I Dream of Jeannie (TV Series) The Lady in the Bottle (1965) User Reviews

Great Cork out of Bottle

[DKosty123 · 9/10 · 8 November 2014]

After watching this one recently, this might have been the funniest start ever for a sitcom. The NBC Execs should have been sold on this in the first 10 minutes.

This one sets up all the main characters in the series on the run. The opening sequence giving Jeannie a hard edge in confronting Tony make it a shock too the system but it works so well.

If I had been a NASA Astronaut in the 1960's, this opening would have been my dream. I mean never has a scrubbed mission had better results. This is a whole lot more fun than the real thing NASA's space pioneers really did. Even though 1965 is a long time ago, the humor of this opening has not gone stale.

Warning- you do not fall in love with this Jeannie on first sight. You do find the relationship between Tony and her evolves from this point, this is one series where watching this first show should be required. This one makes the viewer appreciate what comes later even more.

Excellent start to a great show

[RogerMooreTheBestBond · 8/10 · 12 June 2016]

Cast:Jeannie, Tony, Roger & Dr. Bellows Tony crash lands on deserted island and finds Jeannie. He must spend the rest of the episodes trying to hide her from his fiancé and Dr. Bellows and Roger. Roger is more subdued than he is in the later years. Once he got going, he to me was the funniest on the show. Tony shines here because of the funny situations Jeannie puts him in. You can already see the chemistry between Jeannie and Tony. This is what makes the show great, plus all the funny situations that happen because of Jeannie. The first season was shot in black and white and the final four seasons were shot in color.

Reminds me of the Emirates head gear

[safenoe · 9/10 · 28 July 2017]

I Dream of Jeannie is due for a reboot and interestingly whenever I watch this series I think about the head gear that the Emirates female flight attendants wear. I wonder if Emirates got inspiration from I Dream of Jeannie. Who knows?

Anyway, it's hard to believe I Dream of Jeannie debuted over 50 years ago! There needs to be a reboot now that we are in the Trump age.

The answer to your dreams in a puff of smoke

[kevinolzak · 10/10 · 4 November 2016]

"The Lady in the Bottle" kicked off one of television's most beloved comedy series, supposedly inspired by the previous season's debut of ABC's BEWITCHED, but infinitely more popular due to the underlying sexual tension involved when a virile single astronaut is (not necessarily) burdened by a beautiful blonde genie (a female reversal of "The Brass Bottle," Burl Ives a decidedly nonsexual genie). Far more risqué for its time, it didn't last as long but also had fewer duds and more likable characters than the domestic idea of a spouse with magical powers. NBC was reluctant to budget the new show for color, telling creator/producer/writer Sidney Sheldon to save his money rather than pay the extra. With a pregnant Barbara Eden on board, Sheldon was able to crank out 11 scripts to film in record time, allowing for the birth of her only child with husband Michael Ansara in late August, three weeks before the series even debuted on Sept 18 1965. Her chosen co-star to play master Tony Nelson was the often difficult Larry Hagman, whose heretofore mostly untapped abilities at physical comedy made all the hardships worthwhile, with Hayden Rorke, cast as NASA colonel and psychiatrist Alfred Bellows, the voice of reason to calm things down. Rounding out the regular cast was Bill Daily as fellow astronaut Roger Healey, girl crazy and usually devising get rich quick schemes that go awry. Captain Anthony Nelson is an up and coming astronaut just splashed down from an aborted orbital mission, alive and well on a deserted island waiting for help. Finding an antique bottle on the beach, he pops the cork and finds something better than champagne, a gorgeous blonde genie known only as Jeannie, who experiences love at first sight with her new master, 2000 years a long wait inside a cramped bottle. The sexual tension is far more palpable in the opener, as Tony has a brunette fiancée and demanding general for a prospective father-in-law (this complication would quickly be eliminated, as both would only appear in one further episode). Set free by Captain Nelson, Jeannie refuses to leave, sneaking into his belongings all the way back to his Cocoa Beach home, not far from his NASA headquarters. Her first scene in the Nelson house is a stunner, walking out of the shower clad only in one of his shirts, a jaw dropping sight we'd never see again. With so much irresistible pulchritude on display, Sheldon doesn't shirk on the comedy, as Nelson's first confession to Dr. Bellows would set the pattern for many more over the years. The funniest moment comes when Jeannie has been corked into her bottle and dumped into the trash, the good doctor offering sage advice to the seemingly unhinged astronaut: "come along with us Captain, we'll buy you all the garbage you want!"

The Lady in the Bottle

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 12 September 2016]

The first episode sees astronaut Captain Tony Nelson Larry Hagman) on a space flight when his capsule comes near a deserted island. On the beach he notices a strange bottle which keeps rolling away as he writes a SOS notice on the beach. When he rubs it a genie materialises speaking a foreign language.

He cannot understand her until he wishes she could speak English which she then does. He then wishes that he could be rescued and a rescue helicopter shows up.

Tony sets the genie free but she manages to accompany him back home causing chaos. He is engaged to a General's daughter and his superiors think he has been hallucinating. When Jeannie materialises in Florida, Tony wants to make sure his fiancée does not see her and really wants Jeannie to go away.

A promising beginning to a series that was inspired by the success of Bewitched and Hagman and Barbara Eden make a good pairing and a few humorous incidents in the first episode.

I don't understand how this can be so high

[elmokenthos · 3/10 · 25 March 2021]

If I were captain Nelson, I wouldn't regret my decision to their the bottle (with the Genie ) in the garbage truck! She's sooooooo annoying!!!! Not funny at all with her behavior! And as a captain with an important job, he should get rid of her as soon he found the bottle when he's back. But then, there wouldn't be any of this annoying series! I don't know, maybe it's getting better but I doubt it!!! Bewitched was getting better and better with newer episodes, but not sure about this one!