SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH (1970)

 

SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH (1970) / SABRINA AND THE GROOVIE GOOLIES / THE SABRINA COMEDY HOUR
(CBS, September 12- December 26, 1970)
 
Filmation Associates

 

 

MAIN CAST:

Jane Webb – Sabrina Spellman, Aunt Hilda, Aunt Zelda, Della the Head Witch, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Miss Grundy, Big Ethel, various

Dallas McKennon – Salem, Archie Andrews, Hot Dog, Mr. Weatherbee, Pop Tate, Mr. Lodge, Coach Kleats, various

Howard Morris – Ambrose, Jughead Jones, Moose Mason, Dilton Doiley, Hot Dog Jr., various

Don Messick – Harvey Kinkle, Spencer, Chili Dog, various

John Erwin – Reggie Mantle, Hexter, various

Treva Frazee – Ophelia
Larry Mann – Boneapart, various
Larry Storch – Drac, Hagatha, Ghoulihand, Batso, Ratso, Icky, various

 

 For the history of Sabrina, check out the post here.

 

When Filmation acquired the rights to adapt Archie Comics’ Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, she was still a fairly new and minor character; only appearing sporadically in the pages of the anthology Archie’s Mad House. To test her out with audiences, it was decided to include her as part of the expanded The Archie Show, The Archie Comedy Hour. The Sabrina segments proved a hit with audiences, and for her second season on the air she was split off into her own series. Sort of.

Sabrina with her cousins Wolfie, Drac and Frankie.

In similar fashion, Filmation had another untested property they wanted to do. Called The Groovie Goolies, it was their comedic take on the Universal Monsters combined with a healthy dose of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Since both featured witches, they paired them up with Sabrina to form Sabrina and The Groovie Goolies (alternatively known as The Sabrina Comedy Hour). Both shows were developed by Jack Mendelsohn, with Jim Mulligan also working on Goolies.

Sabrina with Salem.

 The first half hour focused on the adventures of Sabrina Spellman (Jane Webb), your ordinary teenage girl attending ordinary Riverdale High. Well, ordinary except for the fact that she was a witch accidentally created by her aunts, Hilda and Zelda (both also Webb). They sought to create another wicked witch like themselves and instead mixed in the ingredients for a typical teenaged girl. Residing with them was their magical cat, Salem (Dallas McKennon), and occasionally popping in to cause trouble was warlock cousin Ambrose (Howard Morris, replacing John Erwin from the previous season). Sabrina’s human friends consisted of her bumbling boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (Don Messick), best friend Ophelia (Treva Frazee), girl-crazy Archie Andrews (McKennon), mischievous Reggie Mantle (Erwin), girl-next-door Betty Cooper, spoiled rich girl Veronica Lodge (both Webb), eternally-hungry Jughead Jones, big lummox Moose Mason, and genius Dilton Doiley (all Morris). Head witch Della (Webb) frequently popped in to give Sabrina a headache; especially when tasking her with watching her naughty nephew, Hexter (Erwin).

Rocking out with the Goolies.

The second half hour focused on the Goolies, who were members of a band based out of a creepy castle called Horrible Hall. The primary group was comprised of Drac (Larry Storch), a pastiche of Dracula, the short-tempered leader who played the pipe organ; Frankie (Howard Morris, doing a loose impersonation of Boris Karloff), based on Frankenstein’s monster, who was the easygoing head of the Muscleleum Gymnasium and played either bone xylophones or drums (later misinformation would call Frankie the son of Drac and Hagatha); and Wolfie (also Morris), based on the wolfman, who spoke in a mix of beatnik, surfer and hippie slang and played a lyre-like instrument. Despite the separation of the two shows, the characters often crossed over. The Goolies were said to be Sabrina’s cousins, and typically she had to try and keep their true natures a secret from her mortal friends lest her own witchcraft be exposed. 

Sabrina spending time with Aunts Hilda and Zelda.

 Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies debuted on CBS on September 12, 1970. The series was written by Mendelsohn and Mulligan with Bob Ogle, Chuck Menville, Len Janson, Jim Ryan and Bill Danch. The series’ music was provided by Horta-Mahana Corp. and Jan Moore, with the background score done by Ray Ellis and David Jeffrey. The series was a hit, becoming the highest-rated children’s program of 1970. Despite that, however, this would be the last time new episodes of Sabrina would be produced until 1977 in The New Archie and Sabrina Hour.

Worlds collide.

