Adorable Jeannie

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Television series
German title Adorable Jeannie
Original title I dream of Jeannie
Country of production United States
original language English
Year (s) 1965-1970
length 25 minutes
Episodes 139 in 5 seasons ( list )
genre Comedy , fantasy
idea Sidney Sheldon
music Hugo Montenegro
Buddy Kaye
First broadcast September 8, 1965 (USA) on NBC
German-language
first broadcast		 September 19, 1967 on ZDF
occupation
synchronization

Enchanting Jeannie (originally: I Dream of Jeannie ) is an American television series that premiered on NBC from September 8, 1965 to May 26, 1970 with new episodes, until September 1, 1970 with various reruns. The 13-episode series was first broadcast in Germany by ZDF from September 19 to December 19, 1967. It achieved an above-average rate of 48%. The TV series was produced by Screen Gems and Sidney Sheldon Productions.

action

The Astronaut Tony Nelson, after a failed landing on a deserted island in the Pacific devious, where he finds a strange bottle. An oriental, Persian- speaking spirit ( jinn ) called Jeannie , who has magical powers, has lived in this bottle for 2000 years . Jeannie is in the form of a beautiful blonde woman and has to obey whoever opens the bottle.

Jeannie refused to take the dangerous magical spirit Blue Djinn as her husband, whereupon she transformed this into a genie in a bottle . In a sealed bottle she was supposed to wait for her liberation on a lonely island. Two millennia passed before they were saved on September 18, 1964 in the form of the US astronaut Tony Nelson.

Jeannie falls in love with her liberator and tries to win him over by using magic tricks (usually by blinking her eyes and crossing her arms at the same time). She secretly follows him to his home in Cocoa Beach on the Florida coast . However, since Nelson is engaged to Melissa, trouble is inevitable. Roger Healey, Tony's best friend and work colleague, is the only one who still knows of Jeannie's existence and, like Tony, is constantly involved in the most spectacular sorcery. He's a lovable philanderer with a comedic streak and goes in and out of Tony's. Roger occasionally becomes Jeannie's master.

When Tony opened the bottle, he actually became Jeannie's master, but he immediately declared her free in the first episode. This was always emphasized in the English-language opening credits of the first episodes. For love and because it corresponds to her understanding of her role as a Djinn, Jeannie mostly tries to fulfill all of her master's wishes. In some episodes, however, she resists (e.g. season 1, episode 27 when she wants a pair of slippers back). The way in which Jeannie, with a certain heartfelt naivete, makes Tony's secret wishes come true, however, promotes her master from one difficulty to the next. It also quickly turns out that Jeannie has a mind of her own in many things and is all too happy to patronize Tony.

Tony Rogers and immediate superior, Colonel Alfred Bellows, a NASA - psychiatrist , interprets the unusual situations that arise anew by the magic tricks Jeannie in each episode, always as abnormal behavior by Tony Nelson. Whenever Dr. Bellow's victim of Jeannie's magical tastings, he turns to the general to convince him of Tony's psychic abilities. Because he regularly fails with this request and is considered confused, the general continuously orders him new psychoanalyses.

Tony in particular suffers from the hustle and bustle of his household; sometimes he goes on an involuntary adventure journey into the past, sometimes he has to deal with strange talents or conjured things that only bring him hardship and embarrassing moments. In addition, Jeannie is extremely jealous. Whenever Tony makes another woman's eyes beautiful, she intervenes with her ingenious tricks.

Her magic knows almost no limits: To give her master relaxation, she turns every day into a Sunday; Tony suddenly finds himself at a party with Shakespeare and Sigmund Freud or has to endure the wrath of Napoleon. Objects and people disappear or appear out of nowhere and no one has a reasonable explanation.

Most of all, it annoys Jeannie that Tony disdains her conjured fortunes and wonders. Instead, he wants to pay for his own living, loves “fair play”, doesn't want to use any tricks in professional life and tries in vain to teach Jeannie how to clean and cook with his own hands. Sometimes Tony becomes the plaything of Jeannie's bad sister, who would like to relax her "master" to make Tony her creature; she doesn't even shy away from capturing Jeannie or otherwise killing her.

