Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series)

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is an American sitcom based on the Archie comic book series of the same name.

The show stars Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman, a teenager with magical powers, who lives with her aunts Hilda (played by Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (played by Beth Broderick), and their magical talking cat Salem (voiced by Nick Bakay). Sabrina also has many love interests during the course of the series, most notably her high school boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (played by Nate Richert).

Its first four seasons aired on ABC from September 27, 1996 to May 5, 2000; the final three seasons ran on The WB Television Network from September 22, 2000 to April 24, 2003.

History and production

The unofficial pilot of the series was the 1996 TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch.^[1] The movie, produced by Viacom and Hartbreak Films and aired on Showtime, starred Melissa Joan Hart as the title character, Sabrina Sawyer, and Charlene Fernetz and Sherry Miller as Sabrina's aunts Zelda and Hilda respectively. When the television series debuted on ABC later that year, Hart became Sabrina Spellman (the character's original last name in the comics), and Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick replaced Fernetz and Miller. In 2000, the show was dropped by ABC and picked up by The WB. When viewership began to wane, the show was canceled after seven seasons.^[2] The television series was produced by Hartbreak Films and Viacom Productions, and later was syndicated through Paramount Domestic Television on reruns. Paramount Network Television absorbed Viacom Productions in 2004, and two years later, Paramount's TV operations were renamed to CBS Paramount Television (now CBS Television Studios), whose name is seen on the season 1, 2, and 3 DVDs. Then in 2007, the syndication arm was renamed from CBS Paramount Domestic Television to CBS Television Distribution, whose name is on the season 4, 5, 6, and 7 DVDs.

Opening sequence

The opening titles of seasons 1–3 shows Sabrina in front of a mirror posing with four different costumes and outfits as the cast members' names quickly flash on the bottom of the screen. The first three outfits are always the same, but the fourth one changes from episode to episode. At the end, Sabrina would say something that is related to the last outfit (often a pun or a joke related to the outfit and/or the content of the episode), then magically disappear.

The opening sequence of season 4 features the characters in bubbles.

The opening credits of seasons 5–7 are accompanied with a vocal theme song and feature Sabrina at various locations around Boston: Harvard Bridge, Boston Common, Union Oyster House, Massachusetts State House, Quincy Market, Newbury Street, Harvard University, Tufts University, and Beacon Hill. In the credits of seasons 5 and 6, after leaving Newbury Comics on Newbury Street, Sabrina walks down a flight of stairs and then the computer graphics morph Sabrina into her room, lying on her bed next to Salem. In the final season, however, they morph her into arriving at Scorch. Upon pushing the door open, she is revealed to be walking into her house to greet Roxie, Morgan, and Salem.

Departures

When the series finished its fourth season, several secondary characters left the show, including Martin Mull and Nate Richert. Richert, who played Sabrina's great love Harvey since the first season, was cut in order to give the show a more "grown-up look" as Sabrina was about to attend college. The decision was undone as Richert recurred in season five and then returned as a series regular.

After the series' sixth season, Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, who portrayed Sabrina's aunts from the show's premiere, decided to leave the show. When the character of Sabrina started to attend college, the role of her aunts became less important. Broderick felt that the role of Zelda had nothing more to offer, while Rhea landed her own syndicated talk show, The Caroline Rhea Show.

Trevor Lissauer, who played Sabrina's housemate Miles, left the show after appearing in seasons five and six. Producers felt that his character wasn't well received by fans and also had to make some budget cuts for the show's seventh and final season. Miles was written out without further mentioning, leaving open what really happened to him.

Sabrina's love interest Josh, played by David Lascher, left for Prague after appearing from season four to six. Lascher reportedly wanted to pursue other projects. In order to fill the void, producers brought in a new love interest in the show's final season.

