Sabrina The Teenage Witch vs. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, of Riverdale fame, has a new spin off called Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and it is inspired by the show that aired in the fall of 1996 called Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The series stars Kiernan Shipka of Mad Men as Sabrina. Sabrina is a young woman that is struggling to choose between becoming a witch like her family or remaining mortal/human. This is a hard decision for her as forces of evil conspire against her.
In 1996, the series Sabrina the Teenage Witch, starring Melissa Joan Hart. The series was on ABC and aired on September 27 with over 17 million viewers. This show was the highest-rated series on ABC and ran until April 2003.
In this version, Sabrina is the daughter of male witch and human. She discovers she is a witch on her 16th birthday. Since she has a curse, she is not able to live with her parents so she lives with her Aunt Hilda (Caroline Rhea), Aunt Zelda (Beth Brodierick) and her half-mortal cat Salem. The show ran for four seasons on ABC and was then canceled, but picked up by the WB network for its final three seasons.
On October 26, 2018, the new series called Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was released to Netflix. The series came out with one season so far, but it was split into two parts. The second part aired on Netflix on April 5, 2019. The show is in the horror genre and is not nearly as comical as the original. The show takes place during the 1960s Shipka's Sabrina must deal with becoming a witch just like the other series. She lives with her Aunt Hilda (Lucy Davis), Aunt Zelda (Miranda Otto) and her cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo). She struggles trying to be friends with her mortal (human) friends Susie (Lachlan Watson), Rosalind (Jaz Sinclair) and her mortal boyfriend Harvey (Ross Lynch). While she is deciding to become a witch, she is being targeted by Madame Satan, an evil witch who is seeking revenge.
There are many differences between Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Everyone knows how Melissa Joan Hart played Sabrina and it’s hard to think of someone else playing Sabrina. Another difference in the new show is that it includes political ideas. Sabrina is a feminist and she makes a club at school only for women. She is also very sweet to everyone. The whole show has a darker tone than the original and it features a lot of topics relating in satanism that connects to the satan haunting Sabrina. Splitting season one into two parts gave the Netflix viewers a lot of suspense.
For anyone looking for a binge worthy Netflix show, I definitely recommend it. It will leave you on the edge of your seat in suspense and you will learn a little about witchcraft too.