For the 1971 season, CBS split up the two shows into their own half-hours. Reruns of both seasons’ worth of episodes continued on Saturday morning under the newly-titled Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. The Groovie Goolies became its own entity, completely omitting Sabrina from their intro, and was moved to Sunday morning to air alongside Tom and Jerry; however, they remained in the Sabrina episodes in which they appeared. Sabrina remained on the network until 1973 and would be sold into syndication with Archie and Goolies in 1976.

Sabrina and The Archie gang.

With Sabrina’s new media attention, Archie finally gave her a series of her own with the first volume of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch in 1971. Before that, Sabrina began appearing as a regular feature in the anthology series Archie’s TV Laugh-Out (a play on the Laugh-In title), which starred all of Archie’s televised characters and introduced Harvey and Ambrose alongside Comedy Hour. Episodes of the series were released as part of the Archie & Friends compilations Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Archie’s Classic Cartoons by Nostalgia Ventures in 2004. A complete series DVD set was released by Classic Media in 2012, followed by a 10 episode collection from 20^th Century Fox. The series set was reissued by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2019.

 

 

EPISODE GUIDE (see The Archie Comedy Hour for the previous season):
“Short Changed / Rose-Colored Glasses” (9/12/70) – Reggie comes over for lunch and ends up doused with a shrinking potion by Hilda. / Hilda’s rose-colored glasses give Mr. Weatherbee a skewed view of the world.
 
“Mis-Guided Tour / Living Dolls” (9/19/70) – Sabrina’s bringing Hexter on a class trip has Miss Grundy doubting her sanity. / Hida shrinks the Goolies and they’re discovered by The Archies.
 
“That Old Track Magic / Cake Bake” (9/26/70) – A concussion causes Ambrose to help Riverdale high’s oppoents in the track meet. / Hagatha and Hilda fight dirty to beat each other in a cake-baking contest.
 
“Moose’s Alter-Falter / Hot Rod Derby” (10/3/70) – Sabrina must get Moose’s good and bad sides back under control. / Sabrina gets roped into helping Wolfie with the local car race.
 
“Mortal Terror / The Bear Facts” (10/10/70) – Della grants Sabrina’s wish to be mortal, which ends up spoiling her bowling date with Reggie. / Riverdale High’s photography class decides to set up in the same area the Goolies have decided to inhabit.
 
“Weather or Not / Child Care” (10/17/70) – Sabrina’s magic-altering illness ends up getting Jughead expelled from school. / Sabrina conjures a dragon to entertain her Goolie cousins, but it ends up going out of control in town.
 
“Flying Sorcery / Witches Golf Open” (10/24/70) – Reggie catches Sabrina emerging from a flying saucer. / The Archies play caddy for Hilda and the Goolies during a nighttime golf game.
 
“Too Many Cooks / Rummage Sale” (10/31/70) – Archie and Reggie make a bet to stay in an empty mansion the same night as an annual witches gathering there. / The Goolies’ contributions to the school’s rummage sale ends up leading to problems for Sabrina.
 
“Ambrose’s Amulet / High School Drop-Ins” (11/7/70) – Ambrose loans Big Ethel his amulet, forgetting it changes people into animals. / The Goolies decide to get a high school education.
 
“Auto-Biography / Big Deal” (11/14/70) – Hilda accidentally turns herself into Archie’s car. / Ratso and Batso dog-sit Hot Dog, whom Hauntleroy causes to grow as large as a house.
 
“Tragic Magic / Frankie” (11/21/70) – Jughead enlists Sabrina’s help to be a better magician for the charity magic show. / Frankie just wants to help out his friends, but all his efforts always end in disaster.
 
“A Nose for News / Beached” (11/28/70) – When Reggie is made editor of the school paper he starts blackmailing his fellow students with their embarrassing secrets. / Sabrina’s beach day is spent keeping the Goolies hidden and protecting her friends from bullies.
 
“Ouch” (12/5/70) – Sabrina must keep Hilda’s loud music from disturbing the neighbors.
 
“Smog” (12/12/70) – Sabrina must intervene when smoke from Horrible Hall gets Archie’s Pollution Committee to investigate.
 
“Dirty Pool” (12/19/70) – Sabrina and the Goolies ask The Archies to help stop the pollution of Horrible Hall’s moat by the Crosstown Gang’s car-wash.
 
“The Grayed Outdoors” (12/26/70) – Sabrina and the Goolies must protect the environment from the Crosstown Gang’s construction of a bike track.

