Magical Mondays: The series premiere of Tabitha (1977)

 We've discussed before how ABC & Columbia Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television) fumbled the ball with Tabitha. The mistakes were many:

1. Adam (David Ankrum) lost his powers, becoming a mortal like his father, Darrin.

2. Tabitha (Lisa Hartman) and Adam were aged up for the 2nd time, having been rebooted as teenagers in an ABC Saturday Superstar Movie a few years earlier. Now, they were 20-somethings, and Adam was lucky not to be completely pushed into the background as Tabitha pursued a relationship with her boss (Robert Urich, fresh from S.W.A.T). Worse, Adam was now the older sibling!

3. The presence of relatives was kept to a minimum, with Aunt Minerva (Karen Morrow) making regular appearances in place of Endora (Agnes Moorehead). No sign of prank-happy Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde was busy with Hollywood Squares and frequent appearances on Donny & Marie, and his absence was certainly felt.) or another witch, like Esmerelda (Alice Ghostley).

4. The ties to the past were also kept to a minimum, with Bernard Fox reprising as Dr. Bombay, and George Tobias & Sandra Gould returning as the Kravitzes.

To their credit, ABC scheduled the show to air on Saturday nights, instead of mid-week, where Bewitched had been. Unfortunately, viewers voted with their remotes.

Following is the series opener.

After the series ended, Hartman would resurface on Knots Landing, then marry country singer Clint Black. You know the rest of Robert Urich's resume, I'm sure (i.e. Soap, Vega$). Mel Stewart would land a hit series with a supporting role on Scarecrow & Mrs. King.