Jeannie also has a superior, old Haji, who is master of all jinns. If Jeannie breaks the rules of her trade again or needs advice, he rises from a column of smoke with a great roar.

Dr. Alfred Bellows and his busy wife Amanda are also friends with Tony in private - so it is inevitable that Mrs. Bellows also has to endure a lot of spooks. Unlike her husband, however, she easily loses her nerve in such situations. Despite all the complications, Jeannie never means angry. She loves her master with all her heart and does everything possible to finally become his wife. In doing so, however, she regularly incurs unpredictable mishaps.

In the fifth and final season, Jeannie officially marries her master and no longer has to hide from the public. Jeannie retained her magical power despite the wedding to a "normal mortal" man, although in an earlier episode entitled How is this supposed to go on? it was claimed that she would lose it in the process, but children of the couple could inherit the magic power. This is shown in the film The Return of the Enchanting Jeannie from 1985, in which Jeannie is freed from her magically sealed bottle by her son TJ with a blink.

Episodes

Cast and dubbing

The German synchronization was created for ZDF on behalf of ELAN Film Gierke in Munich . The dialogue book was written by Joachim Brinkmann , who also directed the dialogue . ZDF only synchronized 78 episodes, which were not broadcast in sequence. The other episodes were only broadcast years later on Sat 1 , and the roles of Tony Nelson and Roger Healey had to be reassigned.

Main and supporting actors

roll Actress Main role Supporting role Voice actor
Jeannie Barbara Eden 1.01-5.26 Heidi Treutler
Captain / Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson Larry Hagman 1.01-5.26 Gig Malzacher (ZDF-Synchro)
Berno von Cramm (Sat.1-Synchro)
Dr. Alfred E. Bellows Hayden Rorke 1.01-5.26 Thomas Reiner
Captain / Major Roger Healey Bill Daily 1.01-5.26 Horst Sachtleben (ZDF-Synchro)
Tonio von der Meden (Sat.1-Synchro)
Melissa Stone Karen Sharpe 1.01, 1.04
General Wingard Stone Philip Ober 1.01, 1.04 Norbert Gastell
General Martin Peterson Barton MacLane 1.15-4.20 Harry Kalenberg
Amanda Bellows Emmaline Henry 1.18-5.26 Monika John
The blue djinn Michael Ansara 2.01, 3.15, 5.12
General Winfield Schaeffer Vinton Hayworth 4.09-5.26 Harry Kalenberg

Guest actor

Many well-known guest actors appeared in the series, such as the US comedians Groucho Marx , Don Rickles and Milton Berle . Paul Lynde was seen in several guest appearances, e.g. B. as a persistent tax officer or as a thin-skinned director. Sammy Davis Jr. had to deal with his exhausting doppelganger in one episode. The US songwriter duo Boyce and Hart played one of their songs ( Out and About ) in his office at the US music producer Phil Spector in his office, who hired them immediately as a band randomly thrown together by Jeannie . Spector was mentioned by his real name in the German version. In the episode "Tony Is the Strongest", the US heavyweight boxer Jerry Quarry appeared as himself and trained Tony Nelson for an unequal boxing match that ended in a draw at the last moment only thanks to Jeannie's help. Chuck Yeager has a brief guest appearance in the episode "The Secret of the Crystal Ball " and Pancho Segura can be seen as a tennis player in the episode "Always Sundays" . Other stars like Mary Martin did promise guest appearances on the series but were never actually hired.

