So I never really watched this show when it was on (outside of maybe a few scenes), but I decided to buy the Complete Series DVD set for my birthday, and I just finished season 1 last night.
Overall, it's really cute. I like it. :)
The DVD set does have music replacement and footage removed, due to licensing issues. I'd like to see a master list compiled of everything that's been changed for the DVD release, since there doesn't seem to be one place to look up all of this info.
MJH is "in talks" for a reunion:
http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Sabrina-Teenage-Witch-Coming-Back-Here-What-We-Know-128117.html (http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Sabrina-Teenage-Witch-Coming-Back-Here-What-We-Know-128117.html)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/sabrina-teenage-witch-making-comeback-7656447 (http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/sabrina-teenage-witch-making-comeback-7656447)
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/sabrina-the-teenage-witch-could-make-a-comeback-as-melissa-joan-hart-reveals-shes-in-talks-34584444.html (http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/sabrina-the-teenage-witch-could-make-a-comeback-as-melissa-joan-hart-reveals-shes-in-talks-34584444.html)
http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/sabrina-the-teenage-witch/39622/sabrina-the-teenage-witch-talks-afoot-for-a-revival (http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/sabrina-the-teenage-witch/39622/sabrina-the-teenage-witch-talks-afoot-for-a-revival)
Libby, Hilda, and Morgan's actors are interested in coming back.
This may not mean anything to you, but I'm not sure. One of the BIG highlights of this series is Season 3, episode 6 from Oct 30th, 1998 - "Good Will Haunting". As it's a Halloween episode there are many guest appearances. What makes it BIG for viewers of classic TV is that cast members from the cult 1960's TV show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in" show up. Gary Owens, Ruth Buzzi, Jo Anne Worley, Dave Madden, & Alan Sues. If you're too young to remember "Laugh-in" lets put it this way- the show became an instant super-hit TV show. Giving smash ratings for NBC & making stars out of its cast. It also created 'catch phrases' that are still with us to this day. If you've ever heard the name "Tiny Tim", or the song "Tiptoe through the tulips". That's Laugh-in & much, much more.
The first season is the best. Once the Aunts left it wasn't as good. Salem was great throughout though and probably the best part of the show.
I think I recall seeing the entire series box set last time I was looking at DVDs in Walmart. Based on the recommendations here, I might give this another shot if it's not too expensive, but I'm still a little daunted at the prospect of watching all 163 episodes. (That seems like a LONG time for me to maintain interest in watching a show without getting bored.)
Like Mark, I never watched this much on television (I may have seen a couple of episodes) when it first aired. I just remember that I didn't like it as much as Clarissa Explains It All, which I really loved MJH in.
When I looked this up on Wikipedia, I was kind of surprised to find out that the original TV movie featured a title character named Sabrina Sawyer, and other characters unfamiliar to me like Seth (the boy at school that Sabrina has a crush on) and Katie La More (popular girl and Sabrina's rival for Seth at school). I don't know if the TV movies (there were 2 later ones after it began as a series) are included on the DVD set or if the series sort of 're-origined' Sabrina after the pilot movie.
Quote from: irishmoxie on January 12, 2017, 07:58:01 PM
The first season is the best. Once the Aunts left it wasn't as good. Salem was great throughout though and probably the best part of the show.
The Aunts were only in the first season? Or if not, when did the format change?
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on January 13, 2017, 12:33:35 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on January 12, 2017, 07:58:01 PM
The first season is the best. Once the Aunts left it wasn't as good. Salem was great throughout though and probably the best part of the show.
The Aunts were only in the first season? Or if not, when did the format change?
I think they left in the 6th or 7th season when Sabrina became a young adult and moved out.
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on January 13, 2017, 12:27:59 AM
When I looked this up on Wikipedia, I was kind of surprised to find out that the original TV movie featured a title character named Sabrina Sawyer, and other characters unfamiliar to me like Seth (the boy at school that Sabrina has a crush on) and Katie La More (popular girl and Sabrina's rival for Seth at school). I don't know if the TV movies (there were 2 later ones after it began as a series) are included on the DVD set or if the series sort of 're-origined' Sabrina after the pilot movie.
