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Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)

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Sabrina the Teenage Witch
File:Sabrina cast.jpg
Primary Cast. From left to right: Caroline Rhea, Melissa Joan Hart, and Beth Broderick.
Created byNell Scovell
StarringMelissa Joan Hart
Caroline Rhea
Beth Broderick
Nick Bakay
Nate Richert
David Lascher
et al.
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes163
Production
Running time22 minutes
Original release
NetworkABC (1996-2000)
The WB (2000-2003)
ReleaseSeptember 27, 1996 –
April 24, 2003

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was the name of a American sitcom based on the Archie comic book series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. It debuted on ABC in late 1996, and ran for the first four seasons there. In 2000, the show moved to The WB Television Network for its final three seasons on air, ending in 2003. Since its network runs ended, the show has been seen on the Nickelodeon digital tier teen-targeted network The N and in syndication. The show's syndication run ended June 9, 2006. It is now seen exclusively on The N during the late night hours.

Sabrina joined the ABC Family lineup starting on October 2, 2006. It is airing at 4/3c weekdays and weekends at 10/9c in the morning.

Cast

Main

Recurring

Main characters

Sabrina Spellman

Sabrina Spellman (played by Melissa Joan Hart) was a half-mortal and a half-witch. Sabrina's story takes place in the town of Westbridge, Massachusetts where she grew up with her two Aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, and the talking cat, Salem Saberhagen. Her full name is Sabrina J. Spellman. Her father's name was Edward Spellman, a witch, and her mother's name is Diana. Diana is a mortal. Her father has five sisters: Vesta (seen in the 1st season episode Third Aunt From The Sun) who is only seen once but mentioned many times by Hilda, Zelda ,Zelda's evil twin Jesabelda, and Sophia (seen and mentioned only in the movie Sabrina Goes To Rome). Her stepmother's name is Gail Kippling Spellman, a witch. She was an only child, but had one evil twin (by different parents) and a stepbrother. Her evil twin's name was Katrina Spellman, also a witch and her younger stepbrother's name was Donald, also a warlock. Her grandmother, who is nice to Sabrina but overbearing to her aunts, visited once or twice, as did her great-aunt Irma, the Spellman family matriarch. Though not evil, Irma is domineeringly powerful.

Sabrina was the protagonist of the series. On her sixteenth birthday, she learned that she was a half-witch (through her father's side) and had magical powers. She also learned that her two aunts were witches themselves and that their black cat Salem was a warlock who had been turned into a talking household pet as a punishment for attempting worldwide domination. At Westbridge High, she befriended Jenny Kelly (and later Valerie Birkhead and Dreama in future seasons) and had an on-again, off-again relationship with Harvey Kinkle. She also had to deal with the snobby and headstrong cheerleader, Libby Chessler, who became Sabrina's rival for school activities as well as Harvey's affections. In later seasons, Sabrina was enrolled at the fictional Adams College in Boston. After getting her degree in journalism she moved back to her aunt's house with Morgan and Roxie. She took a job with the fictious Scorch Magazine, a music theme magazine where she interviewed famous artists. Later on, she met a man named Aaron, who also worked in the music industry and the two began dating. Before long, Aaron proposed and in the finale, the two were set to wed when unforeseen events take place. At the wedding, Sabrina finally listens to her heart that is telling her that Aaron is not the one and cancels the ceremony. When she runs out of the church, she finds Harvey waiting for her outside on his motorcycle, holding his soulstone. As his and her soulstones match, it proves that those two are destined to be together and they ride off to where their future awaits.

Hilda Spellman (1996-2002)

Hilda Spellman (played by Caroline Rhea) was one of Sabrina's aunts, and Zelda's sister. She is often portrayed as the less pragmatic of the two aunts, and constantly worries about things that could be considered superficial. Hilda was also the more outgoing and fun-loving aunt. She was formerly engaged to Drell, head of the Witches Council (played by Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller). During the college seasons, she became the owner of the coffee shop where Sabrina and Josh worked, and where many of the show's scenes took place. As Sabrina's time in college came to a dwindle, Hilda met her soul mate, a train conductor on the Halloween Express, and compulsively married him. However, it almost did not happen after Zelda and Sabrina meddled for what they thought were the right reasons. Hilda later came back in Season 7 to attend Sabrina's wedding.