THE ARCHIE COMEDY HOUR

 

THE ARCHIE COMEDY HOUR
(CBS, September 13, 1969-January 3, 1970)

 
Filmation Associates

 

MAIN CAST:
Dallas McKennon – Archie Andrews, Hot Dog, Mr. Weatherbee, Pop Tate, Mr. Lodge, Coach Kleats, Salem, various
Ron Dante – Archie Andrews (singing)
Jane Webb – Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Miss Grundy, Big Ethel, Sabrina Spellman, Aunt Hilda, Aunt Zelda, Della the Head Witch, various
Toni Wine – Betty Cooper (singing), Veronica Lodge (singing)
John Erwin – Reggie Mantle, Ambrose, Hexter, various
Howard Morris – Jughead Jones, Moose Mason, Dilton Doiley, Hot Dog Jr., various
Don Messick – Harvey Kinkle, Spencer, Chili Dog, various
Treva Frazee – Ophelia

 

For the history of Archie, check out the post here. For the history of Sabrina, check out the post here.

 

            1969 continued to be a banner year for the Archie Comics characters. The Archie Show was still doing well in the ratings, and the virtual The Archies band managed by Don Kirschner was working on their second (Everything’s Archie) and third (Jingle Jangle) album, and had scored a major milestone with their third single, “Sugar, Sugar”, which hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard and U.K. Singles chart for four and eight weeks, respectively, and was certified gold. They would score another gold with the single “Jingle Jangle” later in the year, while charting in the top 40 with two more singles. “Sugar, Sugar” even led them to yet another appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and was brought up into space by Apollo 12 astronauts Alan Bean and Pete Conrad. Eager to keep the ball rolling, CBS asked Filmation to continue and expand with The Archies.

The Archies are back and still rockin'.

            The result was the second incarnation of The Archie Show, The Archie Comedy Hour. Along with reruns from The Archie Show, Comedy Hour incorporated new segments that were mostly one-off gags rather than story driven, such as “Dilton Doiley’s Inventions”. “The Funhouse” joke segment in the middle of the hour was modeled after Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Additionally, there were music segments designed to showcase the new music from The Archies.

Advertising mock-up introducing Sabrina.

            Comedy Hour also gave Filmation a chance to fulfill an itch. For a long time, producer Lou Scheimer had been trying to secure the rights to adapt the sitcom Bewitched into an animated series; continuing Filmation’s trend of banking on established properties and their audiences. While perusing some Archie comics on vacation, CBS head daytime programming Fred Silverman discovered that Archie themselves had their own witch character, and alerted Scheimer to the fact. After securing the rights from publisher John Goldwater, Scheimer immediately set Jack Mendelsohn to develop Sabrina, the Teenage Witch for inclusion within the Comedy Hour.

Archie and the gang getting to know the new girl in school.

            Unlike the comics where Sabrina (Jane Webb) was a half-mortal sent to live with her witch aunts, the series’ intro stated that Sabrina was created accidentally when said aunts Hilda and Zelda (both also Webb) mixed the wrong ingredients into their brew. So, instead of gaining a fellow wicked witch, they found themselves with a groovy teen who liked hanging out with her friends at Riverdale High as much as using her magic to help them (in secret, of course). Much like the comics, however, Sabrina’s efforts often ended up making situations worse. Sabrina’s adventures often featured as much of the Archie cast as her own, which included her magical cat, Salem (Dallas McKennon); oblivious boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle (Don Messick); best friend, Ophelia (created for the show, voiced by Treva Frazee); and warlock cousin, Ambrose (John Erwin). Occasionally, Sabrina even had to put up with head witch Della (Webb) and her bratty nephew, Hexter (Erwin). Sabrina’s segments bookended the hour with an additional short segment of her demonstrating magic tricks to the audience.

Reggie is certain there's something peculiar about Sabrina.

            The Archie Comedy Hour debuted on CBS on September 13, 1969. However, canonically, it was preceded by a prime-time special that aired the following night: Archie and His New Pals. The special saw Sabrina coming to Riverdale High just as Reggie (Erwin) and Big Moose (Howard Morris) were set to run against each other for class president. While Sabrina was technically the only “new pal” introduced in the special, its title was actually based on the special’s sponsor: Pals Vitamins. Unlike The Archie Show, this time around one of the Archie writers was employed in George Gladir, co-creator of Sabrina. Additional writers included Bob Ogle, Jim Ryan, Bill Danch and Mendelsohn. Legendary animator Don Bluth, still early in his career, worked as a designer. While The Archies’ music was written by Jeff Barry, Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan and performed by studio musicians Gary Chester on drums, Dave Appell on guitars, Joey Macho on bass, and Ron Frangipane on keyboards with Ron Dante and Toni Wine on vocals, Ray Ellis composed the rest of the music.