Plot and premise

The show chronicles the adventures of Sabrina Spellman (played by Melissa Joan Hart), a girl who discovers on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch. As a novice witch, her spells often go awry. Her aunts Hilda and Zelda Spellman (played by both Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, respectively, until 2002) counsel her on the proper use of her magic and give her moral advice. Additionally, Hilda and Zelda must take care of Salem Saberhagen (voiced by Nick Bakay), a warlock turned into a cat for trying to take over the world. Sabrina's basic premise and "genial loopiness" earned the show comparisons to the 1960s television series Bewitched.^[3][4][5]

The show included contemporary pop cultural references, with Sabrina often saying she liked Britney Spears and No Doubt. It also mentioned human history alongside witches, such as the Salem witch hunt, which Zelda tells Sabrina was not hunting for real witches. Hilda mentions to Sabrina in Episode 1 that "All of England was ruled by a giant bunny" causing the witches council to turn back time, as if to say mortals are ignorant at the most. One episode also suggests that Jerry Springer is a witch when he hosts the Jerry Springer Show in the other realm.

Whereas the comic book series was set in the fictional Greendale, the TV show was set in fictional Westbridge, Massachusetts. The Spellmans' house is located at 133 Collins Road.^[6]

Plot summary

The pilot episode opens with Sabrina asleep on her sixteenth birthday, levitating above her bed. In the morning, her aunts reveal to her that she is a witch, but Sabrina does not believe them until she has a magical talk with her father from inside a book, where her father reveals that he is a warlock and her mother is mortal. It is also revealed that Sabrina cannot see her mother, who is in Peru for two years, or her mother will be transformed into an inanimate object (in this case, a ball of wax). After a rough day at school, Sabrina accidentally turns Libby Chesler, the most popular girl in school, into a pineapple. Fearing that she will appear "weird" to her crush, Harvey Kinkle, Sabrina asks the Witches Council to let her relive that day. The first season follows Sabrina as she tries to keep the balance between being a teenager and having magical powers. Sabrina's friend Jenny Kelley and her teacher, Mr. Pool, both exit the series without explanation after this season.

At the beginning of the second season, Sabrina turns seventeen and learns that she must earn her witch's license or otherwise lose her magic. However, she neglects her aunts' warnings to study for the test to obtain the license and consequently fails it. She then has to attend witch boot camp to earn the chance to take a makeup test. She passes the makeup test, but only receives a learner's permit. Her aunts explain that she will be able to earn her license when she turns eighteen ("when she can pay for the insurance") and that she will be tested throughout the year by a Quizmaster, a witch whose job is to instruct witches earning their licenses. Also introduced during the second season are Sabrina's neurotic friend Valerie and the new school vice principal Mr. Kraft, who finds Sabrina to be very odd.

At the beginning of the third season, Sabrina earns her license, but then learns that in order to use her license, she must solve her family's secret. Throughout the season, family members visit her and provide clues. At the end of the season, she solves the family secret ("Every member of the Spellman family is born with a twin"). Both Valerie and Libby exit the series after the end of the third season.

At the beginning of the fourth season, Sabrina is assigned to be a mentor, which is like a Quizmaster, except "Quizmasters get paid".^[7] Sabrina's charge is Dreama, a witch newly immigrated from the Other Realm. A new student, Brad Alcero, transfers to Sabrina's school. Because Brad has a witch-hunter gene (which allows him to turn a witch into a mouse if the witch reveals his/her magic), Sabrina must keep herself and Dreama from using magic in front of Brad. Also, Sabrina begins working at Bean There, Brewed That, a coffee shop, where she meets and is attracted to Josh (played by David Lascher), a college student who is the manager of the shop, which leads to her kissing him and thus cheating on Harvey who ends their relationship. Both Dreama and Brad are written out of the series without explanation over the course of the season. At the end of the season, Harvey reaches his "spell quota" (meaning that no spells can be used on him anymore) and discovers that Sabrina is a witch, and later breaks up with Sabrina off screen and is written out of the show prior to the start of the next season.

At the beginning of the fifth season, Sabrina starts college at Adams College and moves out of her aunts' house and into a house with other students at Adams. Her roommates are Morgan Cavanaugh, a shallow girl (played by Elisa Donovan); Roxie King (played by Soleil Moon Frye), an anti-social feminist and Miles Goodman (played by Trevor Lissauer), a geek who is obsessed with science fiction and the paranormal. Hilda and Zelda, feeling lonely since Sabrina moved out, find ways to stay close to her. Hilda buys the coffee shop where Sabrina works and Zelda becomes a professor at Adams and starts dating Sabrina's English professor. The season ends with Sabrina and Josh giving into their feelings and sharing a passionate kiss.

