The film “I Dream of Jeannie … Fifteen Years Later” has quite an elaborate plot. The film is centered on Tony Nelson’s promotion at work which cases quite a fight between him and Jeannie. This happens all while the evil Jeannie is busy concocting a plan to ruin her sister’s marriage to Tony.
Tony then becomes indefinitely stuck in space, therefore, trapping Jeannie in her bottle forever since she now has no master. That is until their son figures out how to release her. The two of them then make a deal to save Tony’s life.
Top 30 Show
The show “I Dream of Jeannie” only gained top 30 status after it had been canceled and was being shown in re-runs. However, with that being said, the series only hit the top 30 two times during its initial run. It hit number 26 one time, and that was the highest it would ever get. For the remainder of the run, it never even grazed the top 30.
You would think that when a show did not get good ratings at first, it would not do well in syndication, but that was certainly not the case whatsoever with “I Dream of Jeannie.”
Jeannie’s Bottle Got A Makeover
A lot changed with the coming of the second season of “I Dream of Jeannie.” The show went from black and white to full color. They also added a theme song and an intro animation!
Jeannie’s bottle also underwent a change during this transition. They changed the bottle to a different color now that the show was in color. The original bottle was green in color and had gold leaves painted on it so that it would look antique. They also reference the green color during the first season. Once the show transitioned to color, the bottle was painted purple. Most people did not realize since they never actually saw the green bottle.
15 Years Later
The made-for-TV comedy, ”I Dream Of Jeannie… Fifteen Years Later” premiered on television in the year 1985. Barbara Eden, of course, returned to play the role of Jeannie. Bill Daly also came back to reprise his role as Tony’s friend Roger Healy. And lastly, Hayden Rorke returned as Dr. Alfred Bellows.
Actor Wayne Rogers stepped in to portray the character of Tony Nelson since Larry Hagman was filming the CBS series “Dallas” at the time. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be a part of the movie, he just was not able to shift his work schedule to accommodate.
"Jeannie's" Real Husband
In real life, Barbara Eden was married to actor Michael Ansara. He had a role on I Dream of Jeannie, as The Blue Djinn. In the storyline, it is stated that Genie is banished to the bottle when she refuses to marry the Blue Djinn. That must have made for some interesting moments on set!
The show had so many bit players and guest stars come on the show. They only had a handful of regulars, so most of the cast came in and out during the five-year-long run. It is fun to watch the series again knowing that Barbara was actually married to the actor playing the Blue Djinn!