‘I Dream of Jeannie’s Barbara Eden Reveals the Truth About Her Relationship With Elizabeth Montgomery

For years, rumors of a possible sorceress smackdown between bottle-dweller Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame and suburban spellcaster Elizabeth Montgomery have made the rounds. The idea that the two magic users of classic television were somehow locked in a mystic melee has always been too good a rumor to cast aside. But you can’t believe everything you hear.

For the most part, such gossip makes sense. After all, Eden and Montgomery starred on rival networks in somewhat similar roles, with one playing an all-powerful Jeannie in a suburban neighborhood, the other portraying a witch who traded her wand for a vacuum as a suburban housewife. I Dream of Jeannie ran on NBC from 1965 to 1970 with decent ratings, while Bewitched ran on ABC from 1964 to 1972 and was a ratings juggernaut.