Barbara Eden on Why Jeannie and Tony Were Never Intimate: "She was an entity"

[Guy Gardener]

I would hope that when anyone talks about demigods, they'd understand that the cultural context in play is, by definition, not monotheistic.

As for demigods, aren't most of them (in polytheistic mythology) born, often through an explicit sexual union? Whereas spirits/angels are either created through non-sexual acts, or spontaneously arise?



... Anyhow, when it comes to genies and sex, surely the definitive text on the matter, the TV show Weird Science, makes it clear that a genie such as Lisa can be as "fully functional" as she likes.

In either version, the tv show or the movie, Lisa thought of Gary and Wyatt as her children, or at the very least her challenged nephews who need to be taught right from wrong, over and over again, although I think that Movie Lisa (naked in the shower with the lads) would have put out, but she was almost certainly playing chicken with two boys scared of their own shadows, and felt that her virtue was secure from everything, except their eyeballs.

 

[Dee1891]

What was Barbara Eden talking about? Didn't Tony Nelson ended up marrying Jeannie?

 

[Guy Gardener]

What was Barbara Eden talking about? Didn't Tony Nelson ended up marrying Jeannie?

It's a season one answer to a five season show.

They had a lot of fuddy duddys to contend with in the beginning.

 

[Nerys Myk]

It's a season one answer to a five season show.

They had a lot of fuddy duddys to contend with in the beginning.

In the show or the audience?

 

[Turtletrekker]

In the show or the audience?

Yes.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes.

Dude was shacking up with a woman without the benefit of marriage as of episode one! Sure she had a bottle but also had free run of the house!!!!

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

It's a season one answer to a five season show.

They had a lot of fuddy duddys to contend with in the beginning.

The problem was one a number of TV series since have failed to avoid: the "Will-they-or-won't-they" trope, which became tiresome on I Dream of Jeannie, Cheers, Who's The Boss, Evil and too many additional series to list here. A series can weather at least a season and a half of that before viewers realize the bait is being dipped in / pulled from in the water.constantly. With I Dream of Jeannie, its internal "logic" should've led Tony to conclude that outing Jeannie as his girlfriend early on may have explained away some of the magical hijinks caused by Jeannie simply trying to avoid being detected, thus Dr. Bellows suspicions would fade to some degree. That said, series internal "logic" had to be ignored for the sake of those aforementioned weekly hijinks--until the sagging viewership dictated putting an end to the "Will-they-or-won't-they" trope, as seen in its 5th (and final) season.

 

[Gaith]

In either version, the tv show or the movie, Lisa thought of Gary and Wyatt as her children, or at the very least her challenged nephews who need to be taught right from wrong, over and over again

In Lisa's first scene with the boys in the series pilot, she tells Gary she can't give him what he wants, but they can discuss it again "when [he's] legal." (And in the series finale, it's revealed that she and Wyatt had been dating, though that episode in general is a weird, off-putting conclusion I'm fine with ignoring.)

 

[JD]

As for demigods, aren't most of them (in polytheistic mythology) born, often through an explicit sexual union? Whereas spirits/angels are either created through non-sexual acts, or spontaneously arise?

Not always, it's been a while since I watched it, but I believe in Lucifer the Big Bang was "Mom" and God having sex and I think that was also when the angels were conceived. There's also the show and comic Preacher where the being Genesis was created by and angel and a demon hooking up.

 

[Gaith]

^ From what I understand of Lucifer, having watched a half-hour full series recap once, that show was so far from traditional monotheistic dogma, it stopped juuuuuust shy of outright polytheism.

But regardless, a modern TV show isn't what I meant when I was talking about polytheistic mythology. I meant actual historical/classical folklore.

 

[Danja]

Not always, it's been a while since I watched it, but I believe in Lucifer the Big Bang was "Mom" and God having sex and I think that was also when the angels were conceived. There's also the show and comic Preacher where the being Genesis was created by and angel and a demon hooking up.

^ From what I understand of Lucifer, having watched a half-hour full series recap once, that show was so far from traditional monotheistic dogma, it stopped juuuuuust shy of outright polytheism.

But regardless, a modern TV show isn't what I meant when I was talking about polytheistic mythology. I meant actual historical/classical folklore.

Me: hoping that people aren't getting their catechism from a sci-fi/fantasy show on Netflix.

 

[Guy Gardener]

In Lisa's first scene with the boys in the series pilot, she tells Gary she can't give him what he wants, but they can discuss it again "when [he's] legal." (And in the series finale, it's revealed that she and Wyatt had been dating, though that episode in general is a weird, off-putting conclusion I'm fine with ignoring.)

I never got to the end.

It's not a very made well show, even for teens.

(Or is it a very well made show because it rigidly stuck to it's formulae for 5 years without fail? 1. Make a poorly thought out wish. 2. Lisa misinterprets the wish (mostly) on purpose to teach a valuable moral lesson. 3. Everyone is wiser and a better person, except Lisa who is not a person. Shit? Is this a hell-loop?)

But it hardly seems ethical to date your genie since it's hard to tell the difference between making a mortals dreams come true and making a mortals dreams come true.

 

[Gaith]

I never got to the end. It's not a very made well show, even for teens.

Well, yeah, it's a dopey sitcom for randy teenage boys, not Seinfeld: The High School Years, but it has its moments, as well as reasonably entertaining and even charming half-hours. Fun trivia: their Universal Studios soundstage was close to the Jurassic Park water ride, and takes would routinely be ruined by audible screams from tourists going down the big drop.

Anyhow, the first season episodes "Sex Ed," in which Lisa agrees to teach the boys' sex ed class with real, hands-on learning, and "The Feminine Mistake," in which she makes the duo appear to everyone else as girls, are genuinely great little tales. After that, yes, it quickly slid into a weightless gimmick-of-the-week format, and most of those were duds, but there were some solid ones, too, especially "Searching for Boris Karloff," featuring the wonderful Gerritt Graham (aka Quinn, the suicidal Q from Voyager's "Death Wish") as the mad doctor himself.

... Right, so, uh, what were we talking about, again?