The pilot movie is not included in the series set. It was released on DVD previously and is now insanely expensive, but someone uploaded it to YouTube, which is where I saw it.
The second movie ("Sabrina Goes to Rome") is included in the series set. The third movie ("Sabrina, Down Under") isn't, but it will finally be getting a DVD release in February.
I don't know if the original movie was intended to lead to a series or not. I can't find any "From A to B" info. All that I know is the movie was shot in Canada with a primarily Canadian cast (MJH being the notable exception), but the series was shot in California, probably explaining why most of the cast got changed out.
The movie isn't part of the series' canon. The first episode actually retreads some stuff from the movie (although, obviously, Sabrina learns she's a witch much quicker).
Interestingly, the girl that played Katy Lemore in the movie went on to reprise the role on the AU series, "Sabrina: The Animated Series". She's actually a fairly prolific voice actor, often doing anime roles.
It might be interesting to look at the comics that were being published concurrently while the TV show was airing, and identify which elements from the TV series were incorporated into Sabrina's comic incarnation, and exactly when they first appeared.
Off the top of my head:
* Sabrina is given a family name for the first time.
* Salem is now a warlock (or wizard, not entirely clear on the distinction in the context of this series) who had been turned into a cat, rather than an actual cat who is a witch's familiar, and can talk. Also, he's a black cat, rather than tawny. Did the TV series establish his warlock identity prior to being turned into a cat? (Salem Saberhagen in the later comics, although the last name was given as something different in a couple of earlier ones.)
* Info about Sabrina's parents for the first time in the comic, establishing the fact that she's half-witch/half-mortal
* Witches established as living in an other-dimensional 'Other Realm'
* Structure of how the Witches' Council works, other facts about the Other Realm
* Supporting characters introduced, like Sabrina's rival at school, Amy
* Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda de-aged (actually explained in the comics)
* Things specific to how witches' powers work
... and probably a couple of other things I'm forgetting
Heh, I assumed all of that stuff WAS in the comics, and the TV series simply copied it.
I was aware the aunts were de-aged in the comics to match the show, but it's lame that they felt the need to explain it. They never explained the de-aging of any other adults.
The comics to look at to see what was changed would be this one-shot special and the following ongoing series:
http://www.comics.org/series/19972/
http://www.comics.org/series/11973/
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on January 14, 2017, 09:36:21 AM
Heh, I assumed all of that stuff WAS in the comics, and the TV series simply copied it.
I was aware the aunts were de-aged in the comics to match the show, but it's lame that they felt the need to explain it. They never explained the de-aging of any other adults.
The comics to look at to see what was changed would be this one-shot special and the following ongoing series:
http://www.comics.org/series/19972/
http://www.comics.org/series/11973/
Well, obviously Sabrina's own title would not have been revived if not for the show airing on television at the time. Yet the comics didn't merely copy
everything that was an invention of the TV show, either. The aunts get de-aged in the one-shot special, which they presumably felt the need to explain because Dan Parent had been doing a completely different version of Sabrina (
Sabrina at Gravestone Heights 91313) in the comic book ARCHIE & FRIENDS in the early 1990s, and that version spun off into 3 Sabrina holiday annual giants from 1993-1995 (and the TV one-shot was in 1996).
There was probably no plausible way to explain the major changes in Salem, so they didn't bother. While Salem had been appearing in the comics off and on up to that time, he was definitely a minor supporting cast member, except for the very occasional odd short that focused on his animal adventures - much less important, say, than Hot Dog is in Jughead's series. The changes made him one of the
most important supporting cast members for Sabrina, although as he's drawn in the 1997 series, he more closely resembles Sebastian from Josie & the Pussycats than the pure black cat on the television show. In the 1997 series, Salem begins as a continuing semi-regular series of backup shorts. At the very end of the 2011 Sabrina comic series, Salem took over the comic (post-manga Sabrina) for a 4-issue miniseries -- but not as a cat; that series told of his adventures as a young warlock before the transgression for which he was punished by the Witches' Council by being sentenced to live as a cat.
