Originally published at: Today is Barbara Eden's birthday | Boing Boing
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She was in the shadow of Lucille Ball, but nonetheless had that same kind of comedic timing.
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Wikipedia has her date of birth as August 23, 1931, so a mere 91. But still, such a great show. I miss the days when classic TV turned up as fillers instead of the auction shows.
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I got to chat with her briefly at a comicon a number of years back. A gracious and charming person for sure. Happy birthday to her!
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I think I was watching IDOJ in syndication in early 90s when I was between 8-12. Let’s say it was formative. I don’t know if I realized how much of a babe she was when I was that young but later it was clear.
Also, Jeannie would blast Bewitched’s Samantha out of the water in a head-to-head sexy-wife-with-magic-powers battle.
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I watched the pilot episode recently, and let’s just say… it does not hold up.
Clever and funny and sexy, yes.
The entire episode is Jeannie throwing herself at Major Nelson (for rescuing her from the bottle) and constantly trying to seduce him while he tries to hide her from his boss. With hindsight, it’s super-cringey.
That said, it did jump start my puberty back in the day!
(Honorable mention to Emma Peel, Agent 99, Ginger and Maryanne, etc.)
Once again a woman dies and some dude turns up to tell us how hot she was.
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That was quick.
Obviously too strenuous a birthday celebration.
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I was going for the guilt angle, hoping to stop seemingly every mention of a woman online going the same way…
Good catch, though 
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Maybe so… but as a young lad, Samantha Stevens was the first “old lady” I ever had a crush on.
At 91, her belly button is still to sexy for television
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Sorry to hear she died. How are you the only one on Earth aware of it?
Is it because you made it up?
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Dead or alive, we still don’t need to hear you think she’s your boyhood wank fantasy.
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Assuming you’re referring to Jeannie’s powers versus Samantha’s powers, I’d say they are pretty evenly matched. Samantha has her conniving mother to back her up. But OTOH, doesn’t Jeannie have a dark haired evil sister? Or was it Sam that had that sister? From a Ginger versus Marianne perspective, though, I’m pretty sure they still sell ‘sexy genie’ costumes at Halloween, but not sexy-suburban-homemaker-witch costumes.
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Even?? Jeannie is 2,000 years old. If Samantha is the kind of witch where you just decide “hey, I’m going to go train to be a witch” then she is still mortal. I don’t actually know if Jeannie is immortal but she is old. Samantha is just a human who read a spell book.
Edit: I dunno, Wikipedia implies Samantha is some kind of “genetic witch”. Like, born with witch powers?
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Yes, that’s what I remember. Sam and Darin had a daughter, Tabitha, who had powers. I might be full-on misremembering, but I want to say at the very end of the series, they had a son who did not.
Is the Harry Potter universe analogous here? If so, don’t the wizards show up on Day One with powers, or not?
Edit: Ok, I consulted wikipedia too and on that page, it suggests that the younger brother, Adam, was a warlock in the original show, but in a later spinoff called Tabitha, he was mortal.
Oh, BTW, happy birthday, Barbara! I loved you as Jeannie! I actually lived in Cocoa Beach when that show was airing new!
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Jeanie has an identically named(!) twin(?) sister.
Sure, she’s played by Barbara Eden in a wig, but Sam Kirk was William Shatner with a fake mustache, and they aren’t canonically twins, so who knows? It was the 60s.
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Ninety-Firsend birthday (91nd)?
Happy Birthday Barbara Eden, hopefully other writers will describe your age more traditionally, as your ninety-first!
