Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series)

Show name	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
Caption	Title card for the first three seasons
Format	Sitcom / Fantasy
Runtime	22 minutes
Camera	Film; Single-cameraMulti-camera
Creator	Nell Scovell(based on the characters created by Dan DeCarlo and George Gladir)
Developer	Jonathan Schmock
Starring	Melissa Joan HartNick BakayNate RichertCaroline RheaBeth Broderick Michelle BeaudoinPaul FeigJenna Leigh GreenLindsay SloaneMary GrossAlimi BallardMartin MullJon HuertasChina Jesusita Shavers Soleil Moon FryeElisa DonovanTrevor Lissauer
Executive producer	Paula Hart (entire run)Nell Scovell (1996-1997)Miriam Trogdon (1997-2000)Carrie Honigblum &Renee Phillips (1999-2000)Bruce Ferber (2000-2002)David Flebotte (2002-2003)
Theme music composer	Danny Lux (entire run)Paul Taylor (seasons 5-7)
Company	Hartbreak FilmsFinishing the Hat Productions (1996-1997)Viacom Productions
Distributor	Paramount Domestic Television (2001-2006)CBS Paramount Domestic Television (2006-2008)CBS Television Distribution (2008-present)
Country	United States
Language	English
Network	ABC (1996-2000)The WB (2000-2003)
First aired
Last aired
Num seasons	7
Num episodes	163 (plus three TV movies)
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo surround sound
Status	Ended
List episodes	List of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch episodes

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. Sabrina has a boyfriend called 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. 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. 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.

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. Hilda and Zelda Spellman (played by both Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, respectively until 2002), her aunts, 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.

Whereas the comic book series was set in the fictional Greendale, it was relocated to fictional Westbridge, Massachusetts, for the television series. The Spellmans' house is located at 133 Collins Road.

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 Sabrina's 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 re-live 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". 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 (Soleil Moon Frye), an anti-social feminist and Miles Goodman, 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.

Episodes and US ratings history

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) 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. Zelda would later join her in the Other Realm, but returned for the series finale to attend Sabrina's wedding.

Zelda Spellman (played by Beth Broderick, 1996–2002) 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 moved with Hilda to the Other Realm. She was temporarily turned into a candle as a substitute for Sabrina's mother so they could attend Sabrina's wedding in the series finale.

Harvey Kinkle (played by Nate Richert, 1996–2003) 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.

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.

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 and continued to do so for a while after The WB ended the series. 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. 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, it aired Nickelodeon on weekdays for an hour block, and currently airs on Pop Girl. The show can be seen in Ireland on RTÉ Two each weekday from 5:10pm–5:35pm. It is part of the youth orientated show The Den. In Australia, the show can currently be seen on Eleven, the Network Ten owned free-to-air channel at 6:00pm, seven days a week. It was formerly on at 4:00pm, but moved to the 6:00pm timeslot, swapping with Family Ties.

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

Category:1996 American television series debuts Category:2003 American television series endings Category:1990s American television series Category:2000s American television series Category:American Broadcasting Company network shows Category:American television sitcoms Category:College television series Category:English-language television series Category:Fantasy television series Category:High school television series * Category:Teen sitcoms Category:Television programs based on Archie Comics Category:Television shows set in Massachusetts Category:Television series by CBS Paramount Television Category:WB network shows Category:Witches in film and television