The other stuff was added piecemeal, but not having watched the TV show much, I can't really tell you which stuff from the TV show they just chose to ignore. Any elements taken from the live-action show would have been only in SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH (1997) #1-31 (I think they managed to work a photo shot of MJH on to just about every cover), because after that it morphed into "Sabrina the Animated Series" (and yes, the change
was explained in the story in the final issue, #32, before re-launching with the animated pre-teen SABRINA #1 in 2011 -- just as it was explained
away again when Holly G took over and Sabrina reverted back to a teenager in issue #38 of that same series).
Not sure what you mean by the "de-aging of other adults". Who, specifically? I guess there was Cousin Ambrose, which I don't think they explained in the comic, but he was a different story from the aunts, not having appeared much (if at all) since the early 1980s.
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on January 14, 2017, 01:01:27 PM
Not sure what you mean by the "de-aging of other adults". Who, specifically? I guess there was Cousin Ambrose, which I don't think they explained in the comic, but he was a different story from the aunts, not having appeared much (if at all) since the early 1980s.
I meant in the Archieverse at large, specifically Betty's parents - especially her dad, who morphed from "Old Man" Cooper to a grey-haired Hal to a brown-haired Hal. Alice also started out with grey hair and then got her hair color back.
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on January 17, 2017, 07:13:22 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on January 14, 2017, 01:01:27 PM
Not sure what you mean by the "de-aging of other adults". Who, specifically? I guess there was Cousin Ambrose, which I don't think they explained in the comic, but he was a different story from the aunts, not having appeared much (if at all) since the early 1980s.
I meant in the Archieverse at large, specifically Betty's parents - especially her dad, who morphed from "Old Man" Cooper to a grey-haired Hal to a brown-haired Hal. Alice also started out with grey hair and then got her hair color back.
Okay... confused. In the context of what we were discussing (comparing the Sabrina comics contemporaneous with the live-action TV series, and how the show influenced the comics), it sounded like you were saying something about other adult characters from the Sabrina series being de-aged in the comics due to the way those characters were cast as younger in the show (which was obviously exactly the case with Aunts Hilda and Zelda).
There's no mystery about the de-aging of the parents going on over the course of a few decades in the Archieverse at large, which wasn't influenced in any way by Archie's world as depicted in any other media. Rather, the question we should probably be asking is why the parents were originally depicted as looking more like grandparents than parents (because unlike Hilda and Zelda, they really aren't hundreds of years old). That seems to be common to all media when you look at older movies from the 1930s and 40s. Not sure why, but I guess it has to do with them wanting to contrast the parents with teenagers as being more serious, mature, responsible and having the wisdom of life experience. As far as the de-aging goes, it was a gradual thing, not something you can pinpoint at some moment in time where by editorial decree it was decided to "reboot" the parents. It might reflect the reality of advancements in health care and people just generally becoming more conscious of diet and exercise. Interestingly, certain characters who appeared far more frequently in the stories never had their appearance significantly altered - Mr. Lodge and Fred Andrews, among the parents, and Mr. Weatherbee, Coach Kleats, Miss Grundy (although she did become "Ms." Grundy), and Mrs. Beazly (who has always reminded me eerily of a transgendered Popeye). In the case of Mrs. Beazly, the real shocker there was in discovering that she had a beautiful teenage daughter.
A little while ago I read a story where Mr. Cooper had blond hair and was balding on top, and his first name was Joe. I can't remember the exact issue # of ARCHIE it was, but it was circa 1970 or so, give or take a couple of years.
Anyone that still has old VHS tapes of the series, what are the various songs and artists that were played on the series (but removed for DVD)? I'd like to get a list going.
