# First TV show to consistently feature a character being magical **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112 "2024-08-23T20:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/1 "2024-08-23T20:09:05Z")
I’m thinking Bewitched type magic, and I Dream of Jeannie. I think “My Favorite Martian” predates these two by a year or so…but is that the first one of this genre? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/2 "2024-08-23T20:46:04Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I think “My Favorite Martian” predates these two by a year or so…but is that the first one of this genre? Weren’t his abilities the result of him being Martian? In which case either it doesn’t count, or that TV show about a superpowered Kryptonian predates it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/3 "2024-08-23T21:01:41Z")
The first appearance of Witch Hazel in Looney Tunes was 1954, ten years before bewitched. Though, funnily enough, the name of the episode was _Bewitched Bunny._ Her first ever appearance was two years earlier, but in a short film rather than on a tv show. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/4 "2024-08-23T21:15:58Z")
Would that have been on TV? My understanding is that, until the 70s, the Looney Tunes were aired on the big screen (and only on the big screen). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/5 "2024-08-23T21:19:39Z")
Ahah, no it looks like they were broadcast on TV shortly after release in the cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/6 "2024-08-23T21:22:22Z")
If animated stuff is discounted, I’d throw in Lassie and every human who’s able to understand what she’s saying. Alternately, there’s probably some cowboy show where the sheriff kills more bad guys than the total population of his town… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/7 "2024-08-23T21:25:53Z")
I was born in 1955, and I grew up watching Looney Toons on TV. Do ghosts count as magical? _ **Topper** _, with Leo G Carroll, came on TV in 1953. It was based on the 1937 movie of the same name starring Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, Roland Young, and Billie Burke. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/8 "2024-08-23T21:39:08Z")
Ninja’ed. I was about to bring up _[Topper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topper_(TV_series))_ as well. The wonderful Anne Jeffreys who played the ghost Marion Kerby (all these years I thought it was “Kirby”) was the last surviving regular. Dying in 2017, age 94. Stephen Sondheim co-wrote eleven episodes. Among the guest stars who went on to later fame include Natalie Schafer, Kathleen Freeman, John Banner, Nancy Kulp, and Hugh Beaumont. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/9 "2024-08-23T21:41:44Z")
_My Favorite Martian_ was created in 1963 by John L. Greene, who also wrote for _Bewitched_ and _I Dream of Jeannie,_ as well as many other shows. But @terentii is right that _Topper_, based on a 1937 movie of the same name with Cary Grant and Roland Young as the title ghost, predates any of the 1960s shows. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/10 "2024-08-23T22:25:37Z")
**Nitpick:** Cary Grant was the nonconventional, fun-loving ghost George Kerby, Marion’s husband. Roland Young played stuffy old Cosmo Topper, George’s banker. I see from Wikipedia that TV Cosmo’s boss Mr Schuyler was played by an actor named Thurston Howell. I wonder if he was any relation to Jim Backus? 🤨 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/11 "2024-08-23T22:34:38Z")
“The Great Gazoo” first appeared on “The Flintstones” in 1965. BTW, he was voiced by Harvey Korman. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/12 "2024-08-23T22:40:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I see from Wikipedia that TV Cosmo’s boss Mr Schuyler was played by an actor named Thurston Howell. [Thurston _Hall_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurston_Hall). Though, the actor’s name may well have been inspiration for the character’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/13 "2024-08-23T22:43:23Z")
_My Mother the Car_ aired in 1965. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/14 "2024-08-23T22:54:39Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I Dream of Jeannie Which premiered in 1965, a year after _Bewitched_, and which was created in response to the success of _Bewitched_ in its first season (#2 in the overall Nielsen ratings, and the top-rated situation comedy). > [@Czarcasm](#): > > “The Great Gazoo” first appeared on “The Flintstones” in 1965. > [@Telemark](#): > > _My Mother the Car_ aired in 1965. See above, as far as coincident timing. Also on _The Flintstones_ in 1965 was [a crossover episode with _Bewitched_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0580225/?ref_=ttep_ep6), which featured Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York voicing the animated versions of their characters. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/15 "2024-08-23T23:02:17Z")
You’re, right. I completely misremembered the plot. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-show-to-consistently-feature-a-character-being-magical/1006112/16 "2024-08-24T00:09:00Z")
Huh. I guess I need new eyeglasses. 😳