"Bewitched" takes on racism in 1970 Christmas episode: "Sisters at Heart"
What was moving and groundbreaking 50 years ago can be cringey today. But "Sisters at Heart," the Christmas Eve, 1970, episode of "Bewitched," while dating badly in some ways, still has a lot to say. It also has cool back story.
Montgomery and Asher responded by inviting Saunders' all-African American class to visit the show's set and the kids left inspired enough to try their hand at writing a script for the program.
In the story, Tabitha, the daughter of Montgomery's character, Samantha, gets upset when she's told by another child that she couldn't possibly be the sister of her friend, Lisa, because Tabitha is white and Lisa is Black.
Tabitha, like her mom, is a witch, too, and later casts a spell making her skin white with black spots and Lisa's black with white spots, to demonstrate they can, indeed, be sisters. This, of course, is awkward, and—likely nearly every episode of "Bewitched"—puts Samantha and Tabitha at risk for being outed as magical. There's also a sub-plot about a racist businessman, Mr. Brockway, who's a potential client at the ad firm where Samantha's husband, Darrin, works.
Over the course of the show, we learn, of course, that race poses no barrier to sisterhood and Mr. Brockway gets his comeuppance. And there's also some unfortunate, full-on blackface, not just spotted skin. For that reason, the show doesn't hold up well today. But at the time, the series was taking a risk in the message it was sending, and the use of the students' script was heartwarming. As a Christmas episode, it truly had something to say that was in the spirt of the season. Looking back now, yes, it's weird and inappropriate in many ways, but also very right, too. The episode won an Emmy and Montgomery later said it was her favorite of the series.
You can watch the whole thing here, starting with this special introduction by Montgomery:
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Wondering how to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" this season? Buy a damn Blu-ray!
In this ever-complex era of watching TV it's become a challenge watching shows you always watch during the holiday season. That's why you see tons of stories online about how to watch 50-plus year-old TV specials, such as the perennial favorite "A Charlie Brown Christmas."
This year it'll be broadcast on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET on PBS and PBS KIDS and it will stream starting Dec. 4 on Apple TV+, which also will make it available to non-subscribers from Dec. 11-13.
Alternatively, you can free yourself from this annual stress by just buying the damned thing. It's available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon and, I'm sure, elsewhere, too. You also probably have it on a taped-from-TV VHS somewhere in your house, too, but that could just be me...
And, before you ask, you also can get the animated Grinch special (not that cringey Jim Carrey thing) on disc, too.