnings in the movie, The Brass Bottle, a 1964 comedy about a modern man who accidentally acquires the friendship of a long-out-of-circulation genie. It starred Burl Ives, Tony Randall, and Barbara Eden. In this version, Ives is the genie, and Eden is Randall’s girlfriend, but it gave Sidney Sheldon the idea for the television series.

Both shows had an animated opening and a great theme song.

Also, both shows center around a relationship where the woman has magic powers, and the man has to live with the consequences.

In the case of Bewitched, Darrin falls in love with Samantha and proposes before he learns she is a witch; with I Dream of Jeannie, Major Nelson finds Jeannie’s bottle on a beach after a space landing and then feels like he is “stuck” with her.

That said, let’s look at Life Issues, Friends and Family Issues, and Magic Issues to try to determine who would be the better person to have as part of your life.

Life Issues. In the area of life issues, I think most people would agree that Samantha understands life in the 20^th century United States. Jeannie has to do some observing and reading to learn what that type of life means and different concepts confuse her, resulting in some uncomfortable situations for Tony.

Samantha lives a fairly normal life. She has taught herself to be a “regular” housewife. She cooks, cleans, and shops like her friends. Jeannie spends her days holed up at Anthony’s house, and no one can know she is there. Related to that is the fact that the majority of the time, Samantha wears the same type of clothing as everyone else in her community.

Jeannie does get to wear more fashionable clothing from time to time, but most of the time is spent in her pink harem outfit.

Another factor is how much damage could be done to their spouse’s career of to a friend or family member. Darrin is an advertising executive; really, there is not a lot of damage Sam can do. She can cause a client to leave the firm, but that’s not too significant. With Major Nelson being an astronaut, there are a lot of problems Jeannie can create when she pulls him into and out of outer space or causes NASA staff to question Tony’s reliability as an astronaut.

One of the biggest problems for Tony was Jeannie’s quick temper. While Samantha often was unhappy about certain things, Jeannie was a bit more vindictive. Samantha might cause someone who was being treated unfairly to acquire a skill they didn’t really have, usually a positive action. Jeannie was typically mad at Tony, and often the problem involved another woman, so Tony is the one who typically was put into a dangerous or complicated situation. She might send him to another century or put him in a torture chamber.

A final life factor, which would have more repercussions in today’s social media age than in the sixties, is that Jeannie did not show up in photos. That meant she would have to blink a clone or add another complication like destroying the film to keep her invisibility a secret.

There were a lot of family and friend matters that also come into play on this question. Samantha was not hidden from Darrin’s friends and family members, only her witchcraft was kept secret. That also became true for Jeannie after she and Tony Nelson married in the final season, but in the first four years there were often plots where Jeannie had to be explained or hidden, causing much confusion. Roger Healy did know of Jeannie’s existence which could be a positive or negative. Roger could help Tony keep her hidden or get Jeannie’s help when necessary, but occasionally he also caused problems by trying to get Jeannie to do things for him Anthony might not approve of.

Both women had to deal with another character who was suspicious and always on the lookout to get an “a-ha” moment. In the case of Bewitched, Gladys Kravitz knew there were some strange things happening at the Stephens’ household.

She was constantly trying to peek in the window or capture some evidence when things seemed not quite right. However, her husband Abner thought she was crazy and didn’t give any credence to her hare-brained schemes so she remained a harmless busybody.

In Jeannie’s case, Dr. Bellows was a psychiatrist and was also alarmed at things he saw or learned about Major Nelson. His wife Amanda was a co-conspirator, often trying to help him learn the truth behind what was going on.

Family Issues. Both Tony and Darrin had to deal with some wacky and quirky relatives.

Tony was forced to obey some more powerful relatives who were fierce and could cause great harm; they often showed up to threaten Tony. Darrin was really only threatened by his mother-in-law Endora.

She often put a spell on him that affected his looks and made it hard for him to explain what was happening, but Samantha was always able to convince her to make things right. He was perhaps inconvenienced by some of her other relatives. Although he could be annoyed by them, we found them delightful and enjoyed hanging out with most of them, especially Uncle Arthur and Aunt Clara.

Two relatives that could cause some serious problems were Jeannie and Samantha’s “twins.” Jeannie had a sister that looked just like her except she traded blonde hair for black and a pink harem outfit for a blue one.

However, she could pretend to be Jeannie, and it was almost impossible to tell them apart. Sam’s cousin Serena looked a lot like her and also sported a black hairdo.

However, Serena had a very different kooky personality and it didn’t take long to figure out who she really was. In Tony’s case, he could have been stuck with the other Jeannie for a long time without realizing it.

One other family concern was whether the children would follow in their mother’s footsteps. On Bewitched we did learn that both Darrin and Samantha’s children were a witch and a warlock which tripled the problems Darrin was living with. Since Jeannie and Tony never had children, we don’t know if they would have magical powers or not.

Magic Issues. Both Jeannie and Samantha could come down with some strange illnesses related to their powers.

While Jeannie often had to wait out the situation, Samantha had a personal physician available at all times, Dr. Bombay, who could usually cure her quickly.

The last question involves twitching versus blinking. Samantha’s magic was accomplished by sometimes raising her arm, but typically she twitched her nose. Jeannie would fold her arms over each other and lower her head while blinking. The two issues with their methods are that Sam’s magic was more subtle and if she turned just right, no one noticed what she was up to.

Not only was Jeannie more obvious but if her arms were broken, she would have been helpless, as she mentions in one episode. It would be less likely for a nose to be broken, but not impossible, at least according to Marcia Brady.

One last magical issue was that Tony could in fact ban Jeannie to her bottle. Since he was her master, she had to obey him and even if she refused, once she was in her bottle, a cap could keep her there. Samantha was an equal partner with Darrin and there were no consequences for her that were any different from any other marriage. She was free to come and go and send him to the couch for the night when they had a disagreement.

So, after reflecting on these issues, what is the determination? Jeannie definitely caused more problems, but she could be banned to the bottle. Samantha was more helpful, but her family caused Darrin a lot of stress.

I guess I would have to say from my perspective at least, Samantha would be the person I would rather be friends with. Jeannie often misinterpreted situations or caused more problems while trying to make things better. She also had a temper that caused her to be blinking before thinking.

With Samantha you could have a normal friendship without being subjected to any weird circumstances, and if you did get involved in something outlandish, she had the ability to freeze time till it got back to normal or put a spell on you to forget that you saw or heard anything abnormal. Whether you agree or disagree, I’d love to hear your thoughts.