How to be a "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" Fan

Witches were persecuted in the America of the late 17th century. In the late 20th - early 21st century, witches were TV stars.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Cable TV or VCR/DVD player
• sense of humor
• willing suspension of disbelief

1. Sabrina and Salem as originally appearing in the Archie comics. The character of Sabrina Spellman (get it, Spell-man?) was conjured up in the Archie comics in 1962 - before Melissa Joan Hart was even born. Inspired by the film "Bell, Book and Candle", the original appearance of the cute teenage sorceress was supposed to be a one shot deal. Technically, the character is only HALF witch - her father a warlock and her mother a mortal. Due to favorable fan reaction, the strange visitor from Riverdale, MA showed up several more times as a supporting character in Archie, Betty and Veronica's Greendale; and the role became more prominent in "Archie's TV Laughout" in 1969. "Sabrina and the Groovy Ghoulies" aired as a Saturday morning cartoon in '70; retitled "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" the following season. Sabrina also got top billing in her own line of comic books in '71. Melissa Joan Hart starred in a made-for-TV movie as Sabrina, which begat a weekly 1/2 hour TV series (1996-2000 on ABC; '00-'03 on WB), which begat "Sabrina, the Animated Series" ('99-'01). The cartoon version featured Sabrina in her younger years, with the voiceover done by Emily Hart, Melissa's sister. Another animated series, "Sabrina's Secret Life" followed as well as the live action TV films "Sabrina Goes to Rome" and "Sabrina Down Under".
2. Sabrina became a comic book star in her own right (and a sexy one, at that). The premiere episode has Sabrina's aunts Zelda (Beth Broderick) and Hilda (Caroline Rhea) wondering how to break the news to Sabrina on her 16th birthday that she has supernatural powers.
   In the animated version, a somewhat younger Sabrina already knows she's a witch. The voiceover for both aunts is provided by Melissa. In another departure from the live show, the household also included mortal Uncle Quigley serving as a father figure.
   In both series, the unintended consequences of using sorcery provide comic and plot fodder.
   Sabrina's schemes are often either aided by, or thwarted by, Salem Saberhagen - a warlock who was turned into a black cat for attempting to take over the world. The cat, played in turn by an animatronic model or a real cat, was voiced by Nick Bakay.
   Sabrina and her aunts often visited the Other Realm, home to all types of mythical creatures; and were in turn visited by leprechauns, trolls, ghosts, the god Mercury, Cupid, Frankenstein's monster and many other supernatural icons.
   Her boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle, is kept in the dark about Sabrina's supernatural abilties until near the end of the series run. One of the comical highlights of the series had Sabrina sinking in quicksand while Harvey and another suitor, Josh, had to run a gauntlet of swinging razor sharp pendulums, shooting flames, etc., to save her. In another personal fave, Sabrina battles a vampire, Buffy-style.
3. Our gal, Sabrina Sabrina's hometown in the series was changed to Westbridge. Later, she went to college in Boston. Here, the opening theme featured on-location shots of her dancing on the State House steps, on Newbury Street, Boston Common, Quincy Market and other Boston locales. When Sabrina moved on campus, the aunts were relegated to the background. Roommates Roxie (Soleil Moon Frye), Miles (Trevor Lissauer) and Morgan (Elisa Donovan) became the main supporting characters. Miles, a geeky type with a penchant for tracking down supernatural phenomena, never quite caught on to Sabrina's secret - although he did come close at least once. The Miles character vanished in the final season of the series, without a word of explanation.
   Sabrina also had to contend with a friend of Harvey's who was born with the rare "witch sniffer gene". He knew there was something odd about Sabrina but couldn't put his finger on it.
   Another notable nemesis in high school was clique leader Libby, who often received her comeuppance via supernatural means.
   In the cartoon series, Sabrina frequently faced off with spoiled rich brat Gemini Stone.
   The animated version also featured an over-the-top, pith helmet wearing witch hunter who had a nearsighted aardvark named Elton as a sidekick.
   The final few episodes of the live show had Sabrina preparing to get married to Aaron - but she cuts out of the wedding and runs off with her childhood sweetheart, Harvey.
   The show featured a veritable galaxy of guest stars including Martin Mull, George Wendt, Penn & Teller, Debbie Harry, Britney Spears, Kato Kaelin, John Ratzenberger, Erik Estrada, Davy Jones, Barbara Eden, Loni Anderson, Drew Carey, Shelley Long, Paula Abdul, Frankie Avalon and Adrienne Barbeau.
   Be sure to continue on to the tips for some trivia and little known Sabrina facts!

Tips & Warnings

• Many interesting parallels exist between "Sabrina" and that earlier TV show starring an attractive blonde witch - "Bewitched". Both shows did on-location special episodes in Salem, MA; notorious for the witch trials some 300 years ago. All female witches in both shows have names ending in "a" - Sabrina, Zelda, Hilda, Dreama, Irma, etc.; and Samantha, Endora, Serena, Esmerelda, Hagatha, Aunt Clara, etc. Listen to the end of the credits on some "Sabrina" episodes for a "twinkling" noise as when Samantha wiggled her nose.
• Because the Witches' Council frowned on mixed witch/mortal marriages; Sabrina's mortal mother would be turned into a ball of wax if they met. That is why Sabrina lives with her aunts.
• Zip code for Sabrina's Westbridge is 01970 - which is the real life zip code for Salem, MA.
• Salem Saberhagen's human form shows up in flashbacks in both the animated and live series - but in the tradition of Charlie from "Charlie's Angel's", Norm's wife on "Cheers" and Carlton the doorman on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"; you never see his face.
• Melissa Joan Hart appeared in the recent ABC-TV movie "Holiday in Handcuffs".
• Nick Bakay, also did voiceovers for "The Angry Beavers".
• Maurice LaMarche, who took over voiceover duty as Salem the cat on "Sabrina's Secret Life" also did the voiceover for another creature bent on taking over the world - a lab mouse in "Pinky and the Brain".
• Beth Broderick guest starred in an episode of the revived "Bionic Woman".
• Caroline Rhea was featured on "The Biggest Loser" and is a well known stand-up comedienne.
• Soleil Moon Frye was TV's "Punky Brewster".
• Sister Emily Hart appeared as young cousin Amanda (as well as being Sabrina's voice in the animated series).
• Because of the special effects required, the show was never filmed in fromt of a live audience.
• Some of the best episodes were the Halloween ones.
• Coming full cycle, the show inspired a new series of Sabrina comic books, featuring Melissa Joan Hart's photo on the cover.
• Check your local TV listings for syndicated reruns of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", "Sabrina, the Animated Series" and "Sabrina's Secret Life".
• If you've got religious or other hang-ups about witchcraft, "Harry Potter"-type books, etc.; this isn't the show for you.