Astronaut
Tony Nelson was on a space mission that was aborted, forcing him to parachute
onto a desert island. While waiting for the rescue team, he came across an old
bottle that had apparently washed up ashore. When he opened the bottle, out
popped a 2,000-year-old (but remarkably well-preserved) genie who promptly
accepted him as her master, since he had set her free.
Returning to
Cocoa Beach, Florida with the rescue team, Tony found that nobody would believe
that he had found a luscious, sexy genie. The base psychiatrist, Dr. Bellows,
was convinced that Tony had suffered delusions caused by exposure. Complicating
the matter, the genie, appropriately named Jeannie, refused to perform magic or
ever appear for anyone but Tony. Her efforts to serve him often resulted in
rather confusing situations, caused in part by her lack of familiarity with 20th-Century
American customs.
Jeannie was
in love with Tony, although their relationship was platonic during the first
couple of seasons. She did not take kindly to any of the women he attempted to
date, including Melissa, the general’s daughter of whom he was engaged when the
series premiered. Jeannie used her powers to motivate Melissa’s old boyfriend to
propose to her. Roger, Tony's girl-crazy buddy and fellow astronaut, was the
only person other than Tony who knew that Jeannie existed and had magical powers
(he found out in Spring 1966).
Roger was
constantly getting Tony into situations that aggravated the very jealous
Jeannie, who disrupted any of her master’s romances. She finally convinced Tony
that he loved her enough to marry her, and they were wed in the episode telecast
on December 1, 1969.
Tony and
Roger, originally captains, were both promoted to major in February 1966. During
the show’s run there were occasional appearances by Jeannie’s magical and mostly
invisible dog Djinn-Djinn, assorted crazy relatives, and, during the last three
seasons, her wicked twin sister, Jeannie (played by Barbara Eden in a dark wig).
During the last season Roger’s sexy girlfriend Tina (Farrah Fawcett), who seldom
spoke, appeared in a number of episodes.
An animated
version of this series, simply titled Jeannie, aired Saturday mornings on
CBS from September 1973 to August 1975.
