20 Amazing Facts About Sabrina the Teenage Witch You Might Have No Idea About

Being a witch, a mortal, a teenager, and a girl all at the same time.

Maryjane

• Published in Film & TV
• May 7, 2022

What's the problem? I'm supposed to be a witch, a mortal, a teenager, and a girl all at the same time.

Clarissa Explains It All, which aired on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1994, starred Hart as the title character. Five years later, she landed the title role in another show, Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Hart, who first appeared as the Archie Comics witch in a 1996 film, cast spells and caused havoc on ABC and then the WB for seven seasons before the iconic series ended in 2003. Despite the fact that her mother was one of the producers, the actress almost didn't get the role.

We've compiled a list of all the secrets about the iconic TV show, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, including which major star has actually been filmed as Sabrina. So go ahead and read them for yourself.

1.          Prior to Melissa Joan Hart featuring in the titular role, Sarah Michelle Gellar was the network’s preferred choice. But she passed on playing a witch to take on vampires in a little program called Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead.

2.          While Hart had experienced success on TV, thanks to her period on the Nickelodeon hit series Clarissa Explains It All, Before landing on Sabrina, the actress was getting ready to leave Hollywood.

3.          Many people are unaware that Hart's mother, Paula Hart, was the driving force behind the Sabrina TV series after she was given the comic book on a playground. Paula would function as an executive producer for the entire seven-season run.

4.          Oh, and the family name in the film was Sawyer, but then it was changed back to Spellman in the comics for the ABC series.

5.          Despite the fact that her mother was one of the producers, Hart had a good time during her Sabrina days, as detailed in her 2013 memoir, Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life.

6.          Charlene Fernetz and Sherry Miller portrayed Sabrina’s aunts, Zelda and Hilda, in the 1996 TV movie. When the show was turned into a TV show, Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea took over the roles of Zelda and Hilda Spellman from Fernetz and Miller.

7.          Hart wrote about her early friendship with Britney Spears, who appeared in Sabrina, in the book, including the time they slipped into a club together as the pop singer was underage.

8.          Hart also discussed her time partying with Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez after meeting them at the exhibition in 1999 when 'N Sync appeared.

9.          There was one celebrity from that era with whom she didn't get along: Ashton Kutcher. Hart revealed that things had gotten so bad that she twice tried to kick him out of parties at her house for "smartass remarks."

10.        One actor with whom Hart certainly clicked was Ryan Reynolds, whom she met on the set of the 1996 film. The co-stars did make out in Sabrina's hotel after the actor gave Hart a watch on his final day after filming as Seth, Sabrina's crush.

11.        I'm sorry to disappoint fans who have been rooting for Hart and her on-screen love interest, Nate Richert, to get together in real life, but the two never dated.

12.        After the series switched from ABC to the WB after season four, Harvey was written off the show because the producers hoped for a fresh start when Sabrina graduated from high school. Fans, on the other hand, were not ready to say goodbye to their first love, and Richert returned to the show full-time in season six.

13.        Emily Hart, Sabrina's cousin, was featured on the show in seasons three and five as Amanda Wiccan, and the network tried to launch a spinoff series centered on her character twice.

14.        Nick Bakay , who was also a producer and writer on the show, was the Spellman's talking cat (Salem). Hart revealed in a 2016 interview that a mixture of live, animatronic, and fake animals were used for the Salem's scene.

15.        Michelle Beaudoin played Sabrina's closest friend, Jenny Kelly, during the first season, but she did not return for the remainder of the series, and her exit was never explained.

16.        Several major cast changes occurred during Sabrina's seven-year run, with Martin Mull, Lindsay Sloane, and Jenna Leigh Greene all leaving ahead of season four. In season 5, Soleil Moon Frye and Elisa Donovan appeared on the show.

17.        Sabrina's first executive producer, Nell Scovell, disclosed in her 2018 memoir, Just the Funny Parts, that the network's head actually wanted her to make a significant change to the pilot script: The executive pitched the idea of having one of the aunts not want Sabrina in order to create conflict between Zelda and Hilda.

18.        Scovell also addressed the show's lack of diversity, revealing that her agents had approached legendary actress Cicely Tyson about playing Aunt Zelda.

19.        Ahead of the series' seventh and final season, the writing was on the wall that it would be canceled after the WB ordered only 13 episodes instead of the usual 22. Hart then accused the WB of being uninterested in the series because it debuted on ABC.

20.        Towards the season finale, which centered on Sabrina navigating adulthood while interning at a magazine, Broderick and Rhea were not series regulars.

It can be rare for an actor to land two major roles in their career. Melissa Joan Hart had already starred in two film series by the time she was 20 years old.

Which Sabrina the Teenage Witch secret surprised you the most? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Maryjane