In Bewitched, written by Barris and Taylor, Samantha, a hardworking black single mom who happens to be a witch, marries Darren, a white mortal who happens to be a bit of a slacker. They struggle to navigate their differences as she discovers that even when a black girl is literally magic, she’s still not as powerful as a decently tall white man with a full head of hair in America.
Barris is executive producing via his Khalabo Ink Society banner alongside Taylor and Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and John Fox.
XCLUSIVE: Just before he recently departed ABC Studios to embark on a rich overall deal at Netflix, Black-ish creator Kenya Barris sold one last high-profile project to ABC: Bewitched, a single camera, an interracial blended family comedy based on the popular 1960s sitcom of the same name. It took a little while for all the deals to close, but the network has given a pilot production commitment to the new take on the classic supernatural sitcom, from Barris and Black-ish writer/producer Yamara Taylor. The project hails from ABC Studios; Sony Pictures TV, which has the rights to the title; and Sony-based Davis Entertainment (The Blacklist).
ABC, which aired the original Bewitched from 1964-1972, had been very interested in a reboot as the concept represents a twist on a family sitcom, which has been the network’s signature brand of comedy.
In 2014, ABC heavily pursued a Bewitched sequel, one of two previous attempts by Sony Pictures TV to revive the comedy series over the past decade. Besides the 2014 project, which in a bidding situation landed a pilot production commitment at NBC but did not go to series, another reboot was in development at CBS during the 2011-2012 season.
Created by Sol Saks and executive produced by Harry Ackerman, Bewitched ran for eight seasons. It starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, a witch married to an ordinary mortal man, Darrin, and chronicles the way her powers and wicked family get in the way of her efforts to live a normal, magic-free life as a typical suburban housewife. Her daughter, Tabitha, got her short-lived spinoff series on ABC in 1977. Lisa Hartman played adult Tabitha who, along with her brother Adam, worked at a TV station.
Bewitched got a feature remake with Columbia Pictures’ 2005 film starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. While it didn’t fare well, the original series remains popular. It has enjoyed a long afterlife in syndication and around the world with local versions mounted in Russia, India, Argentina, and Japan. The classic sitcom also has also been embraced by new technologies with a streaming deal at Hulu.
Barris sold Bewitched to ABC shortly before his overall deal at ABC Studios officially terminated August 15, a little over a year into its original four-year term. The next day, Netflix announced an overall deal with the prolific comedy writer-producer, said to be for three years with an option for another two.
In addition to creating the Peabody-awarded and Emmy-nominated ABC comedy series Black-ish and its successful spinoff series Grown-ish on Freeform, Barris also is behind the upcoming Freeform comedy series Besties and co-wrote last summer’s hit feature comedy Girls Trip. He is repped by Artists First, CAA and attorney Gregg Gellman.
Before joining Black-ish at the start of Season 2, Taylor worked as a writer on Instant Mom and The Boondocks, the latter also produced by Sony TV. She is repped by CAA, 3 Arts and Lev Ginsburg.
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