Remarks

  • The series was created by Sidney Sheldon, who wrote the scripts for 55 of the 139 episodes (5 seasons). James B. Allardice , John L. Greene , James S. Henerson , Megan Flinthof , Mary C. McCall Jr. , Don Richman and even Major Healey actor Bill Daily were responsible for the rest of the episodes . Sheldon also wrote under various pseudonyms.
  • Sidney Sheldon was originally looking for a dark-haired leading actress. He really wanted to avoid any resemblance to the blonde, female lead from the sitcom In Love with a Witch . The lengthy search was unsuccessful, however, and none of the many actresses who spoke met his criteria from the script. In the end, he turned to the agency of the blonde Barbara Eden.
  • The first season with 30 episodes was originally shot in black and white. In the meantime, a subsequently colored version is available on DVD. Sidney Sheldon wanted to shoot the first season in color. At NBC, however, they were of the opinion that the additional costs were not worthwhile because the series did not get beyond a season. Sheldon offered to initially pay the approximately $ 500 per episode out of pocket. The Screen Gems executive producer at the time advised him, "Sidney, don't throw your money away."
  • The pink plush bottle in which Jeannie lives was brought onto the market in 1964 by the Jim Beam company . In the same year it was painted over with a gold design for the series by Robert Purcell . For the later episodes in color, a colorful pattern, in keeping with the spirit of the 1960s, was chosen. During the filming, several new bottles were required in the course of the episodes, as the glass was damaged, for example, by the smoke effects.
  • In the English original version, a sound track with audience laughter ( Lachkonserve , English laugh track ) was used, which was omitted in the German synchronization .
  • A marketing boom started in the 1960s. In 1966 the “Libby dolls” doll factory brought various Jeannie dolls onto the market. A doll of this type was also seen in the episode "Education is Child's Play". The Milton Bradley Company developed a Jeannie board game, which was available in a modified form in 1970 from the Franz Dumke game factory (Nuremberg) on ​​the German market. In 2007 Mattel launched a Jeannie Barbie doll. This doll was not sold in Germany. The doll, busily marketed by Barbara Eden, has sold over two million times so far. In 2011 Mattel brought another "Jeannie" doll true to the original onto the market.
  • Barbara Eden received a Golden Globe nomination for her role as blond genie in a bottle in 1967 and 1970.
  • The role of the bad sister of "Jeannie", who is also called "Jeannie", was played so convincingly by Barbara Eden with a dark-haired wig and a green harem costume that even today TV viewers are still wondering which actress has taken on this part. For this double role she received the TV LAND AWARD in 2003 .
  • At the beginning of the series, Sidney Sheldon received strict requirements from the station for various prohibitions within the actions. Since Jeannie and Tony were an unmarried couple, they were never allowed to kiss for long. Jeannie's bottle was never allowed to be in Tony's bedroom and Tony was never allowed to be in Jeannie's bottle. However, the requirements were quickly relaxed after the start of series production.
  • The pilot episode "A Jeannie from the bottle" had to be reworked. In the original ending scene, Jeannie winks in Tony's bedroom. In the broadcast version, Tony scolds Jeannie, then we see smoke coming out of the bedroom again, Barbara Eden smiles at the camera, blinks and the episode is over.
  • Barbara Eden achieved a great stir and media hype with the strict ban on showing her belly button. A reporter from "The Hollywood Reporter" noticed that Barbara was not revealing enough. When the comedians "Rowan & Martin" wanted to present Barbara Eden's navel on their show, there were real riots between the TV bosses of the station, and Barbara Eden was again unloaded. Her navel can be seen in various episodes because the costume slipped.
  • The series title is a play on words in English, since the name Jeannie sounds exactly like the English word for Djinn , "genie" . This play on words is much less clear in the Germanization (pronunciation only with a short I in jinn ) Likewise lost is the ancient language ("thee", "thou" instead of "you", "art" instead of "are", "hast" instead of "have" and so on) that Jeannie uses in the first episodes and then from the Episode "The Americanization of Jeannie" - apart from a few relapses and the address "Master" ("Master") for Tony Nelson - gradually gives up.
  • The episode "Jeannie Breaks The Bank" was already filmed in color, but originally belongs to the first season, but was not used until the second season. Particularly noticeable is the different styling of Barbara Eden in this episode and the interior of the studio.
  • Germany was the only country to cut out the cartoon opening sequences for the series and to produce a different version for them. For ZDF, the original version, in which "Jeannie" comes out of the bottle and dances to Tony Nelson, was too revealing. However, the DVDs contain the original versions.
  • Tony Nelson wears the blue uniform of the US Air Force in the colored episodes , Roger Healey the green uniform of the US Army . Healey is in the US Army Corps of Engineers according to his lapel badge and wears the astronaut wings, but there were no astronauts from the US Army before the space shuttle program. NASA is shown in the series as a strict military organization, but is actually a US federal agency responsible for both civil and military basic research in aerospace.
  • "I Dream of Jeannie" was last aired on Prime Time on NBC on September 1, 1970. The end of the series came as a surprise to everyone involved, despite the change in the topic (Jeannie finally marries Tony) and the slightly falling audience. NBC felt it had enough episodes to go into the review phases.
  • During the original broadcast of the series, pin-up pictures of Barbara Eden enjoyed great popularity among US soldiers deployed in Vietnam.
  • Barbara Eden published her autobiography Jeannie Out Of The Bottle in April 2011 . In it she describes Larry Hagman's eccentric failures on the set of "I Dream of Jeannie". The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for several weeks.
  • The much-seen specimen of the Bell X-1 rocket plane , used to indicate that the following scenes are set in the NASA offices, is on display at Edwards Air Force Base , California , not in Florida .

