Actor Larry Hagman, notorious and beloved as 'Dallas' villain J.R. Ewing, dies

[Cooley Hurd]

71. Although many will think of JR first, Anthony Nelson was. by far, a more interesting character

I Dream of Jeannie debuted at the height of the space race. The protagonist was an astronaut who stumbles upon an ancient, decorative bottle that contains a sexy genie named... well, Jeannie (played by Barbara Eden). Despite his eventual co-habitation with her, he NEVER made a pass at her (until the last season, when he married her), or exploited her powers.

Of course, that didn't mean that Jeannie didn't use her powers to help her "Master". Usually, to hilarity, she would perceive (often erroneously) that he needed help and then *BLINK!*, Captain (later, Major) Nelson had to explain the weirdness to his superior and NASA psychiatrist, Dr Bellows (played masterfully by Hayden Rorke). The gag was always that Dr Bellows secretly thought Captain Nelson was nuts, while Captain Nelson would try to convince the Doctor that he HIMSELF was nuts for perceiving something so nutty as what he just witnessed. This constant tug-of-war between the Caption and the Doctor is what made IDOJ a classic situation comedy.

Cross Gently, Mr Hagman, and thanks for the laughs!