Tabitha (TV series)

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North American DVD release

Tabitha was an American fantasy sitcom that aired during the 1977-1978 season on ABC. It was a spin-off of Bewitched, which had ended its run several years earlier.

The series starred Lisa Hartman as Tabitha Stephens (some sources spell her name "Tabatha"), the daughter of Samantha and Darrin, now a young woman in Los Angeles working in television, while learning how to use and control her witchcraft powers. Helping her along (or hindering her) is her younger brother, Adam (David Ankrum), while Robert Urich appeared as her love interest.

The only actors from the original series to appear were Bernard Fox who reprised his role of the warlock Dr. Bombay, and George Tobias and Sandra Gould who made guest appearances as Abner and Gladys Kravitz. Neither Elizabeth Montgomery nor Dick Sargent appeared on the new series. Actress Karen Morrow played Tabitha and Adam's meddlesome Aunt Minerva, who was always after Tabitha to use her witchcraft.

The series takes place in the "present day" (late 1970s), yet does not attempt to reconcile how Tabitha and Adam could be depicted as being in their early-to-mid 20s when they were still young children (Adam was a toddler) when Bewitched (another "present day" series) ended only five years earlier.

There were in fact two pilot films produced for the series. The first, which was broadcast by ABC on April 24, 1976 (and used the variant spelling Tabatha for the title) starred Liberty Williams in the title role, with Bruce Kimmel as Adam.[1] The major difference between the pilot and the series (besides the jarring vision of the brunette Williams playing the always-blonde Tabitha) was Adam was a full-fledged and mischievous warlock in the pilot, but was made a mortal for the series (thus making him the disapproving figure as Darrin had been, and going against the original series, where Adam had proven capable of magic in the last season).

The first pilot (directed by Bewitched producer/director William Asher) sold the series, but ABC changed the sitcom's setting from San Francisco to Los Angeles, recast the main roles, and ordered a second pilot with Hartman and Ankrum. This version also gave Tabitha an "Aunt Minerva", who had never been referred to on the original series.

The revised Tabitha series aired on ABC on May 7, 1977 and the series properly debuted on September 10 of that year. The series' second official episode would not air until November 12. The series then continued more-or-less uninterrupted but failed to garner sufficient ratings to be renewed for a full season. The final episode aired on January 14, 1978 for a total of 13 episodes produced and broadcast, including the two pilots.

In 2005, to coincide with the release of the first season of Bewitched on DVD (and the release of the Bewitched feature film), the Tabitha series was also released on DVD. The original Liberty Williams pilot is included as a Special Feature.

[edit] Characters

Adam is Tabitha's brother. He is against the whole magic thing and persuades Tabitha not to use her magic. Although he himself has some semblance of warlock powers, he doesn't use them in the series.

Aunt Minerva is Adam and Tabitha's aunt. She is meddlesome, a busy-body and encourages Tabitha to use her magic. Endora is her sister-in-law, making her the sister of Maurice.