Hilda, Zelda and Salem.

            Sabrina proved popular right out of the gate, prompting Filmation to produce more episodes with her and spin her off into her own series the following year. She was combined with the original concept, The Groovie Goolies, to make the new hour-long program Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies (sometimes known as The Sabrina Comedy Hour). The Archie format was adjusted again to feature more music and more comedy routines rather than typical stories in Archie’s Fun House featuring the Giant Juke Box. That same year, “Jingle Jangle” was featured on The Ed Sullivan show in January while the special was rerun on March 22^nd as The Archie Sugar, Sugar, Jingle Jangle Show with different opening and closing songs.

Sabrina grooving with Harvey.

            Archie Comics continued their staunch support of Filmation and their programs. Along with blurbs about the shows on their covers, “Sugar, Sugar” was woven into practically any story that featured music or The Archies playing; starting with Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals #57 (1970).  Further, Archie began publication of a new title called Archie’s TV Laugh-Out (a play on Laugh-In) that primarily showcased their television characters (although, really, it wasn’t any different than any other Archie title besides the combination of all the characters into one book). It ran for 106 issues, ending in 1986, and some stories were collected into a digital trade for Archie's 75th anniversary. Comedy Hour and TV Laugh-Out simultaneously introduced the characters of Ambrose and Harvey; both created for the show that became permanent additions to the Sabrina mythos. While cover-dated for that December, Laugh-Out’s first issue actually went on sale just two weeks after Comedy Hour’s debut.

Archie's TV Laugh-Out #1.

            Post Cereal ran a promotion that included records of “Everything’s Archie”, “Bang-Shang-A-Lang”, “Boys & Girls” or “Hide and Seek” that could be cut out of the back of the boxes of select cereals; a set of 10 metal pins; Jughead’s hat; iron-on images; stationary; Archie’s car; temporary tattoos; and jumping figurines. Unfortunately, no home releases of the Archie portions of the show or short segments are known to exist. When the series was sold into syndication, the shows were cut up and merged into a package called The Archies. Those segments continued to live on in television while the rest wound up on the cutting room floor. When Hallmark purchased Filmation’s assets from then-owner L’Oréal in 1995, they converted everything to digital and PAL-region formats and discarded all of the originals. The restored special—sans the Pals promotional material—and the music segments for “Sugar, Sugar”, “Jingle Jangle” and “Get on the Line” were included as bonus features on the Archie’s Funhouse complete series DVD from Classic Media in 2008. Four additional segments were featured across all four of the Archie & Friends compilation DVDs. The segment for “You Know I Love You” was recovered from an overseas broadcast and uploaded to YouTube. The Sabrina segments, which continued to air in reruns as part of her own show, were released as part of the Archie & Friends compilations Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Archie’s Classic Cartoons, as well as in a complete series DVD set by Classic Media in 2012 and a 10 episode collection from 20^th Century Fox. The set was reissued by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2019, including the first episode of The New Archie and Sabrina Hour (also known as The Archie and Sabrina Surprise Package).

 
 
EPISODE GUIDE:
Sabrina segments:

“The Fairy Godmother / Hiccups” (9/13/69) – Sabrina uses magic to get Spencer to take Ophelia to the school dance. / Sabrina’s hiccups causes her magic to go out of control.

 

“Which Witch is Which? / The Basketball Game” (9/20/69) – A magical mishap causes Hilda to get Sabrina’s face. / Sabrina attempts to use magic to stifle the opposing team’s cheating during a basketball game.

 

“Will the Real Weatherbee Stand Up? / Caveman” (9/27/69) – When the school ends up short-staffed, Sabrina duplicates Mr. Weatherbee to help out. / Attempting to help Sabrina with her history homework causes Ambrose to bring a caveman into the present.

 

“Paint Story / Aunt Zelda’s Broom” (10/4/69) – Sabrina joins the others in painting Mr. Weatherbee’s house. / Sabrina tries to get Zelda her broom for a race in the other world.

 

“Cinderella Story / What the Hex is Going On?” (10/11/69) – Sabrina’s magic goes wild during the costume ball. / Hilda hexes Jughead after he speaks ill about witches.