Jeannie is looking for her master

In 1991 there was a new Jeannie film called "Jeannie Seeks Her Master" ( I Still Dream of Jeannie ). Barbara Eden and Bill Daily played the old roles again. Larry Hagman refused to slip back into the role of Major Nelson. For the role of Tony and Jeannie's son Tony junior was created, which Christopher Bolton took over.

Charisma

The series became after the first broadcast on NBC , where it ran with rather average success, in the course of the syndication to the real ratings hit , whereby it only achieved cult status during the 1970s. With the repetition of I Dream of Jeannie , broadcasters like WPIX and WTTG even overtook national TV networks in the audience.

In Germany, “Charming Jeannie” achieved a market share of up to 48% on ZDF. In the repeats on Sat. 1 in 1989, the series achieved ratings of over one million viewers in the evening program. At the time, Sat. 1 had not expected the great success. At the end of the 1990s, the series was also in the top 10 of the station's most popular series on Kabel Eins. In a repetition of the series in 2005, “Bewitching Jeannie” on Kabel Eins sometimes achieved daily highs, even though the series was already broadcast at 7 a.m.

The ZDF initially only showed 78 episodes. It was not until Sat.1 and Comedy & Co, part of the former DF1 bouquet, that the other episodes were broadcast in the new German dubbed version in the 1980s and 1990s.

From September 8, 2008 to February 26, 2010, the series was broadcast on ORF1 in the afternoon program. ORF1 was so surprised by the huge success and the good ratings that after the broadcast of the last episode, another and complete sequel from episode 1 was broadcast.

On November 15, 2008, 3sat broadcast the two episodes “The Wrong Bottle” (1966) and “A Very Special Vintage” (1970) as part of the “HexenZauber” theme day .

Directors

Remakes

  • In 1973 a cartoon series with 16 episodes was published under the name Jeannie , but it was not broadcast in Germany.
  • 1985 followed with the return of the bewitching Jeannie (original title: I Dream Of Jeannie - 15 Years Later) a television film.
  • In 1991 a second TV film I Still Dream of Jeannie was made , in German "Jeannie is looking for her master". This film was broadcast by ProSieben in 1993.
  • Barbara Eden had her last appearances as "Jeannie" in 1996 in the final scene of the film "A Very Brady Sequel" and in 1998 for a commercial for the Lexus car brand.

DVD

All five seasons appeared on Sony Germany.

The first season, actually black and white, appeared in the region code only -2 version colored , while you can buy both versions in the region. 1

literature

  • Dennis Brewster: Adorable Jeannie. Based on the popular television series. Boutique-Verlag Schneider, Munich 1969.
  • Fred Grandinetti: Still Dreaming of Jeannie. A Pictorial History of "I dream of Jeannie". Fred Grandinetti Productions, undated, 1988.
  • Richard D. Barnes: Diary Of A Genie. A History of Sidney Sheldon's I Dream of Jeannie from 1964 to Present. N / A 1996.
  • Steve Cox: Dreaming of Jeannie. TV's Prime Time In A Bottle. St. Martin's Griffin, New York NY 2000, ISBN 0-312-20417-5 .

Web links

Commons : Enchanting Jeannie  Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Adorable Jeannie. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on August 4, 2019 .
  2. ↑ imfernsehen GmbH & Co KG: Enchanting Jeannie Season 1, Episode 25: The Secret of the Crystal Ball. Retrieved January 18, 2020 .