At the beginning of the sixth season Josh and Sabrina get together but soon face a tough decision when Josh is tempted to move abroad to work as a photographer. Things are made even more complicated between them when Sabrina's ex boyfriend from high school, Harvey, reappears, this time dating Sabrina's roommate Morgan. At the end of the sixth season, Sabrina agrees to sacrifice her one true love in order to save Hilda after the latter literally falls to pieces after Sabrina sabotages her relationship. Hilda recovers and is married, but Sabrina then falls to pieces when Josh, Harvey and an attractive waiter all announce they are all moving away and will never see her again.

At the beginning of the seventh and final season, Sabrina is put back together after her Aunt Zelda sacrifices her adult years to save Sabrina. At this point, Zelda, Hilda, Miles and Josh are written out of the show and Morgan and Roxie move into Hilda and Zelda's old house. Sabrina gets a job as a writer for the entertainment magazine Scorch, but this storyline and all the associated characters are dropped midway through the season. Sabrina then meets Aaron, the man to whom she becomes engaged. In the series finale, Sabrina calls off her wedding with Aaron and runs off with Harvey, her soul mate.

Characters

• Sabrina Spellman (played by Melissa Joan Hart, 1996–2003) is a teenager who discovers on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch and comes from a long line of witches. As she struggles to master her magic, she often wreaks havoc on those around her. Sabrina moved into her college's dormitories at the beginning of the fifth season and then back into her aunts' house after they left for the Other Realm.
• Hilda Spellman (played by Caroline Rhea, 1996–2002, 2003. Seasons 1 - 6 and 7 recurring) is one of the Spellman sisters. Hilda is the less rational and more impulsive one. After giving up violin in the fourth season (she destroyed her violin with dynamite), Hilda purchased a clock shop. Later, after Sabrina moved out of the house, she purchased Bean There, Brewed That, the coffee shop where Sabrina worked, and renamed it Hilda's Coffee House. After her marriage at the end of the sixth season, she moved away with her husband. Hilda returned for the series finale. Her middle name, 'Sucker', is revealed in Season 6.
• Zelda Spellman (played by Beth Broderick, 1996–2002. Seasons 1 - 6) is Sabrina's aunt and Hilda's older sister. Zelda, a scientist and college professor, is the more rational of the two Spellman sisters and is often the voice of reason when Hilda or Sabrina uses magic irresponsibly. At the end of the sixth season she gives up her maturity in order for sabrina to be changed back after being turned into stone when losing her true love. Sabrina advises a now child Zelda to leave for the other realm with a newly married Hilda, ensuring her that she is ok to leave on her own. Zelda makes an appearence as a candle in the last ever episode to allow Sabrina's mother to attend Sabrina's wedding.
• Salem Saberhagen (voiced by Nick Bakay, 1996–2003) is a 500-year-old warlock turned into a talking cat because of his plans to take over the world. Besides Sabrina herself, he is the only character to remain for the entire seven seasons and in fact appearing in every single episode.
• Harvey Kinkle (played by Nate Richert, 1996–2003. Seasons 1 - 4, 5 - 7 recurring) is Sabrina's boyfriend in the first four seasons. He breaks up with her when he finds out she is a witch. Amanda, Sabrina's cousin, tells him about Sabrina getting married and gives him his soul stone, and he arrives at the church on his bike as Sabrina is running out. He is revealed to be her soulmate because their soul stones fit together. In the end, Sabrina leaves Aaron at the altar. Then Harvey and Sabrina run off together after they share a final kiss with Sabrina's favorite band, No Doubt, as the closing theme.
• Libby Chessler (played by Jenna Leigh Green 1996-1998. Seasons 1 - 3) plays Sabrina's arch-enemy whilst at high school. Libby is a spoilt rich girl and is often at the other end of Sabrina's spells as she learns to use them, leading Libby to often call Sabrina a "Freak" or "Freakster". Libby, a cheerleader, is seen to fancy Sabrina's love interest, Harvey, and makes many attempts to ask him out. Libby was sent to boarding school at the end of season 3.
• Jenny Kelley (played by Michelle Beaudoin 1996. Season 1) is Sabrina's best friend at high school in the first season. Jenny befriended Sabrina on her first day, and also introduced Sabrina to Harvey. Jenny walked into the closet at the Spellman house and ended up in the Other Realm, where Sabrina and her aunts had to rescue her and make out it was a dream. Jenny left at the end of season 1 and is mentioned in season 2 by Sabrina.
• Valerie Birkhead (played by Lindsay Sloane, 1997-1999. Seasons 2 - 3) is Sabrina's best friend from the second season. She comes across as dim but it becomes apparent that she suffers from self-doubt when Sabrina casts a spell on her that backfired—making her overconfident and careless. She discovers that Sabrina is a witch after Sabrina tells her and Harvey on Friday the 13th. Valerie left to move to Alaska with her parents at the start of season 4.
• Mr. Willard Kraft (played by Martin Mull, 1996-2000. Seasons 2-4) is the head teacher of Westbridge High, Sabrina's high school, and the on/off boyfriend of both Hilda and Zelda. Hilda mentions that herself and Zelda have stopped using magic on Willard, as it is starting to affect his mental state. This is also mentioned at the Jerry Springer Show when Zelda and Willard's ex-wife Lucy (who is a witch, unbeknownst to him) fight for his affections, in an adaption to the lie detector test, they performed the potion detector test which showed he had extremely high amounts of magic in his system. Willard is not seen or mentioned after season 4.
• Brad Alcerro (played by Jon Huertas, 1999-2000. Season 4) he is the new kid in school, but used to go there before Sabrina went to school. Brad is a witch hunter but doesn't know it. Sabrina tries to stay away from him, but everytime she's in school and uses magic, Brad always sees it, in the episode Dreama, the Mouse, Dreama makes a water fountain apear, but Brad sees and says "You know, sometimes I think you're a real witch" and then Dreama turns into a mouse. In that same episode Brad loses his witch hunter gene by doing an operation on him. That when Sabrina realized that he's just a jerk and now she can use magic on him.
• Dreama (Unknown last name) (played by China Jesusita Shavers, 1999-2000. Season 4) she is the new kid in school who causes lots of trouble because she uses magic. She later turns out to be Sabrina's student who she has to teach her how to control her magic. At the end of Season 4 or the beginning of Season 5 she is not mentioned and we don't know if she passed her test to get her witches license.