 

“Wishbone / Babysitter” (10/18/69) – Hot Dog Jr. and Chili Dog find a magic soup bone that grants wishes. / Sabrina has to babysit Della’s wicked nephew, Hexter.

 

“Carnival / Stage Fright” (10/25/69) – A comet passes by overhead that causes everything a witch does to be backwards. / Hilda lands the role of a witch in a play.

 

“Pet Show / Funny Bunny” (11/1/69) – Sabrina enters Salem in a pet show just as a cosmic constellation occurs that causes witches’ cats to be rambunctious. / Sabrina tries to help Jughead be successful, but instead turns him into a rabbit.

 

“Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow / A Witch in Time” (11/8/69) – Sabrina tries to change Mr. Weatherbee’s mind about people with long hair. / Della decides Hilda and Zelda aren’t witch enough to watch over Sabrina and assigns her a new guardian.

 

“When the Cat’s Away / Costume Party” (11/15/69) – Sabrina and Salem trade places. / Sabrina realizes the gang is holding their costume party at the home of the Witches’ Convention.

 

“Let’s Have a Hand for Jughead / The New Freeway” (11/22/69) – Sabrina tries to help Big Ethel attract Jughead. / The Spellmans must save their house from the construction of a new freeway.

 

“Blue Whale / Football Game” (11/29/69) – At the aquarium, Hexter decides to help out a homesick whale. / Hilda attends the school football game and unwittingly helps the opposing team win.

 

“Town Beautiful / Horse’s Mouth” (12/6/69) – A pair of bikers undermine the gang’s efforts at beautifying the town. / Sabrina grants a horse the gift of speech to help get a law changed.

 

“Birdman of Riverdale / Hoedown Showdown” (12/13/69) – Sabrina learns some secrets about a grumpy old man. / The gang helps Moose’s uncle with his harvest so he won’t lose the farm.

 

“Spooky Spokes / You Oughta Be in Pictures” (12/20/69) – Sabrina accidentally gives away Ambrose’s motorcycle and tries to get it back. / Sabrina helps the gang with their movie.

 

“The Generation Flap / School Daze” (12/27/69) – Sabrina arranges a birthday party for Archie on the same night her aunts arranged a magic seminar. / Hexter goes to Riverdale High after shrinking Sabrina down to doll size.

 

“Ug at the Bat / Computerized Moose” (1/3/70) – Hilda makes Sabrina take the caveman to school where he turns out to be a natural batter in baseball. / Moose becomes super-intelligent after an accident with the school’s computer.

 
 
Special:

“Archie and His New Pals” (9/14/69) – Sabrina starts at Riverdale High just as a heated election is about to begin between Reggie and Moose for class president.

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: DALLAS McKENNON

DALLAS McKENNON

(July 19, 1919-July 14, 2009)

Notable Roles: Buzz Buzzard, Inspector Willoughby, Tony the Tiger, Gumby, Pokey, Q.T. Hush, Dr. Blaney, Courageous Cat, Minute Mouse, Tintin, Professor Calculus, Sinbad Jr., Salty, Pokey, Archie Andrews, Mr. Weatherbee, Hot Dog, Frank Hardy, Chubby Morton, Pete Jones, Cincinnatus, Salem Saberhagen

