The Eight-Year Itch Witch

The Eight-Year Itch Witch
Season 8, Episode 12 Series Episode 240
Airdate	December 8, 1971
Written by	Ruth Brooks Flippen
Directed by	Richard Michaels
Episode Guide
Previous "The Warlock in the Gray Flannel Suit"	Next "Three Men and a Witch on a Horse"

The Eight-Year Itch Witch is the twelfth episode of the eighth season, and the 240th episode of the Bewitched series. The episode was completed by August 26, 1971.

Plot

Endora turns a Siamese cat into a statuesque model named Ophelia after finding in Darrin's briefcase a bunch of photos of women in bikinis and claiming that her son-in-law is not an honest man. Samantha fully understands that Darrin often has to deal with beautiful models, this time in order to find this year's Catwoman as the mascot for the Tom Cat Tractor campaign. Endora counters that Darrin has the seven-year itch, the fact that Samantha and he have been married eight years which only shows her how dense he is. So Endora enlists the help of Ophelia the cat to really test Darrin's loyalty. Ophelia, as a human, is a perfect model and she easily aces her photo shoot. When she learns that Darrin is not coming on a business trip to Albany, she magically tricks Larry and Mr. Burkeholder, owner of Tom Cat Tractor, to insist that he fly to Albany with them. Darrin agrees, but hopes to come back at the end of the day because he wants to celebrate the anniversary of his first date with Samantha at home. Ophelia does whatever she can to keep Darrin in Albany and seduce him. Samantha eventually learns what is happening and, as she predicted to her mother, finally finds Darrin at the airport instead of Ophelia's hotel room. When Darrin returns home, Endora apologizes to him with a message written in the sky.

Gallery

Betty shows Ophelia in to meet Darrin.

Trivia

General

• The title is an allusion of psychological concept of the seven-year itch, which refers to the decline of interest in a monogamous relationship after seven years of marriage. It is also a takeoff from The Seven Year Itch, a 1952 three-act play written by George Axelrod, adapted in Billy Wilder's 1955 movie of the same title.
• Remake of Season One's "It Takes One to Know One", combined with elements of "Ling Ling" from the same season and from Season Three's "Three Wishes".

Cast

• Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens
• Dick Sargent as Darrin Stephens
• Agnes Moorehead as Endora
• David White as Larry Tate
• Julie Newmar as Ophelia
• Samantha Scott as Betty
• Parley Baer as Mr. Burkeholder
• Ron Russell as Chet
• Roger La Joie as Waiter

See Also

• Season Eight
• Bewitched Episodes

Sources

• Pierce, David L. "The omni-directional three-dimensional vectoring paper printed omnibus for Bewitched analysis : a.k.a. the Bewitched history book." BearManor Media, 2012, pages 658-659.
• James, Adam-Michael. "The Bewitched Continuum: The Ultimate Linear Guide to the Classic TV Series." (Foreword and Edited by Herbie J. Pilato), Bright Horse Publishing, 2014, page 534.
• Pilato, Herbie J. "Bewitched forever : the immortal companion to television's most magical supernatural situation comedy." Summit Pub. Group, 1996, page 207.
• The Eight-Year Itch Witch on the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on December 18, 2024.
• The Eight-Year Itch Witch on Wikipedia. Retrieved on December 18, 2024.