Zelda Spellman (1996-2002)

Zelda Spellman (played by Beth Broderick) is Sabrina's brainy aunt who is always engaging in new scientific experiments. Zelda sometimes teaches at Westbridge High, and (in later seasons) Adams College. Zelda often plays the role of the mature, logical one, to bring Sabrina (and sometimes Hilda) back to earth after they attempt some zany scheme or otherwise get into trouble. Towards the end of Sabrina's time in college, Zelda gave up her adult years to bring a broken Sabrina back to life. As a child again, Zelda left Sabrina to run her own life, upon Sabrina's request. Zelda came back with Hilda, during Sabrina's wedding in Season 7, only this time as a candle. Zelda was volunteered by Hilda to become a candle so Sabrina's mother could attend the wedding and not become a ball of wax, per her Witch's Council curse.

Salem Saberhagen

Main article: Salem Saberhagen

Harvey Kinkle (1996-2000, 2001-2003)

Harvey Kinkle (played by Nate Richert) was a mortal boy whose full name was Harvey Dwight Kinkle. He was close friends with Sabrina, Salem, Libby, Roxie, Morgan, Jenny, Valerie and Brad Alcerro.

Harvey was Sabrina's boyfriend until the 4th season, when he discovered that she was a witch in the season finale. The episode features Sabrina unable to choose between Harvey and Josh, and predictably casting a spell. After the spell (which entails an obstacle course) she tries to make both of the boys forget about the trial. It works on Josh, but Harvey apparently has filled his spell quota, meaning Sabrina cannot cast any more spells on him. The season ends with him confronting her about being a witch. He came back in the 6th season while he dated Morgan and then fell in love with Sabrina all over again. When Sabrina was dating Aaron, Harvey attempted to tell her that he was still in love with her but things kept getting in the way, one being Aaron's proposal to Sabrina. In the final episode of the series, Sabrina is having doubts about Aaron being her soulmate and decides she cannot marry Aaron as they are not two halves of the same soulstone. Sabrina runs out of the church only to find Harvey waiting for her outside on his motorcycle. He had the other half of her soulstone and the two ride off on Harvey's motorcycle. This means that he and Sabrina are the destined soulmates.

Valerie Birkhead (1997-1999)

The mortal girl Valerie has two best friends, Sabrina Spellman and Harvey Kinkle. She is also despised by headstrong cheerleader Libby who rivals both her and Sabrina for much of the show. Valerie remains Sabrina's best friend in high school until she moves to Alaska. She is a shy and often unconfident girl who looks up to Sabrina. Valerie Birkhead is played by American actress Lindsay Sloane.

Libby Chessler (1996-1999)

Played by Jenna Leigh Green, Libby was the main villainess on this program; she was a stereotypically snotty cheerleader who picked on Sabrina and her friends. She often referred to Sabrina as a "freak," and, while ignorant of the fact that Sabrina was a witch, she suspected that Sabrina was different. Libby's major conflict with Sabrina revolved around the girls' competition for the affection of Harvey Kinkle, who clearly preferred Sabrina. Only a few personal details are known about Libby. She apparently comes from wealth, and lives in a step-family arrangement of some sort. Her mother appeared in the episode "Five Easy Pieces of Libby" and is played by Cristine Rose; the mother is much like the daughter--snobby and mean-spirited. She has a stepbrother, Russell, who is seen in the episode "Sabrina Claus," and is played by Richard Taylor Olson; he and Libby have a combative relationship.

Libby had two sidekicks that were fellow cheerleaders: Jill, played by Bridget Flannery and Cee Cee, played by Melissa Murray in the first season; Cee Cee Harshaw after that. In the second and third seasons, Libby herself became more of a sidekick, serving as the lackey to the authoritarian (and cheerleader-supporting) Vice-Principal Willard Kraft, played by Martin Mull).

As a supporting character, Libby did not appear in every episode. Almost all of her appearances follow a set pattern: Libby is nasty/evil towards Sabrina, followed by the delivery of poetic justice, whether by way of Sabrina's magic or outside means. In fact, Sabrina frequently used magical means to punish Libby, transforming her into such things as a pineapple ("Pilot"), a geek ("Geek Like Me"), a jigsaw puzzle ("Five Easy Pieces of Libby," by accident), a goat ("Sabrina Through the Looking Glass"), and a zebra ("Disney World," by accident). Other humiliations visited upon Libby included being forced to work as a cafeteria worker ("Finger Lickin' Flu"), having to be placed in a Puritan-era stocks ("The Crucible"), being beaten by Sabrina in a wild and watery fight straight out of a soap opera ("As Westbridge Turns"), unwittingly going on a date with Sabrina who had taken the form of a boy ("Sabrina, the Teenage Boy"), tripping and falling face-first into a cake ("Boy, Was My Face Red"), getting beat up by an international spy ("Sabrina, the Teenage Writer"), and being accused of streaking ("A Halloween Story"). Through it all, she maintained her popularity and hatred for Sabrina.