Born Raymond Dallas “Dal” McKennon, he grew up on a farm where he would come to practice making animal voices. In high school, he became a DJ for a local radio station where he would perform various voices for the sponsors’ commercials. After serving in WWII, McKennon started a business recording and “cutting” records on acetate before Portland’s KGW hired him to be Mr. Buttons, the host of a children’s radio show. McKennon got into acting with his first role in the 1952 film Bend of the River, where he befriended Jimmy Stewart. Stewart invited McKennon out to Los Angeles to become part of his radio program, The Six Shooter. Once in California, McKennon landed the lead role in Captain Jet, a local kid’s space-themed program, which allowed him to segue into voice acting. He worked for Walter Lantz Productions voicing Buzz Buzzard in Woody Woodpecker shorts and the lead in Inspector Willoughby. He also became the first voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal commercials; however, his tenure was short-lived as he would be replaced the following year by Thurl Ravenscroft. McKennon would forge a long relationship with Disney, providing voices in many of their films beginning with Lady and the Tramp, as well as recording 16 LPs retelling movie stories. One of McKennon’s best-known roles would be that of the Claymation character Gumby, which he first assumed in 1957 and then several times after. He soon took over voicing Gumby’s best friend Pokey, as well as various other characters in the series. During this time, he was still acting on camera as well. McKennon’s most prominent live-action role was as innkeeper Cincinnatus on Daniel Boone from 1964-70. In 1968, he began another long studio relationship, this time with Filmation Associates as the voice of Archie Andrews and other characters in various shows based on Archie comics. After moving to Oregon, McKennon became involved with a local theater and took up writing music and scripts, many for plays and shows about Oregon history. His first song, Critters in the Woods, was performed on Daniel Boone. For the bi-centennial, he helped leaders in Portland organize a pageant called In God We Trust, for which he served as a narrator. He travelled to various schools as a character called Skinny Bones Jones engaging students with fanciful facts, and developed the show Vox Box to teach people how to make voices. One of McKennon’s lasting contributions was a crazy laugh first used for the hyena in Lady and the Tramp that would be recycled for use in the films Tourist Trap and Elf, the show Totally Spies! and several Crash Bandicoot games for the character of Ripper Roo. He died of natural causes in 2009 at the age of 89.

Saturday Credits:

The Gumby Show

Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt

The Archie Show

Archie’s Funhouse

The Archie Comedy Hour

The Hardy Boys

Groovie Goolies

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1969)

Archie’s TV Funnies

The Barkleys

U.S. of Archie

Sabrina, Super Witch

Space Academy

The New Archie/Sabrina Hour

Archie’s Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show

Goof Troop

The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat

SABRINA: THE ANIMATED SERIES

SABRINA: THE ANIMATED SERIES

(Syndication, September 6, 1999-February 27, 2000)

Archie Comics, Savage Studios, Hartbreak Films, DiC Entertainment, Buena Vista International

            After over 20 years, Sabrina the Teenage Witch made a return to television. In 1996, Showtime aired a film based on the character starring Melissa Joan Hart in the title role. The film followed Sabrina’s discovery of her witchly abilities on her 16^th birthday and how she tried to use those powers to get Seth (Ryan Reynolds) away from popular girl Katie (Lalainia Lindbjerg). The film performed well-enough for ABC to invest in a spin-off television series developed by Nell Scovell and Jonathan Schmock. Sabrina, The Teenage Witch revamped the movie’s plot for the pilot and followed Sabrina as she dealt with being a typical teen who just happened to have magical powers. Hart was the only actor carried over from the film, with Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick assuming the roles of her aunts Hilda and Zelda, Nate Richert playing love-interest Harvey Kinkle, and Nick Bakay as the voice of warlock-turned-cat Salem Saberhagen.

DVD cover featuring Salem, Quigly, best friend Chloe, Hilda, Sabrina, Zelda, Harvey and rival Gem.

             In 1999, Savage Steve Holland spun the television series off into an animated series for a younger audience. Sabrina: The Animated Series followed the same premise as the live sitcom, but Sabrina (Emily Hart) was reduced to middle school age. Hilda and Zelda (both Melissa Joan Hart) continued their roles as Sabrina’s mentors, but had been reduced to teenagers as punishment by head-witch Enchantra (Jane Mortifee) for misusing their magic. Their guardian was a new character created for the series, Uncle Quigley (Jay Brazeau), who came from Sabrina’s human side of the family and possessed no magical powers. Bakay reprised his role of Salem, and Harvey (Bill Switzer) was changed from Sabrina’s boyfriend to having a mutual crush on her. The film and both shows were produced by Hartbreak Films, the production company run by Melissa and Emily’s mother, Paula.

The Sabrina comic.

            Sabrina: The Animated Series ran in syndication for a single season of 65 episodes. It was shown concurrently on ABC’s Disney’s One Saturday Morning programming block and UPN’s Disney’s One Too block on Sundays, as well as on UPN’s weekday lineup. To commemorate the sitcom, Archie Comics had relaunched their Sabrina title with updated character designs reflective of the show. After 32 issues, the series was rebooted once again in 2000 and published adventures based on the cartoon. When the series was cancelled, Archie returned Sabrina to a teenager with #38 until an all-new continuity and a manga style was adopted with #58. 

SMF ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (PART 8)

We continue our second anniversary celebration!

As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. As we roll further down the line, we get up there in years as we hit 45. These are the shows your parents (or even grandparents, depending on your age) were enjoying once upon a time.

Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!

Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...

NOTE: Not all intros available at this time.