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Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is a supernatural sitcom that stars Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman, an American teenager who, on her sixteenth birthday, discovers she has magical powers (a departure from the Archie Comics, where she has known of her magic powers since an early age as revealed in the "Sabrina – That Cute Little Witch" storylines in many Little Archie comic books). She lives with her 500-year-old aunts, witches Hilda (played by Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (played by Beth Broderick), and their magical talking cat, Salem (voiced by Nick Bakay), at 133 Collins Road,[1] in the fictional Boston suburb of Westbridge, Massachusetts through most of the series.

The show premiered on September 27, 1996, on ABC to over 17 million viewers in its "T.G.I.F." line-up.[2] The series' first four seasons aired on ABC from September 27, 1996, to May 5, 2000; the final three seasons ran on The WB 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 in April.[3] 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, 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.[4]

The television series was produced by Hartbreak Films and Viacom Productions with Finishing the Hat Productions being there for season 1 only. Later it was syndicated through Paramount Domestic Television on reruns. Paramount Television|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. The official copyright holder for the series (as with all series originally produced by Viacom Productions) is CBS Studios Productions, LLC.

Opening sequence

The opening titles of the first three seasons 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 costume (often a pun or a joke related to the costume or the content of the episode), and then magically disappear from head on down.

The opening sequence for the fourth season is completely redone, featuring a completely new theme and the show's main characters, starting with Sabrina, floating in bubbles while their names are displayed in gold letters and a voice chants "Secret" in the background.

The opening credits for the final three seasons are accompanied by a new 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 five and six, after leaving Newbury Comics on Newbury Street, Sabrina walks down a flight of stairs and computer graphics morph Sabrina into her room, lying on her bed next to Salem. In the final season, however, the computer graphics morph Sabrina arriving at Scorch Magazine. Upon pushing the door open, she is revealed to be walking into her house to greet Roxie, Morgan, and Salem.

The actual house photographed and filmed to depict Spellman Manor is a Victorian mansion located at 64 E. Main St. in Freehold, New Jersey.[5] The exteriors for Westbridge High School, which Sabrina attended, were Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey.

Departures

The show went through many cast changes, the first major change being the unexplained departure of Sabrina's best friend Jenny Kelly (Michelle Beaudoin) at the end of the first season.

At the beginning of the fourth season, Valerie departs the show permanently along with Libby. Valerie's character moves away to Alaska with her family, while Libby transfers to a boarding school.

When the series finished its fourth season, several secondary characters left the show, including Martin Mull and Nate Richert. Richert, who played Sabrina's boyfriend 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 later rescinded, and Richert appeared in three episodes of season five and then returned as a series regular in season six and seven.

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 never properly written out, 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 Aaron, played by Dylan Neal, as Sabrina's love interest in the show's final season.

References

  1. Season 1, Episode 23
  2. "Debut Of ABC's 'Sabrina' Lures More Than 17 Million Viewers", Orlando Sentinel, October 3, 1996
  3. Template:Cite news
  4. Template:Cite news
  5. 19 Locations From Your Favorite TV Shows You Can Visit in Real Life http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/tv-show-locations/9