6. Sisters at Heart
Challenging prejudices of that day, one episode used some questionable tactics to tell a story. It was unique in many ways, starting with the fact that 22 black 10th graders wrote the script. In the episode, Samantha’s daughter Tabitha has a black friend, Lisa Wilson. Darrin loses an ad contract with a toy company run by Mr. Brockway. In the story, Brockway assumes that Darrin is the husband to little Lisa’s mother. Brockway is not only confused but racist. Samantha casts a spell to make Brockway believe that he and everyone else is black. This meant putting actors in blackface. [Insert: cringe].
5. Special Effects
Being a witch, Samantha often used magic, especially when the house needed tidying. It was as easy as raising her hands then presto-cleano. Today, to make inanimate objects fly or disappear, producers would use computer generate imagery (CGI). Back in the 60s, there was no such thing. They relied on editing to make things disappear, and very thin suspension lines to make objects float.