The Wedding Episode That Ruined ‘I Dream of Jeannie’

Lauren Novak September 18, 9:00 am

I DREAM OF JEANNIE, from left: Larry Hagman, Barbara Eden, 1965-1970. ph: TV Guide / Courtesy Everett Collection — TV Guide/Everett Collection

TV Guide/Everett Collection

The beloved sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, which premiered on September 18, 1965, reached a turning point with a much-anticipated wedding episode in late 1969; however, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. In the Season 5 episode titled “The Wedding,” Jeannie (Barbara Eden) finally walked down the aisle to marry astronaut Major Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman). It was an epic TV wedding filled with the show’s trademark genie hijinks, but the event immediately created controversy. After four seasons of will-they-won’t-they tension between Jeannie and Tony, the decision to have them tie the knot left both the creative team and viewers divided.

Why did Jeannie and Tony get married?

The wedding episode aired on December 2, 1969, during I Dream of Jeannie‘s fifth and final season. Network executives at NBC pushed for Jeannie and Tony’s marriage, despite the objections of series creator Sidney Sheldon and the show’s lead writers. Many behind the scenes worried that this would change the show’s formula; in fact, earlier episodes had established that if Jeannie ever married a mortal, she would lose her powers — a rule ignored by the new storyline. Sheldon believed the romantic spark between the characters was essential to the sitcom’s charm, and he later said that forcing a wedding destroyed what made the show work. “What finally killed us was the head of our network, in the fifth year … saying, ‘You have to get them married,'” Sheldon recalled in a Television Academy interview. “He said, if you want to go on the air, you’ll get them married. That was an ultimatum. So I got them married. And after the fifth year, the show went off the air.”

I DREAM OF JEANNIE, from left: Larry Hagman, Barbara Eden, 1965-1970

Everett Collection

Did Barbara Eden want the wedding episode?

Eden herself was vocal that she did not support the marriage plot; in a 2025 interview with Forbes, she said, “I was very upset about it — not that anybody would listen to me.” In an interview with us here at ReMIND Magazine, she explained, “I didn’t agree, but I had no say in it. She’s not a human. She’s an entity, and you’re mixing a human with an entity. It wouldn’t happen.” Eden admitted she was very upset about the storyline but ultimately did not fight the decision with producers. She recalled the filming of the episode, where her usual pink harem costume was replaced by an elegant divided-skirt gown and a genie-style satin hat with yards of tulle. The wedding even included a comic twist in which Jeannie had to substitute a mannequin for herself in photos, since genies cannot be photographed.

I DREAM OF JEANNIE, Barbara Eden, 1965-1970

Everett Collection

For many viewers, Jeannie and Tony’s wedding marked the moment I Dream of Jeannie “jumped the shark.” Fans noticed the sudden disregard for the show’s own mythology, which added to the backlash. Only fourteen episodes followed “The Wedding” before the series finale aired in May 1970.

Despite the divisive ending, I Dream of Jeannie has remained a beloved television classic. Eden and Hagman’s chemistry was a hallmark of the show, something Eden herself acknowledged.

“He was one of the rare actors who I’ve worked with who we just right away understood and believed, and we did it on the same rhythm,” she remembered.