Even though Libby was a supporting character, she was the focus of several episodes. In the first season, Libby was the center of two episodes. In "Geek Like Me," Sabrina transforms her into a geek in order to teach the cheerleader a lesson. Instead, Libby leads her fellow geeks into forming a clique of their own. Libby does learn not to pick on geeks (at least for that episode). "Sweet Charity" featured Sabrina transforming herself into Libby in order to make an "Adopt-a-Grandparent" program seem more popular; things get complicated when Libby herself shows up at the program.

The second season featured the most Libby-heavy episode ever. In "Five Easy Pieces of Libby," Sabrina and Libby are forced to work together on a Homecoming float committee; as the result of a spell gone wrong Libby gets transformed into a jigsaw puzzle, and Sabrina has to find out information about Libby in order to put the puzzle back together. This episode contains a strong amount of character development for Libby and was an attempt at making the character seem more human (at the end, Libby even has a tender moment as the audience finds out about her deep relationship with her grandmother).

The third season featured Libby in mostly smaller roles, but she was the center of the slapsticky episode "Nobody Nose Libby Like Sabrina Knows Libby," in which Sabrina gets trapped in Libby's nose after getting shrunk. Ultimately, Sabrina even gets to control Libby after tapping into the cheerleader's brain. She contemplates making Libby into a nice person, but decides that would be wrong.

Libby was last seen in the episode "Silent Movie," in a brief role in her usual capacity as Sabrina's tormentor. Jenna Leigh Green left the show after the third season. In the fourth season episode, "No Place Like Home," Libby disappeared, when it was established that she was sent off to boarding school as a means of explaining her character's absence.

Roxie King (2000-2003)

Roxie, a mortal (played by Soleil Moon Frye), was introduced to the show in season five as Sabrina's college roommate. At first she disliked Sabrina, but they later became best friends. Roxie was environmentally conscious and sometimes staged protests. She was a cynical character who despised the thought that her housemate Miles had romantic interests in her. In a Valentine's Day episode, Sabrina cast a spell on Roxie to make her think she was romantically interested in Miles. During the seventh season, Roxie became one of the leading characters in the absence of Sabrina's aunts. She was played by Soleil Moon Frye, formerly of "Punky Brewster".

Morgan Cavanaugh (2000-2003)

Morgan, a mortal, was introduced in season five as one of Sabrina's college housemates and resident advisor. She is very shallow, superficial, and over-assertive. She dated both Josh and Harvey (amongst many others). In a Christmas storyline, Morgan invites Sabrina to spend the holidays with her family, since she finds dealing with them alone quite daunting. In the seventh season, Morgan's supporting role becomes a leading one in the absence of Sabrina's aunts. She was played by Elisa Donovan of "Clueless". Her character on both shows were fairly similar.

Miles Goodman (2000-2002)

Miles is a mortal character that was introduced in the fifth season as one of Sabrina's college housemates. His behaviour was endearingly abnormal and he was a conspiracy theorist. Miles had romantic interests in Roxie, but she did not reciprocate. However, in a Valentine's Day storyline, Sabrina cast a spell on Roxie to make her think she fancied an overjoyed Miles. In the episode "I Fall To Pieces," Miles finally began to notice the unusual behaviour of Sabrina's warlock-turned-cat Salem. Unfortunately, Miles was never seen again and his disappearance was never explained on-screen. Some fans claim to have seen him in the background during Sabrina's wedding in Season 7, but this is not claimed on-screen.

