Season 1, Episode 3: It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog

In its notes section the TV.com site says that this episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on 10-1-1964, but it was pre-empted and aired later in the season. See the TV.com episode summary.

The third episode of Bewitched offers a couple of firsts: the first appearance of Larry Tate (as well as his wife, Louise, whom Samantha calls "Mrs. Tate") and the first time that the Stevens have a McMann and Tate client over for dinner.

Jack Warden guest stars as the lecherous Rex Barker--note the doubly canine name--a baby food entrepreneur. He follows Samantha out to the gazebo in the back yard and makes advances, and Samantha turns him into a dog. The show doesn't hold together very well logically. There's no good reason for Sam to have changed Barker into a dog. (Darrin was about to walk in on them, but so what?) And after the fact the obstacles that get in the way of Sam turning Barker back into a man in a timely fashion are unconvincing.

The business between Sam and Barker results in marital discord: Darrin is upset she resorted to witchcraft to solve the issue. ("Any common, ordinary wife would know how to handle it, but not you. No, you had to turn him into an animal.") Later, Darrin punches Barker himself, which results in complications at work. Darrin quits (this surely happens again more than once later in the series), but is soon back on the job.

Some random comments:

• This is the first episode that does not begin with a voice over.
• The Stevens had hired help for their client dinner. Check out the old maid:

• Endora shows up a few times, gloating over the marital discord. She says, at one point, "I almost split me bodice." This calls to mind something she said in the second episode: "Here? Now? In me carpet slippers?" I can't remember Endora using "me" as a possessive adjective later in the series, and it's very odd. I'm not sure what kind of a linguistic background they're trying to carve out for her with that.
• The geography of the Stevens neighborhood is bizarre in this episode. Sam goes out to chase the dog Barker. He turns left at the end of their driveway, then makes another left, and of a sudden they're in a dark, urban alley. We're not on Morning Glory Circle anymore....