Series cast summary: | |||
Melissa Joan Hart | ... | Sabrina Spellman / ... 163 episodes, 1996-2003 | |
Nick Bakay | ... | Salem Saberhagen 163 episodes, 1996-2003 | |
Caroline Rhea | ... | Hilda Spellman / ... 142 episodes, 1996-2003 | |
Beth Broderick | ... | Zelda Spellman / ... 141 episodes, 1996-2002 | |
Nate Richert | ... | Harvey Kinkle / ... 124 episodes, 1996-2003 | |
Jenna Leigh Green | ... | Libby Chessler / ... 76 episodes, 1996-2003 | |
Martin Mull | ... | Principal Willard Kraft / ... 73 episodes, 1997-2000 | |
Soleil Moon Frye | ... | Roxie King 66 episodes, 2000-2003 | |
Sabrina Spellman, a perfectly normal 16-year-old, is informed by her aunts, Hilda and Zelda, that she (and they, and her whole family on her father's side) are witches. She lives with them in Massachusetts while preparing to receive her witch's license. Along the way, she gets into many scrapes while figuring out how certain spells work. She also has to keep the secret from her boyfriend, Harvey, friends Jenny and later Valerie, stuck-up nemesis Libby, and her ever-suspicious vice-principal, Mr. Kraft. Written by Anonymous
Now in its sixth season (and a success on both Nickelodeon UK and ITV, though even its biggest fans must wonder how the latter managed to go head-to-head with "The Simpsons" on BBC1 and beat it in the ratings), it's fairly amusing, and the makers had the basic right idea in letting Sabrina go on to college (life moves on even for TV characters). Although Salem still gets most of the real laughs, and the supporting cast of people from other sitcoms (David Lascher from "Blossom," Elisa Donovan from "Clueless," Trevor Lissauer from the awful "Running the Halls," and of course Punky Brewster) seems out of place because of the familiarity.
But if the series started with Sabrina finding out on her 16th birthday that she's a witch, and this is six years later, then she can't be a teenager on the show any more than she is in real life (Melissa Joan Hart started playing Miss Spellman when she was 22, after four years playing explain-it-all Clarissa). If the new opening sequence doesn't suggest it's time to call the show "Sabrina" or something - and the American edition of "Maxim" didn't call MJH 'Sabrina the Increasingly Voluptuous Witch' for nothing - then nothing will.
Still, the "Bewitched" du jour is several cuts above those horrible NBC teen sitcoms, that's for sure.