Josh (1999-2002)

Josh is a mortal guy who works with Sabrina at her aunt's coffee shop during the show's college seasons. Technically, Josh is her manager, although the relationship is somewhat different due to the fact that Sabrina's aunt Hilda owns the shop. Josh is interested in photography, and manages to sell one of his photographs for $1000 (with Sabrina's magical help.) He was attracted to Sabrina in the fourth season, but at that time she was dating Harvey. In the fifth season he dated Morgan, and then in the 6th Season he dated Sabrina, but left her when he got a job in Prague. Played by David Lascher

Mr. Willard Kraft (1997-2000)

"Mr. Kraft" as he is often known on the show is a mortal man who has one brother. He is principal of Westbridge High School and regularly issues detentions at the drop of a hat (sometimes literally). He started out as Vice Principal in the second and third season before becoming Principal in Season 4. Mr. Kraft dated both Hilda and Zelda during the show, causing complications for Sabrina. Also finding out in one of the episodes where Sabrina and Hilda try to separate Zelda and Mr. Kraft they find out that he was once married to a witch (named Lucy, played by actress; Julia Duffy) who tried using her magic to trick Mr. Kraft as revenge for leaving her. At the end of season 4, Zelda breaks up with Mr. Kraft who is then hit by a car, thanks to joyriding Salem, and is never seen again.

Roland the Dwarf

Roland is a small dwarf in love with Sabrina. He first appears as a finder of lost things and gets a reward of anything in her room. He chooses her, but she turns him down. Feeling bad, Sabrina goes after him, only to be locked in his castle. She is saved by her aunts. Soon after he gets many others jobs including a detective, The St. Patrick's Day Leperchuan, and Cupids Love assistant. He hates Harvey, Sabrina's boyfriend, and calls him farm boy. While undercover, he is known as Sabrina's cousin. In his last appearance, he is pushed off a flying boat by Sabrina.

Plot

Template:Spoiler The series came on the success of the 1996 TV movie, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, where Melissa Joan Hart had played Sabrina Sawyer, with the two aunts played by Sherry Miller (Hilda) and Charlene Fernetz (Zelda).

When the series came out later that year, Hart became Sabrina Spellman (the character's original last name in the comics), and the aunts were now played by Caroline Rhea (as Hilda) and Beth Broderick (as Zelda). Among the regulars were Salem the wisecracking cat (a puppet that was voiced by Nick Bakay of Angry Beavers) , and Sabrina's boyfriend Harvey, played by Nate Richert. Hart's real-life sister Emily played Sabrina's cousin, Amanda.

The sitcom revolved around a girl who must learn to be responsible for her own actions. As she had the power of magic, she often used it to tried to help her loved ones or herself, frequently resulting in literal puns that are often disastrous and always humorous.

The program began with Sabrina's adventures in high school; in the series' later seasons, Sabrina graduated from high school and enrolled in college, then moved on to her attempts to live on her own and keep a job at the local newspaper. Breaking further from its comic roots, the show ended with Harvey in full realization that Sabrina was a witch, yet too madly in love with her to care, befriending Salem and eventually riding off with Sabrina on a motorcycle during the series finale.

Many episodes involve Sabrina getting to meet, through natural or supernatural means, popular real-life musical artists of the time, including Coolio, the Violent Femmes, the Backstreet Boys, Phantom Planet, 'N Sync, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Daniel Bedingfield, Hanson, and Ashanti. Course of Nature, the band of Melissa Joan Hart's then-boyfriend (now husband) Mark Wilkerson, appeared in an episode in 2002.

Episodes

Sabrina Episode Guide @ epguides.com

Trivia

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  • In this series, the characters lived in the fictional town of Westbridge, located near Boston, Massachusetts (as opposed to Greendale in the comics).
  • Jenny Kelly (a mortal) was Sabrina's best friend until the actress who played her left the show. Her disappearance was never explained during the series' run.
  • The show was never filmed in front of a studio audience, because of the special effects used in its production. It was filmed in a single-format. (Hence every audience clip is laughter, never an "ooh" or an "aww" etc.)
  • Many of the teenage girls in the series can be seen frequently wearing short skirts and dark tights in several episodes of the earlier seasons. The producers of the show would later admit this was deliberate to boost ratings with young male viewers.
  • The show has fans all over the world, some of whom celebrate Bobunk, a holiday accidentally destroyed by Salem.
  • The Sabrina, The Teenage Witch soundtrack, which was released in 1998, was certified Gold by the RIAA.
  • Sabrina and Salem are the only two characters to remain on the show throughout all seven seasons.
  • On November 7, 1997, Salem the Cat appeared on all four shows in the TGIF lineup and caused the characters in each show to travel back to a different point in time.
  • A large number of celebrities have guest starred on the show including Andy Roddick, Barbara Eden, Raquel Welch, Jo Anne Worley, Coolio, John Ratzenberger, Shelley Long, Kathy Ireland, Dick Van Dyke, Loni Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Carson Daly, Brian Austin Green, Drew Carey, Kevin Nash, Brady Anderson, Garry Marshall, Sophia Bush, and Billy Gunn.
  • Melissa Joan Hart has directed many episodes of the show.
  • The season five episode titled Witchright Hall also served as a pilot episode for a proposed spin-off show of the same name which was to star Emily Hart as her "Sabrina" character Amanda. But The WB passed on this idea in favor of Maybe It's Me which premiered in Fall 2001 and ended up being cancelled after one season.
  • The series is one of the longest running shows on Nickelodeon in the UK and has been shown constantly on the station from 1997 to the present day.
  • After Caroline Rhea left the show at the end of the 2001-02 season, she hosted her short-lived talk show, before finding more fame as the hostess of the reality show, The Biggest Loser.

