The 16-Episode ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ Spinoff Returns to TV
A 16-episode animated spinoff of I Dream of Jeannie is returning to television this fall.
Jeannie will join MeTV Toons’ fall lineup beginning Sept. 21. The animated series will air Sundays at midnight ET/11 p.m. CT on the classic animation network.
The series puts a new spin on the beloved sitcom, following a teenage version of Jeannie and her trainee genie, Babu. The pair become friends and protectors of high school student Corey Anders, who is voiced by Mark Hamill.
The animated Jeannie is based on the classic sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, which originally aired on NBC from 1965 to 1970. The live-action series ran for 139 episodes across five seasons and starred Barbara Eden as Jeannie and Larry Hagman as astronaut Tony Nelson.
The original series begins after Tony crash-lands on a deserted island in the South Pacific and discovers an ancient bottle. When he opens it, he releases Jeannie, a 2,000-year-old genie who considers him her master. Jeannie follows Tony back to Florida, where her magical abilities repeatedly create problems that he must keep hidden from NASA.
Bill Daily played Tony’s astronaut best friend, Roger Healey, while Hayden Rorke portrayed Col. Dr. Alfred Bellows, the skeptical NASA psychiatrist who frequently became involved in the chaos surrounding Tony and Jeannie.
Eden, now 95, previously revealed which episode of the original sitcom remains her favorite.
During the Beverly Hills Film Festival back in April of this year, she spoke with PEOPLE at the premiere of the upcoming documentary Sock It to Me: The Legend of George Schlatter. When asked about her favorite I Dream of Jeannie episode, Eden pointed to the very beginning of the series.
“That definitely is the one I’ve always thought was the best,” Eden said of the pilot.
The return of Jeannie gives fans of the original series a chance to revisit the character in a new animated format while introducing her to a younger audience.
The animated series also continues the long-running legacy of the I Dream of Jeannie franchise, which first became a television hit more than five decades ago.
Eden also spoke how the show has a lasting legacy. “She’s always been on the air. Never been off,” she noted.
Eden added how she receives fan mail from all over the world. “I have lots of mail from Russia, from China, from places you’d never imagine, all over Europe, Spain, France, the U.K.,” she concluded.
