This entertaining sitcom from the 1960's is a fun little bit of fluff. It's sort of in the same league league with Bewitched and Gilligan's Island, though not quite as masterful as the crazy Beverly Hillbillies. To this day when I come across Jeannie in re runs, I still often tune in.
The series chronicles the assorted adventures of a NASA astronaut, Major Tony Nelson, who discovers on a beach a bottle containing a genie. He releases the beautiful blonde named Jeannie, who had been trapped inside 2000 years earlier in Babylon. Jeannie can materialize objects or alter situations, using her determined crossing of the arms maneuver and blinking her eyes. Always far too eager to please, she uses her powers to serve her new master, Major Nelson, even when he would rather not be served! Only Tony's friend, Major Roger Healey, is aware of his pal's new genie companion.
The acting is stellar in this tale. Barbara Eden makes a beautiful, zany, and quite endearing Jeannie who is typically clad in harem pants. Larry Hagman, in his pre Dallas days, portrays convincingly the beleaguered and ultimately enamoured astronaut, Major Nelson, who is usually quite distraught while trying to undo or cover up Jeannie's latest magic tricks. By the way, he closes the lid on her bottle to contain her whenever she grows too out of hand!
Jeannie's antics in Cocoa Beach, Florida make for some hilarious scenarios. She has, for example, blinked an elephant into Tony's house or spirited him back to ancient Persia. Jeannie develops quite a determined affection for her poor, hapless master. At first they are just friends but eventually, against his better judgment, Tony is compelled to respond in kind to this gorgeous and totally devoted female. Meanwhile, she is quite jealous of any potential love interest her master might have and constantly doing her little "pranks" to make HIM jealous, sometimes with her friend, the womanizing Major Healey, in cahoots.
They must keep Jeannie's identity secret from the Air Force psychiatrist, Colonel Bellowes, who frequently suspects something is amiss but comes up short in finding convincing evidence for others who question his tall stories. Whenever he reports the strange goings on with this astronaut, between Tony, Roger, and Jeannie herself, they manage to get the problem fixed up so that the poor Colonel comes across as a total idiot.
All in all, it's a cute and harmless show, quite entertaining escapist drivel that we could actually use more of these days. The sort of silly nonsense you might like to watch with your feet up when you get home from work and would like to turn your brain completely off for half an hour.
The series chronicles the assorted adventures of a NASA astronaut, Major Tony Nelson, who discovers on a beach a bottle containing a genie. He releases the beautiful blonde named Jeannie, who had been trapped inside 2000 years earlier in Babylon. Jeannie can materialize objects or alter situations, using her determined crossing of the arms maneuver and blinking her eyes. Always far too eager to please, she uses her powers to serve her new master, Major Nelson, even when he would rather not be served! Only Tony's friend, Major Roger Healey, is aware of his pal's new genie companion.
The acting is stellar in this tale. Barbara Eden makes a beautiful, zany, and quite endearing Jeannie who is typically clad in harem pants. Larry Hagman, in his pre Dallas days, portrays convincingly the beleaguered and ultimately enamoured astronaut, Major Nelson, who is usually quite distraught while trying to undo or cover up Jeannie's latest magic tricks. By the way, he closes the lid on her bottle to contain her whenever she grows too out of hand!
Jeannie's antics in Cocoa Beach, Florida make for some hilarious scenarios. She has, for example, blinked an elephant into Tony's house or spirited him back to ancient Persia. Jeannie develops quite a determined affection for her poor, hapless master. At first they are just friends but eventually, against his better judgment, Tony is compelled to respond in kind to this gorgeous and totally devoted female. Meanwhile, she is quite jealous of any potential love interest her master might have and constantly doing her little "pranks" to make HIM jealous, sometimes with her friend, the womanizing Major Healey, in cahoots.
They must keep Jeannie's identity secret from the Air Force psychiatrist, Colonel Bellowes, who frequently suspects something is amiss but comes up short in finding convincing evidence for others who question his tall stories. Whenever he reports the strange goings on with this astronaut, between Tony, Roger, and Jeannie herself, they manage to get the problem fixed up so that the poor Colonel comes across as a total idiot.
All in all, it's a cute and harmless show, quite entertaining escapist drivel that we could actually use more of these days. The sort of silly nonsense you might like to watch with your feet up when you get home from work and would like to turn your brain completely off for half an hour.