By Paul

Samantha made good use of the telephone in the first four seasons of Bewitched. Due to time limitations in each episode, her conversations were usually short, but she made up for it in quantity. In the first 140 episodes, there were 107 scenes where Samantha talked on the phone. While she couldn’t keep up with today's cell phone generation, there was one thing she could do that the current crop of cell phone kids can’t; she could do magic over the phone and did it twice--in episodes #46, "Junior Executive" and #139, "Man of the Year".

The phones moved around quite a bit and were always near to where they were needed for the scene. In some episodes where a phone was not used, none was present, though in other episodes a phone could be seen. A phone was shown in four locations in the living room: on the sofa end table nearest the dining room, on the right side of the TV, on the left side of the TV and on the coffee table. In the kitchen, the phone was located on the counter on the left side of the sink, the door side of the kitchen/dining room pass-thru, and on the kitchen table. In the master bedroom, the phone was always on Samantha’s side of the bed, except for one episode where Darrin was called on to answer it. The phone was shown three times in the dining room: at the pass-thru, on the dining room table, and once with Samantha standing in the middle of the room holding the phone (#10, "Just One Happy Family").

Pay phones were shown being used by Samantha in two episodes, and regular phones were shown in two doctor’s offices. In one instance each, Samantha used the den's desk phone, a toy phone in the nursery, at a restaurant table in Paris, at the home of the High Lama, at a client’s home, and on Darrin’s secretary’s desk.

 

TELE-BITS:  Samantha was on the phone 30 times in the first season, 24 times in the second, 28 times in the third, and 25 times in the fourth.  The only episode where Samantha was on the phone more than three times in an episode was #121, "My, What Big Ears You Have," where she was on the phone 4 times.

 

In episode #9, "Witch or Wife," Samantha is seen using the phone. She is lying across the bed in the master bedroom, dressed in a robe with a towel around her hair, while Darrin tells her that because of the workload Larry has dumped on him, he cannot take her to dinner that evening. This is the first time she is seen using a phone and one of the five times she used the phone in the bedroom.

 

 

The most popular place for a phone call was in the living room with the phone on the end table of the sofa on the side nearest the dining room. This picture from episode #9, "Witch or Wife," is the first of 28 calls to or from that location in the first two seasons. For the third season, the end tables were done away with and the phone split time between the coffee table (6 times) and the left (13 times) and right (14 times) ends of the TV set.

 

 

The next most popular place for the phone to be was on the kitchen counter on the side nearest the outside door. The pic from episode #82, "Dangerous Diaper Dan," is one of the 21 times the phone was used in that location.

 

 

This pic from episode #78, "Accidental Twins," is one of the 6 times the phone was on the coffee table, mostly during the third season.

 

 

This pic from #27, "There’s No Witch Like an Old Witch," is the first of the 14 times the phone was seen on the right side of the TV, and the only time during the first two seasons. The phone was in this location twice in the third season and 11 times in the fourth.

 

 

This scene is from episode #101, "The Crone of Cawdor." Beginning with episode #89, "A Gazebo Never Forgets," the phone was shown on the left side of the TV 13 times.

 

 

This scene from episode #45, "...And Then I Wrote," is the only time the phone was used in the den.

 

 

The phone was shown on the kitchen/dining room pass-thru, on the kitchen side nearest the door, in three scenes in episode #31, "That Was My Wife," and not shown there again.

 

 

The phone was shown on the kitchen table twice, including this scene from episode #137, "Samantha’s Secret Saucer."

 

 

The phone was shown on the dining room side of the pass-thru four times, including this scene from episode #22, "Eye of the Beholder." Samantha also had two other calls in the dining room, one with the phone on the dining room table, and one with her holding the phone from the living room.

 

 

Here Samantha takes a “if you can’t beat 'em, join 'em” attitude in episode #134, "Tabatha’s Cranky Spell," and answers a call on Tabatha’s toy phone in the nursery.

 

 

Samantha uses a pay phone to call home in episode #117, "That Was No Chick, That Was My Wife." This is one of the two times she was shown using a pay phone.

 

 

In episode #75, "Nobody’s Perfect," Samantha calls Darrin from a doctor’s office. She did this one other time.

 

 

Samantha talks on a phone at a restaurant table in episode #9, "Witch or Wife," the only time she is shown using a restaurant table phone.