Production
The series debuted in 1999. The Archie Comics star had already graced the Saturday morning airwaves in the 1970s (courtesy of Filmation), but the popularity of the live-action Sabrina, the Teenage Witch sitcom in the 1990s formed part of the basis for this spin-off series. Unlike previous versions, Sabrina in this series was depicted as a 12-year-old attending middle school. As in the original comic series, Sabrina lives with her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, and Salem Saberhagen, Sabrina's loud-mouthed cat, all of whom advise Sabrina on the use of magic (thereby contradicting the live-action show's premise of not knowing about magic prior to her sixteenth birthday; thus this series is essentially a "retelling" of the story, similar in concept to The New Archies, a previous Archie Comics-based DiC production).
Savage Steve Holland (whose previous credits include producing Eek! The Cat) was the executive producer of Sabrina, the Animated Series. As such, the series reflected some of the irreverent style of humor seen on Eek! The Cat. Celebrity voice cameos in this series included Mr. T, Long John Baldry, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Melissa Joan Hart, who starred as Sabrina in the live-action sitcom, acted as producer of this series, but her younger sister Emily Hart (who played the recurring character Amanda on the sitcom) voiced Sabrina. Melissa instead voiced Sabrina's two aunts, Hilda and Zelda. Salem is voiced by Nick Bakay, who also voiced Salem in the live-action series. The theme song is sung by B*Witched.
The series ran on UPN and in syndication (on Disney's One Too weekday afternoon block) and on ABC (on Disney's One Saturday Morning block) for one season with 65 episodes produced. In October 2002, a made-for-television movie based on the series was produced for cable channel Nickelodeon. This was soon followed by a follow-up animated series, Sabrina's Secret Life. The original series at that time began airing on cable channels KidsCo, Disney Channel and Toon Disney, but recently has reverted once again to airing in syndication. During the 2006-2007 television season, the series returned as part of CBS's new KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS and was briefly part of the KEWLopolis cartoon lineup. As of September 19, 2009, the series returned to CBS as part of the Cookie Jar TV cartoon lineup.
In Germany, Sabrina's Secret Life is simply a third season of Sabrina, the Animated Series, both under the title Simsalabim Sabrina.
The show was dubbed into Welsh and aired on Welsh language channel S4C. The show is also featured on Kids Co in English and Turkish
Read more about this topic: Sabrina: The Animated Series
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