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Barbara Eden recently appeared at the premiere of the upcoming documentary, Sock It to Me: The Legend of George Schlatter, on April 13. While on the red carpet, the 94-year-old actress exclusively spoke to People about her favorite episode of her hit sitcom, which ran from 1965 to 1970.
Eden revealed that “The Lady in the Bottle,” which is the pilot episode, was her all-time favorite. “That definitely is the one I’ve always thought was the best,” she admitted.
The episode, which was written by the series creator, Sidney Sheldon, aired on NBC on September 18, 1965. However, it still has fans today. “She’s always been on the air. Never been off,” Eden said. “I have lots of mail from Russia, from China, from places you’d never imagine, all over Europe, Spain, France, the U.K.” She went on to say, “A lot of times, many times, it’s people who’ve been in trouble who’ve had a sad upbringing. And many told me that … the bottle to them was a refuge, Jeannie’s bottle.”
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The pilot episode introduced audiences to Captain Anthony Nelson, an astronaut who was played by Larry Hagman. He was orbiting the earth in a rocket that ended up falling to the ground near a desert island. When he tried to form an SOS in the sand, he found a mysterious bottle that contained a genie who was over 2,000 years old.
The pilot episode was originally shot in black-and-white. However, some reruns have been digitally colorized. With an IMDb rating of 7.9, many reviewers claim that the pilot still holds up.
As one fan said, “If there is a TV show that has aired on television for multiple generations and remained as fresh as when it first came out, it has got to be I Dream of Jeannie. It is funny as hell, it uplifts your spirits whenever you’re feeling down. Everything about it is designed to bring a smile to your face. Quite possibly my favorite show from the 60s, and even [today], I still watch it and laugh as hard as I do when I watch some of the funniest shows of today’s generation.”
I Dream of Jeannie is currently available to watch on Tubi for free.