The gloriously Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has arrived on Netflix in a devilishly dark
take on the popular teenage witch who so many loved watching in her mid-1990s sitcom.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here and today I'm diving into the ten biggest
differences between Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Melissa Joan Hart's Sabrina The
Teenage Witch!
Keep watching to the end to find out the Riverdale cameo you won't want to miss!
And if you're finding me for the first time, every week I do deep dives into your favourite
TV shows and movies, so tap the bell to stay up-to-date with all my new videos.
One of the highlights of the 90s sitcom was Sabrina's cat, Salem.
The show brought the wisecracking kitty to life using a mix of animatronic puppets and
real cats, while his frequent sarcastic comments were memorably voiced by Nick Bakay.
In the show, Salem was previously a warlock but had been turned into a cat to punish him
for attempting to take over the world, not that that stopped him from getting up to all
kinds of other mischief to much comic effect in keeping with the show's generally light
tone.
As for the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, if you were hoping for some black cat back-chat,
then you're out of luck, as this particular feline version of Salem never speaks.
Except to briefly introduce himself the first time he turns up at Sabrina's home, but that's
when he's in his goblin form.
"Sabrina!"
"I heard you calling in the woods."
"And I came.
Meow!"
The new Salem arrives after the half-witch tries summoning a familiar, and despite not
having the gift of the gab, he still gets an active part and some cool scenes, and is
a rather adorable presence.
A non-verbal Salem doesn't mean you'll miss out on the kind of snark and comedic dialogue
you enjoyed in the 90s show though because another character takes on a similar role.
Sabrina's cousin Ambrose is a charming, witty warlock who didn't appear in the original
sitcom but is based on a character from the comics with his TV backstory being given a
tweak from the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina books.
Like sitcom Salem, TV Ambrose has been punished for his part in a conspiracy; in Ambrose's
case, he tried to blow up the Vatican.
In the new series, Ambrose, who's brilliantly played by Chance Perdomo, is someone who Sabrina
often turns to for advice and help as a partner-in-crime in her various schemes, much like sitcom Salem.
As for Sabrina's aunts, Hilda and Zelda, there's a similar dynamic between the sisters, the
big difference being that the 90s show has a lighter, fairy godmother-style, fluffier
version, while the Netflix series takes things to a much darker, devil-worshipping place.
In Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Zelda is the intelligent, science-minded, logical aunt;
while Hilda tends to be less practical, and generally more fun-loving and outgoing.
They get up to stuff like making "perfect" men out of dough and turning themselves into
teenagers so they can keep their eye on their niece at a gig without her knowing.
In the Chilling Adventures, Zelda is played by Australian actress Miranda Otto of Lord
of the Rings fame and is very much a no-nonsense witch and certainly the much sterner of Sabrina's
aunts.
Zelda's mid-Atlantic accent and whole manner positively oozes Bette Davis, which is funny
because Kiernan Shipka who plays Sabrina recently played Bette Davis's daughter in the TV series
Feud!
Aunt Hilda, meanwhile, has a British accent and is a softer, more openly kind-hearted
witch, with a fun sense of humour and generally less confidence than her sister.
She's played by Lucy Davis, who you'll doubtless recognise as Wonder Woman's Etta Candy.
The on-screen chemistry between Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis is fantastic and they take
the bickering between the aunts on the 90s show to a whole new, Cain and Abel level of
darkness!
In the first season of Chilling Adventures, we're told that Brina's parents have died
in an accident.
Her mother was mortal and her father Edward was a progressive High Priest in the Church
of Night.
That's a huge difference from the original 90s show where Sabrina's parents are both
still alive though they're divorced.
In the sitcom, Sabrina's father lives in her spell-book, where she sees him early on in
the first season, though she does later get to see him in real life too.
As for Sabrina's mortal mother, well, her half-witch daughter isn't allowed to see her
as if she does her mother will turn into a literal ball of wax, and that's something
that did actually happen on the show!
When it comes to their tone and look, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the Chilling Adventures
of Sabrina are absolutely poles apart.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch ran for seven seasons from 1996 and was a brightly coloured and
lit situation comedy.
It was full of goofy storylines, cartoony characters, and zany schemes with all sorts
of weird and wonderful magic goings-on including episodes that featured Sabrina's boyfriend
turning into a frog, her seriously OTT pancake addiction, and the time she almost had to
marry a troll.
Things were generally kept bright and breezy and didn't have to make sense over the seasons
with characters sometimes disappearing with no real explanation, like Sabrina's best friend
Jenny after Season One.
In comparison, Chilling Adventures is much more devilish, far darker, and definitely
more intense and gory.
Season 1 of the slow-burn show follows Sabrina's "dark education", and really leans into its
horror origins, with loads of easter eggs and references to classic fright flicks.
In some nice meta-moments, the Netflix show tips its hat to its 90s predecessor, with
Zelda asking to be saved "from the melodramatics of a teenage witch", and Prudence noting that
Sabrina "has gone dark" So, overall, Chilling Adventures is more akin
to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while Sabrina the Teenage Witch is more like the 60s sitcom
Bewitched!
Now, while the original live-action TV show was set in Westbridge, Boston, and had Sabrina
only discovering that she was a half-witch on her 16th birthday; Netflix's series is
located in Greendale, across the Sweetwater River from Riverdale, and Sabrina knows she's
a half-witch, half-mortal right from the start.
Time-wise, Sabrina the Teenage Witch was very much set in the era it was made, the mid-1990s
onwards.
But when it comes to the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, it's impossible to pin down exactly
when this new show is set.
That's because the series is a deliberate mix of many different eras, so modern sensibilities
and adult themes are blended with costumes, sets, and props drawn from Victorian times
to the 1960s, 70s, 80s and beyond.
Another big difference between the Netflix series and the mid-90s show is that over its
seven-season run, Sabrina the Teenage Witch welcomed a huge number of celebrities on set
in cameos and guest star roles.
Among the very many famous faces was a pre-Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston who played a magical lawyer,
Mary Poppins star Dick Van Dyke who was an old friend of Salem's, actress Raquel Welch
who was Sabrina's Aunt Vesta, magicians Penn and Teller who played the Head of the Witches
Council and his assistant, and a ton of music stars including Britney Spears, Coolio, the
Backstreet Boys, and Usher who played a Love Doctor.
But what this season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina does have is a Riverdale cameo!
Look out for Ms Wardwell ordering a pizza because when the delivery boy arrives he turns
out to be Riverdale's Ben Button!
This isn't Ben's first time in Greendale as he had music lessons and hook-ups at Miss
Grundy's home there.
But, spoiler ahead for Episode 2, Season 3 of Riverdale, Ben jumped out of a hospital
window after telling Betty and Jughead that he was following the Gargoyle King's plan!
So, what are your theories about how Ben turned up in the new Sabrina show?
And which other Riverdale characters would you like to see appear in Season 2?
Now, I'd love to know if you're a fan of the original Sabrina sitcom.
And what do you think of the new show?
Let's continue the conversation in the comments below!
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Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!