Also, I created a Sabrina Pandora station (with some Josie and Riverdale added):
https://www.pandora.com/station/play/3489452158586590813
Different series(s) but they also did that to WKRP in Cincinnati, The Fugitive (1960's series), and The Untouchables (1960's series). In each case the music was changed for the DVD releases. The worse of them all was WKRP. Venus Fly would say something & then Johnny Fever would put a record on, which would complete the joke. Since they changed all the music the jokes made no sense. Luckily people taped it off Nick at Night & TVLand back in the 90's when they were still airing the original versions. It's amazing what gets cut out of TV shows when they're released on DVD. The 1960's British Adventure series "Sir Francis Drake" from the 60's had 2 minutes cut out of an episode titled "Mission To Paris". Drake is in France talking with the extremely paranoid Queen of France. Drake is forced to run a sword through one of her guards as they try to kill him. He utters the line "My sword is warmed up & ready for any Frenchman". Entire thing cut out.
Music rights are usually negotiated only for a limited time, so they have to go through the process of getting rights clearances for each piece of music that appears in a movie or series all over again for DVD releases, and that can add up and get expensive, making a DVD release unprofitable. The more different musicians' rights they have to negotiate, the more expensive. This kind of thing has been going on with DVD releases of movies for a long time.
I finished watching the series pretty recently. While I enjoyed it overall, it got maddening at times, mostly because being a witch involves more nonsensical rules than contained in the entire Torah. You can never tell when someone (usually the aunts) will tell Sabrina that she can or can't do this or that, or else [insert repercussion here] will happen. And, yes, Sabrina is often not told about stuff until it's a pressing issue. Need I bring up the episode about pancake addiction? :uglystupid2:
The entire second season dealt with Sabrina trying to obtain her witch's license (yeah...), which involved being tested at random, inopportune times by a Quizzmaster (no name given). The third season took place during the second half of her junior year (can't let her age too quickly!) but still contained Halloween and Christmas episodes ( :idiot2: ). It involved her having to discover the family secret, or else she can't get her witch's license, and perhaps something bad will happen (I honestly forget at this point). In the fourth season, she was finally allowed to turn 18 and start her senior year. Seasons 5-6 were college. The season 7 premiere wrapped up the cliffhanger and then skipped ahead three months after the theme song. Sabrina graduated from college off-screen. The show was recycling story ideas at that point, so it was time for it to end.
The cast was so inconsistent. Sabrina's best friend, Valerie, disappeared without explanation after season 1. Season 2 introduced Mr. Willard Kraft, Sabrina's overbearing, disciplinary vice principal (unmentioned beforehand), who stayed for the rest of the high school episodes (became principal in season 4). Also introduced was Valerie, Sabrina's new best friend. Valerie (along with mean girl Libby) were written out after season 3. Libby went to boarding school, and Valerie moved to Alaska, but the season 4 premiere dealt with her seemingly coming back to live with Sabrina, but then...nope! Way to tease the audience. Season 4 introduced Josh, a new love interest for Sabrina. Harvey was dropped after season 4, and he made only a handful of quick cameos during season 5. When Sabrina went to college, she moved into a rental house and gained three roommates, Morgan, Roxie, and Miles. Harvey started appearing again (in a recurring capacity) in season 6 and until the end of the series. Miles was dropped without explanation after season 6. Josh leaves after season 6. Both aunts left the series after season 6 (though Hilda's actor returned for the series finale). The aunts leave the house to Sabrina. She moves back home, and Morgan and Roxie move in with her. Morgan and Roxie are shown, in one episode, to sleep in the same bedroom, despite the fact that there should seemingly be enough rooms for each of them. Sabrina gets a job at a music magazine, but these extra characters are dropped around halfway through the season, when Sabrina quits her job. Around the same time, ANOTHER new love interest, Aaron, is introduced, the purpose being to do an engagement storyline that had been meant for Josh before Josh's actor left the series. Sabrina and Salem end up being the only characters to appear in every episode of the series.
All told, I like the series, but it's too chaotic. That said, I'd say Roxie is my favorite (human) supporting character. She's the best friend that Sabrina's ever had. Punky Power!