"I wanted to make sure that the man who found the genie would "not "take terrible advantage of her, so he needed to be a person of "integrity "and honor - which is why I made the male lead an astronaut. "The rest, as they say, is history. -Sidney Sheldon
"SOME THINGS JUST GET IN YOUR HEAD AND STAY THERE - LIKE THE THEME SONG FROM I DREAM OF JEANNIE. BUT IT'S MUCH MORE THAN A CATCHY TUNE THAT'S KEPT JEANNIE FILLING OUR DREAMS FOR THE LAST HALF CENTURY. IT'S THE MAGIC THAT THE SHOW CREATED, IN GREAT PART, OWING TO THE CHEMISTRY OF ITS BELOVED CAST. HOLD ONTO YOUR FLYING CARPET AS WE TRAVEL BACK TO COCOA BEACH, FOR A BLINK AT ONE OF TELEVISION'S MOST BELOVED AND ENDURING ICONS."
"[the following is from "TV Trope"]"
"One of the classic 1960s Fantastic Comedies, I Dream Of Jeannie" ran on NBC from September 1965 to May 1970. Starring Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden, it depicted the life of American astronaut Captain (later Major) Anthony Nelson and the beautiful genie he acquired while stranded on a desert island after a space mission. Because of the series' repeated emphasis on Jeannie's absolute devotion to Tony, "I Dream Of Jeannie" is also considered the archetypal Reactionary Fantasy, simultaneously establishing a woman with almost limitless power while literally enslaving her to a man who doesn't want her to use it. Despite the enormous potential for his own personal gain with no risk, Tony Nelson would rather embrace conformity so as to remain in the astronaut program. This being a Sitcom, complete success in his goal of appearing normal is of course denied him.
The only question is which gender's fantasy is being indulged. In the first episode, as he was about to be rescued from the desert island where he found her bottle, Tony explicitly freed Jeannie from his service. She followed him back to Florida entirely of her own volition, and when Tony took the most logical approach of saying, "I wish you to vanish!", she laughed that he set her free to do whatever she pleased, and what pleases her is to stick around and take over Tony's life, which may explain Tony's persistent failure to ensure her complete and unconditional obedience afterwards.
"
"The girl in the bottle plays spin the astronaut."
Tony's efforts to present a stable homelife centered on the opinion of NASA psychiatrist Dr. Alfred Bellows, who had suspected Tony of insanity or worse after the astronaut carelessly described his first encounter with Jeannie during a post-mission examination in the first episode. Complicating this were not only Jeannie and her magical antics, but fellow astronaut Roger Healey, who learned about Jeannie and wanted to exploit her powers for his own benefit (although this was toned down after his first attempt led to near disaster).
Dr. Bellows' wife Amanda complemented his suspicions with her own Secret Chaser tendencies, often leaving Tony scrambling to cover for Jeannie's magical eccentricities.
Jeannie's sister, mother, and various other friends and relatives from the good old days of Caliph Haroun al'Raschid just added to the chaotic mix. Somehow, though, across the course of the five years the show was on the air, their relationship evolved from master-slave to love between partners.
In the last season Jeannie and Tony were married.
"
The inside of Jeannie's bottle - the ultimate girl cave
I Dream Of Jeannie" was created by Sidney Sheldon in explicit reaction to the success of "Bewitched". Inspired by the movie "The Brass Bottle" (which coincidentally also starred Barbara Eden, though portly Burl Ives was the Genie in that film, while Barbara was his master's human fianc'ee), he deliberately inverted the genie trope as it then existed, turning the hideous and borderline-malicious male genie of the "Arabian Nights" into a beautiful female genie who was eager to please her master. He also gave Tony a clear motivation for maintaining a facade of normality (remaining an astronaut during NASA's glory days, with its chances of making history), as opposed to the unremarkable, dull and conventional life idealized by Darrin Stevens.
Sheldon reportedly wanted a brunette Jeannie - mainly to avoid comparisons to the blonde Samantha of "Bewitched" - but could not find anyone who could play the role as he had envisioned it; Barbara Eden was cast almost in an act of desperation.
"
"All I do is think and blink."Years later, scandalously baring the navel, at last.
After its cancellation, "I Dream of Jeannie" demonstrated remarkable success in syndication, winning timeslots across the country and becoming the first non-network program ever to earn higher ratings than network fare in the same timeslot. By Fall 1971, "Jeannie" Reruns in syndication were reaching a larger audience than saw the program's first-run on NBC. Its cult-like success spawned the mandatory Animated Adaptation in 1973, and two TV movie semi-reunions - 1985's "I Dream of Jeannie: 15 "Years Later" (in which Wayne Rogers replaced Larry Hagman as Tony) and 1991's "I Still Dream of Jeannie" (which eliminated Tony entirely).
A feature-film version has been rumored for years, with every star(let)-of-the-hour from Paris Hilton to Halle Berry proposed for the title role. The latest incarnation of this project is back inDevelopment Hell after being scheduled for a 2008 release for a while, a curiously identical fate to the film version of Larry Hagman's other TV show.
TRIVIABarbara Eden got to keep the color stunt bottle used on the last day of filming the final episode of the television series. It was given to her by her make-up woman after the show was canceled while the show was on hiatus. [source: Wikipedia]
"More images posted in our full e-magazine version, available now by subscription "
"Take a walk on memory beach with the I Dream of Jeannie opening credits, shown below."
