Bewitched
The Phrase is Familiar
TV Flash files “The Phrase is Familiar” as hour 187 of 254 in the TV Flash guide — Bewitched (1964–1972) on ABC, season 6, episode 17, aired 1970-01-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E17: listed hour 187 of 254 in the Bewitched guide, hour 17 of 30 in season 6. It aired 1970-01-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Samantha's Lost Weekend” (S06E16). Next is “Samantha's Secret is Discovered” (S06E18).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
After learning that "plays on words" helps Darrin in his line of work, Endora casts a spell that makes Darrin speak only in clichés. Whether she meant to pick on Darrin or not, Endora ends up helping Darrin in the end after all.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Phrase is Familiar sit in the Bewitched guide?
S06E17 is listed hour 187 of 254 — hour 17 of 30 in season 6, season 6 episode 17.
When did Bewitched S06E17 air?
The Phrase is Familiar aired 1970-01-15 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Why do Darrin Stephens look different after a certain season?
Dick York played Darrin through season 5. Dick Sargent took over in season 6 after York left because of back injuries. The show did not pause to explain the face. Audiences still notice.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch the twitch as a fashion cue: Samantha's suburban chic smuggling power into a pretty house. The recast is the scandal; the look is the argument — magic as silhouette, marriage as costume change, chiffon doing the plot.
She twitches, and the living room rearranges itself — chiffon still falling, blonde still behaving, the house in Westport already a set decoration for a secret. That is not a special effect. That is a silhouette doing the plot. Bewitched, 1964 on ABC, is glamour as suburban camouflage: Samantha Stephens in perfect hostess clothes, a nose twitch as the only jewelry that matters, and a marriage that keeps asking her to dress like she is not a witch. Style is the argument. If you only track the gags, you are…
Filed against
- Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens
Elizabeth Montgomery nose-twitched suburban magic into existence as Samantha Stephens on Bewitched — fantasy sitcom that smuggled change into a pretty house. Grace under Darrin-recast chaos made her 1960s TV royalty. TV Flash still…
- Dick York as Darrin Stephens
Dick York was the first Darrin Stephens on Bewitched — mortal panic in a gray suit beside Elizabeth Montgomery's twitch, five seasons before a back injury forced the recast the living room never forgot. TV Flash files him as the original…
- Dick Sargent as Darrin Stephens
Dick Sargent inherited Darrin Stephens on Bewitched from season six — the recast the living room clocked like a missing ring. Same gray-suit mortal, same marriage to Samantha's twitch: a hard swap after Dick York's back could no longer…
- Agnes Moorehead as Endora
Agnes Moorehead glowered and glittered as Endora on Bewitched — the mother-in-law as glamorous magical menace in 1960s fantasy sitcom form. Radio and film pedigree made every eye-roll land like a spell. TV Flash crowns her the original…