DVD Releases

File:Sabrina S1 DVD.jpg
"Sabrina the Teenage Witch" Season One DVD

Season 1

CBS Paramount announced a 4-Disc DVD set for release on the 6th March 2007.

The set will contain:

  • All 24 Episodes from the First Season
  • Over 8 Hours Running Time
  • English Dolby Stero Surround
  • Closed Captioning for the Hearing Impared
  • 4:3 (Full Frame) Aspect Ratio

No special features have been annonced.

The studio is already planning a Season Two release.

International

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

Country Name Translation Station
Argentina Sabrina, la bruja adolescente Sabrina, the teenage witch Canal 9, Telefe
Asia Sabrina, the Teenage Witch N/A Star World
Australia Sabrina, the Teenage Witch N/A TV1 (Australia) & Network Ten, formerly on Seven Network
Austria Sabrina - Total verhext Sabrina - totally bewitched ORF1
Bosnia Sabrina, tinejdžerska vještica Sabrina, the Teen Witch FTV
Brazil Sabrina, a Aprendiz de Feiticeira Sabrina, the Apprentice Witch Nickelodeon
Bulgaria Cабрина, младата вещица Sabrina, the young witch GTV
Colombia Sabrina, la bruja adolecente Sabrina the teenage witch RCN, Nickelodeon
Croatia Sabrina, Mala vještica Sabrina, the young Witch RTL Televizija
The Czech Republic Sabrina, mladá čarodějnice Sabrina, a young witch TV Prima
Denmark Sabrina - Skolens Heks Sabrina - The School (of) Witch TV3 (Viasat)
Finland Sabrina, Teininoita Sabrina, the Teenage Witch YLE TV2
France Sabrina, l´apprentie sorciére Sabrina, the apperentice witch France 2
Germany Sabrina - Total verhext Sabrina - totally bewitched Pro7
Hungary Sabrina, a tiniboszorkány Sabrina, the Teenage Witch TV2, Viasat 3
Iceland Nornin Unga The Young Witch RÚV
Ireland Sabrina the Teenage Witch N/A RTE 2, Nickeldoeon UK, CITV (UK)
Israel סברינה, המכשפה הצעירה (Sabrina, Hamekhashefa Ha-Tse'ira) Sabrina the young Witch Channel 3, Children Channel
Italy Sabrina, Vita da Strega Sabrina, a Witch Life Italia 1
Japan サブリナ Sabrina Disney Channel,NHK
Latin America, excluding Brazil Sabrina, la bruja adolescente Sabrina, the teenage witch Nickelodeon
Malaysia Sabrina, the Teenage Witch N/A NTV7
The Netherlands Sabrina the Teenage Witch N/A Nickelodeon, The Box
Norway Heksen Sabrina Sabrina the Witch TV3 (Viasat)
Peru Sabrina, la bruja adolescente' Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Frecuencia Latina
Philippines Sabrina, the Teenage Witch N/A ABC 5, Nickelodeon, RPN 9
Poland Sabrina, nastoletnia czarownica Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Polsat
Portugal Sabrina, a bruxinha adolescente Sabrina, the Teenage Witch RTP 2
Serbia Sabrina, Veštica tinejdžerka Sabrina, the Teenage Witch RTS
Spain Sabrina, cosas de brujas Sabrina, witchy things antena 3
Sweden Sabrina Tonårshäxan Sabrina the Teenage Witch TV3, Nickelodeon Scandinavia and Kanal 5
Switzerland Sabrina - Total verhext Sabrina - totally bewitched SF2
Turkey Sihirli Cadi Sabrina Magical Witch Sabrina ATV
United Kingdom Sabrina the Teenage Witch N/A CITV, Nickelodeon UK

References


Template:Archie comics

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