Darrin Stephens or Tony Nelson, who had it better?

amadeus

amadeus

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Since they didn't have the internet in the 1960's, we have to argue about this today.

Darrin Stephens was the husband from Bewitched, Tony Nelson the husband from I Dream of Jeannie. I'll post about Stephens first as Bewitched began airing one year before Jeannie.

Darrin Stephens
  • married to a witch
  • advertising executive
  • annoying, meddlesome mother-in-law
  • lives across from nosy neighbor
Tony Nelson
  • married to a genie
  • NASA astronaut
  • best friend is kind of annoying
  • nosy psychiatrist at work

Food for thought!
 
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Tony Nelson had it better. Jeannie didn't have a plethora of troublesome/annoying genie relatives and associates like Samantha did (Endora, Aunt Hagatha, Aunt Clara, Uncle Arthur, Serena, Doctor Bombay, Esmeralda, and of course Tabitha). Darrin also had to put up with his boss, Larry Tate.

Tony just had to put up with Jeannie's mother and sister, who didn't appear anything close to as often as Samantha's relatives.

Fun fact... Tony and Jeannie got reincarnated in the '90s, on Dallas. Larry Hagman's most famous role was J.R. Ewing, and Barbara Eden played Lee Ann de la Vega - who managed to take Ewing Oil away from J.R. She did it out of revenge for him ruining her life decades before. An in-joke is that Lee Ann mentions that her former name was Lee Ann Nelson.
 
I just realized I misspelled Stephens. Lousy names with two spellings!

I never watched Dallas. Only soap I ever watched with any regularity was The Young and the Restless and that's because it was on the family TV during the daytime.

I suppose in an "objective" sense, Tony Nelson had it better. I personally am averse to flying, like advertising, and think you could probably win Larry Tate over easily if you just gave him a couple of drinks every time he stumbled over. On being married to either Elizabeth Montgomery or Barbara Eden, I really could go either way and not lose. Also, Darrin was kind of high-strung and Endora wasn't that bad most of the time.

But then again, he did have kids and that's not really in my bag. I may have to reconsider...
 
On the surface I'd say Tony had it easier but ultimately Darren had it better. Samantha was a real partner there by choice trying to blend in.

Jeannie called Tony master all along and frequently popped in in her geni getup. Did he have a real relationship? Was Jeannie just there because she had to be? Did she even understand what was going on half the time?
 
Tony had it better in my opinion. I don't know what kind of...stuff Tony is into, but having your wife call you "master" all the time can certainly get the blood flowing if you catch my meaning.
 
The first Darrin was more highly-strung than the second Darrin. By that time he'd basically learned to just roll with whatever was going on, unless it was about the kids (the second Darrin was the one when they had Tabitha and Adam).

Commodore said:
Tony had it better in my opinion. I don't know what kind of...stuff Tony is into, but having your wife call you "master" all the time can certainly get the blood flowing if you catch my meaning.
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:rolleyes:

Thank you for the reminder that there is probably a plethora of pornographic Jeannie fanfic out there, including slashfic between Tony and his best friend. I don't think I'll bother checking to verify, however.

If you recall, Tony kept asking her not to call him "master". Even telling her not to didn't work.
 
Valka D'Ur said:
The first Darrin was more highly-strung than the second Darrin. By that time he'd basically learned to just roll with whatever was going on, unless it was about the kids (the second Darrin was the one when they had Tabitha and Adam).


:rolleyes:

Thank you for the reminder that there is probably a plethora of pornographic Jeannie fanfic out there, including slashfic between Tony and his best friend. I don't think I'll bother checking to verify, however.

If you recall, Tony kept asking her not to call him "master". Even telling her not to didn't work.
Click to expand...
Rule 34.
 
Valka D'Ur said:
Thank you for the reminder that there is probably a plethora of pornographic Jeannie fanfic out there, including slashfic between Tony and his best friend
Click to expand...

You're welcome. Happy to be of service. :D
 
Commodore said:
Tony had it better in my opinion. I don't know what kind of...stuff Tony is into, but having your wife call you "master" all the time can certainly get the blood flowing if you catch my meaning.
Click to expand...
All the time would be excessive, in my opinion.

Valka D'Ur said:
The first Darrin was more highly-strung than the second Darrin.
Click to expand...
Which is odd considering that Darrin #2 was, how could we say... well, he and Uncle Arthur had more in common than they both knew.
 
Timsup2nothin said:
Ginger or Maryann?
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The actresses who played these roles are the only Gilligan's Island cast still alive. It's a bit depressing to know some of the behind-the-scenes stuff. Tina Louise had expected to have a bigger part, and was not pleased to be just one of the supporting roles. She wasn't very nice to the fans, whereas Dawn Wells made the most of Mary Ann, and has always treated the fans well.
 
Oooh Mary Ann :love:

And I always liked Samantha Stevens. She seemed quite intelligent and a good role model for women of the day (she wasn't subservient to her husband). Elizabeth Montgomery was a very progressive woman, from what I understand.

Jeannie, on the other hand, was a dolt. Barbara Eden was not.
 
I met the then-surviving cast of Gilligan’s Island once, excluding Tina Louise. There was a story about her going to the network and complaining why Bob Denver got top billing; the executive in charge asked her if she had seen the show’s title. :lol:

If I’m choosing to be a character on that show, I’m going for Mr. Howell. Mainly so I could talk like Jim Backus. :crazyeye:

Lemon Merchant said:
Elizabeth Montgomery was a very progressive woman, from what I understand.
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Good celebrity on Password too!
 
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