Jeannie is an American animated television series that originally aired for a 16-episode season on CBS from September 8 to December 22, 1973. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera in association with Screen Gems, and its founders William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are the executive producers. Despite being a spin-off of the television sitcomI Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie has little in common with its parent show. In this version, the title character is rescued by a high school student, Corey Anders. Jeannie is accompanied by genie-in-training Babu, and they become companions to Corey. The series was marketed towards a younger demographic than I Dream of Jeannie. None of the original I Dream of Jeannie actors reprised their roles, reportedly due to a lack of budget. Julie McWhirter replaces Barbara Eden in the lead role. In his first voice-acting job, Mark Hamill plays Corey, and also sings the theme music. Babu is voiced by Joe Besser, who had a successful voice-acting career at the time. Jeannie was shown as part of CBS's Saturday-morning cartoonprogramming block, and episodes aired between 1973 and 1975. The show was also included on the wheel seriesFred Flintstone and Friends, and had crossovers with the Scooby-Doo franchise. Jeannie is not available on any digital platform, though an episode can be viewed at the UCLA Film & Television Archive and its theme song was released on a 2006 compilation album. The critical response to Jeannie was primarily negative.
Premise and characters
In Jeannie, high school student Corey Anders discovers Jeannie's bottle while surfing and draws the title character out of it. Corey becomes the master to Jeannie and her apprentice Babu, who are treated as his slaves. Portrayed as a 16-year-old, Jeannie is shown as training the "junior genie" Babu, who frequently causes trouble due to his inexperience with magic. Playing the role of the comic relief, Babu is characterized as having a habit of "popping in at the most inopportune times". The pair become close "friends and protectors" to Corey, who is Jeannie's love interest. Episodes typically focus on Corey's attempts to hide Jeannie and Babu's true identities as he attends Center City High School and Jeannie's difficulties with adjusting to her new life in the 1970s. Corey's storylines also include his friend Henry Glopp; other than Corey, Henry is the only other person aware of Jeannie's identity as a genie. Other supporting characters include Corey's mom, a friend and an antagonist, the Master of all Genies, and Debbie. S. Melvin is portrayed as a "snobbish snoop", who frequently sneaks around the Anders' home due to his suspicions about Jeannie and Babu. Jeannie is an animated spin-off of the live-action television sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, although it has a substantially different plot than its parent show. In this version, Corey replaces astronaut Major Tony Nelson. While I Dream of Jeannie had focused on sex comedy, the humor used for Jeannie was changed to better fit its target demographic of teenagers and children. Also, unlike the original series, Jeannie is depicted as younger and with red hair instead of blonde; she activates her magic by shaking her ponytail rather than blinking her eyes.
Production
Jeannie was a Hanna-Barbera production, with the company's founders William Hanna and Joseph Barbera serving as the show's executive producers. Charles August Nichols was the director, and Iwao Takamoto was the producer. I Dream of Jeannie creator Sidney Sheldon is not included in the credits for Jeannie, which The A.V. Club's Will Harris attributes to the extreme differences between the two shows. Hanna-Barbera had created Jeannie as a way to appeal to a younger demographic. The music was done by Hoyt Curtin with supervision by Paul DeKorte. Despite being produced by Hanna-Barbera, Jeannie was owned by Columbia Pictures, and its sister company Screen Gems created the show's animated opening credits. According to IMDb, the Hanna-Barbera show The New Scooby-Doo Movies had gone over budget due to its number of guest stars, leaving the studio without enough money to afford the original I Dream of Jeannie cast for the cartoon spin-off. Instead, Barbara Eden was replaced by Julie McWhirter as the voice of Jeannie. Mark Hamill provides the voice for Corey, in his first voice-acting job. Along with voicing the character, he sings the theme music. Hamill would not become well known as a voice actor until his role as the Joker in the television show . Bob Hastings and Joe Besser portray Henry Glopp and Babu, respectively. Besser was a successful voice actor during the 1970s and 1980s; along with Jeannie, he also voiced regular characters in the television programsThe Houndcats and Yogi's Space Race. He had previously appeared in an I Dream of Jeannie episode, alongside the members of The Three Stooges. Debbie, Mark, and Mrs. Anders are played by Arlene Golonka, Michael Bell, and Janet Waldo, respectively. John Stephenson and Tommy Cook voice Hadji and S. Melvin Farthinggale. Sherry Alberoni, Julie Bennett, Don Messick, and Ginny Tyler provide additional voice-acting for the series.
Episodes
Broadcast history and release
Jeannie aired for one season on CBS with its 16 30-minute episodes initially broadcast in 1973. CBS was the distributor for the show. Regarding ratings, media outlets were divided over whether the series was successful or not. CBS continued to run episodes until August 1975 as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon programming block. The episode "The Decathlon" is available for viewing at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The title music was released on the compilation album Hanna-Barbera Main Titles in 2006. Jeannie is not available on any digital platform. Jeannie was shown as part of the wheel series Fred Flintstone and Friends, which had Fred Flintstone host excerpts taken from Hanna-Barbera programs. It also had several crossovers with the Scooby-Doo franchise.' Babu appears in the television show Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, in which he participates on the "Scooby Doobies" team.' Babu and Jeannie return for The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode "Mystery in Persia", also known "Scooby-Doo Meets Jeannie".' Jeannie helps to trap the genie Jadal the Evil inside a bottle and uncover that Adbullah is his master.'
Critical reception
Jeannie received a negative response from critics. Freelance writer David Perlmutter criticized the series for relying on "weak reimaginings of the original concept". Permutter, however, praised Joe Besser's performance as a highlight. In his list of the strangest animated spin-offs, Closer Weekly's Ed Gross said he was disappointed Jeannie was not a faithful adaptation of I Dream of Jeannie. As part of his commentary on cartoons aired during the Vietnam War, ethnic studies professor Christopher P. Lehman dismissed Jeannie as "promot the concept of man as woman's master". He found the premise to be harmful to women in comparison to the female empowerment message in the television show Wonder Woman. Media historianHal Erickson panned the decision to use younger characters, which he felt was a "complete disregard or contempt for the intelligence of the viewing children and adolescents".
