And so, the show became a surprise hit. Every episode ended with Jeannie fixing a problem (a snowstorm in July, a missing moose crossing sign, a broken poutine machine) and whispering, “Sorry, Major… I mean, Tony… I mean, Gary.”
Turns out, CTV was rebooting I Dream of Jeannie as a meta-comedy: Genie in the Great White North . Jeannie, ripped from the 1960s, now had to navigate modern Canadian problems. Tony wasn’t an astronaut; he was a flustered producer at CTV headquarters in Toronto. And her magic? It kept freezing mid-spell, producing maple syrup instead of fireballs. i dream of jeannie ctv
“Blink again,” Gary said, exasperated, as Jeannie accidentally turned the craft services table into a flock of Canada geese. “No—stop actually summoning geese! We have union rules about wildlife.” And so, the show became a surprise hit