Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! This week, I’ve got a rarity to share — with subscribers who comment below to alert me of their interest — and the title of this post gives it away: it’s a script that would have been filmed for the scrapped ninth season of Bewitched (1964-1972, ABC). As fans of the series know, there was an additional two years left to go on the company’s contract with the network, and up until February 1972, it looked like the series would be coming back for a ninth season, despite its weakened ratings. However, star Elizabeth Montgomery and producer Bill Asher mutually decided with ABC to end the series and fulfill their contractual obligations elsewhere (on Temperatures Rising and The Paul Lynde Show). That means, when production wrapped on the final episode of the eighth year in December 1971, the cast and crew all expected to resume filming in a few months on a new season…

That last episode shot was “The Truth, Nothing But The Truth, So Help Me Sam.” It was also the last original episode aired (a remake of a great second season entry titled “Speak The Truth”), credited to writer Ed Jurist — who had been contributing to the series regularly since Season Three — and with a production code of 3922… I mention all this because the script I have for subscribers now is also credited to Ed Jurist, and it’s a final draft dated January 11, 1972, when the show seemed to still be returning for a ninth year. Its production code is 3920 (meaning it was ordered before 3922, but not finished until after) and actually has written on its back “art department,” which suggests that the wheels were in motion for it to go into production early in the presumed upcoming season. That is, had Bewitched come back for Nine, it’s almost certain that this script would have been one that we would have seen produced.

It’s called “Samantha The Matchmaker,” and like so many outings from the end of the run, it’s a remake. But it’s unique in that it’s essentially a double remake — taking the basic storyline of the first season classic “Illegal Separation,” in which Abner and Gladys Kravitz split, but adding in — as a second act complication — the variation that was used when this idea was first revisited and tweaked at the end of Season Four as “Splitsville.” In other words, it takes the structure of “Illegal Separation,” where Sam uses a mutual dream to bring the warring lovebirds back together, but it adds in a second act twist where she also calls on another man (Rollo the warlock, in this case) to create a triangle and drum up some possible jealousy. Oh, and, instead of the Kravitzes, this take on the story involves Larry and Louise Tate… Yet even with these switch-ups, it’s still a highly uncreative outing, revealing just how lazy Bewitched had gotten in its final seasons, when, frankly, its strong construction should have been helping it produce more original fare… at least, if anyone involved was still trying. They weren’t, and thus, while this is a fascinating curio, as, again, it’s an episode we would have seen had the show been renewed, it’s not a favorable reflection of the series’ state in 1972… Nevertheless, if you’re like me, you’ll want to see it anyway. So, subscribers can comment below, and for everyone else, here’s a sample…

Come back next week for a new Wildcard! And stay tuned for Musical Theatre Monday!