Syndication

When The WB network picked up the series after ABC canceled the series, The WB also picked up the rights to air reruns of the series on a weekday basis after the series ended. ABC Family, a United States cable network, had exclusive United States rights to air the show at 8:00am on weekdays, until March 25, 2011, at which point they dropped the series from the broadcast roster due to a contract expiration.^[8] The series aired on The N during 2004–2009, until the channel became TeenNick in September 2009, where it continued to air until September 23, 2010. In Canada, the show can be seen on YTV. In the United Kingdom, Sabrina currently airs on Pop Girl, having previously aired on ITV and Nickelodeon. The show can be seen in Ireland on RTÉ Two each weekday from 5:10pm–5:35pm, as part of the youth orientated show TRTÉ. In Australia, the show can currently be seen on Eleven, the Network Ten owned free-to-air channel at 6:00pm, with repeats at 12.30am, seven days a week.

Video games

On June 11, 1999, Knowledge Adventure through Simon & Schuster Interactive and Havas Interactive officially announced the video games Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Spellbound, Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Brat Attack and Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Bundle of Magic for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

On March 29, 2001, Knowledge Adventure through Simon & Schuster Interactive and Havas Interactive officially announced the video game Sabrina the Teenage Witch: A Twitch in Time! for the PlayStation game system.^[9]

Multimedia

International

Sabrina has been internationally broadcast by the following stations under the following names:

References

External links

• Information about the series at TVAcres
• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch at The N's official website
• Sabrina: the Teenage Witch at CBS Television Distribution
• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch at TV Guide
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch at the Internet Movie Database
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch at TV.com