Bewitched : Why the secret?

I always wondered why the big secret about telling anyone else that Sam was a witch? I can understand maybe the general public so as the Stevens would not be overrun by reporters and media. But why keep Darrin's parents in the dark, they were family or Larry and Louise Tate who were close friends?

Oy,yet another poster who does't get the show.

It's called "conflict." That's how stories and scripts work.

Just watch season four's "I Confess" to see what a disaster Sam and Darrin's
life would be like. And then how difficult it would be to write scripts after
if the dream was real. It would just be the same story over and over and over.
And even if there were some intriguing scripts, it wouldn't be the same show.

William Asher always said that the focus was to make the stories of BW work
independent of the witchcraft. This certainly wouldn't have been the case
if "everyone knew the secret."

Well in all fairness, I wouldn't call it a totally clueless question! I used to ask myself that same thing when I was a kid.

There might have been a VERY FEW people that Sam and Darrin could have included in their secret. Darrin's mom for instance, she always had a "sick headache" with the goings on at the Stephens house. I think eventually...after the series ended...that they would have been honest with her. If only to reassure her that she wasn't losing her mind! Mrs Kravitz? Nah!! She deserved what she got for being so nosy!

Larry Tate? Well I wonder about that. Maybe after he retired and was no longer running McMann and Tate. Otherwise he would have insisted on Sam using her power to secure clients for him.

I think "withches" had certain negative and evil stigma to them a the time. (In fact they still do.) Plus the Stevens' didn't trust other people letting their little secret out.