A Tale of Two Sabrinas: Which Witch to Watch This Halloween
Photos Courtesy of ABC / Netflix TV Features Netflix
No matter what mood you’re in this Halloween season, witchy icon Sabrina Spellman will always be there to provide a little bit of magic and mischief. Halloween is either a time for tricking or treating, but luckily, with this particular witch, you don’t have to choose. From dawn on October 31st, you can relive ‘90s nostalgia through Sabrina the Teenage Witch… And the moment night falls on the same day, grab that remote, navigate to Netflix, and turn on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. With over 200 combined episodes, each Sabrina tale will have you entertained all spooky season long.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch first aired in 1996 as a fantasy sitcom (a genre we are sorely lacking today). Melissa Joan Hart stars as Sabrina Spellman, a seemingly normal teen girl—up until her 16th birthday, that is, when her aunts reveal to her that she’s actually a witch with magical powers. And it is here, with the exception of Sabrina’s beloved black cat Salem, that the road diverges between the two TV iterations of the titular teenage witch.
Sabrina is perfect for a watch with the whole family, or something lighter to turn on when the mood strikes for good, old-fashioned ‘90s sitcom antics. It’s in the same spooky season wheelhouse as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or Halloweentown. Talking cats are secretly warlocks trapped in animal bodies; dancing women dress in giant maple syrup dispensers; and even Britney Spears is magicked in for a personal concert at one point. The stakes are relatively low, and there is almost always a moral to the story at the end of each episode. Consistent through-lines are rare, making it the perfect show for anyone to jump into at any point in the series.
But just because it’s less serious doesn’t make it any less suited for a Halloween rewatch. It’s comfort food for the autumnal soul, especially when you don’t feel like getting frightened by rituals and otherworldly wrongdoings. Hart’s Sabrina welcomes you warmly at the front door, ushering you into the Halloween spirit and preparing you for when nighttime falls…
Speaking of which: Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s harrowing counterpart, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, arrived on the scene in October of 2018, with Kiernan Shipka in the titular role. Previously known for her role in Mad Men, it became abundantly clear that Shipka was now grown up, moving on from being Don Draper’s complacent daughter and handedly taking on the occult. It was immediately different from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, emulating the cult classic The Craft with its unrelenting depiction of Wicca, witchcraft, and Satanism. CAOS certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s a much easier pill to swallow when it comes to the horror genre in comparison to the Haunting of Hill Houses of Netflix’s horror repertoire.
Some fans of the original show had a problem with the direction Netflix chose to take with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina; it’s dark, violent, and has a distinctly adult relationship with sexuality (the original hardly touts but a kiss or two). Salem doesn’t even speak! And the show crosses paths several times with Chilling Adventures showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s CW series Riverdale, with Sabrina living in Greendale just one town over from Archie and friends. But this crossover isn’t as random as it looks: Sabrina actually made her first comic appearance in 1962 in Archie’s Madhouse before eventually earning her own series.
For those who laud one as being better than the other, I raise you this: consider that these two Sabrinas exist in tandem with each other, on opposite planes of existence (astral planes, if you will). The character does exist in two different Archie Comics worlds, after all. The more sinister, adult world of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina debuted in 2014 as a rebooting of the lighter Sabrina the Teenage Witch title at Archie Comics, so just like the TV shows, it’s much more recent than the original. There’s no censorship or clean family fun to be found in the adaptation of those more harrowing comics, but it perhaps rings truer to the dark underbelly of Halloween and what happens if a witch strays too far from the light. This is what makes Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina the perfect partner in crime to Melissa Joan Hart’s, representing the spine-tingling counterpart to the hair-raising fun of Sabrina the Teenage Witch—and what makes Chilling Adventures the series to switch to once the sun sets. (Though it would be best to also look up trigger warnings for CAOS before settling in.)
All that being said, the one thing the two shows undoubtedly have in common is the fashion and set pieces. It’s eye candy for days. The original Sabrina conjures up an aura of ‘90s witchy whimsigoth a la Practical Magic with its towering Victorian townhouse and abundance of stars, moons, purples, and earth tones. Sabrina the Teenage Witch simply wouldn’t be complete without a pair of platform sandals or a flowy maxi skirt to swish around in as she casts a spell or two.
Meanwhile, the outfits on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina emulate what stereotypical witchy women would wear, mixing traditional and vintage for the ultimate, spooky Halloween atmosphere. Part of this is definitely helped by the lack of a solidified time in which CAOS takes place; it could be modern day, or it could very well be the ‘60s or ‘70s—Aguirre-Sacasa’s intentionally vague timeline evokes a purposeful timelessness. It’s a show that transports you back in time and leaves you wondering what’s real; is it in our universe, or is Greendale perhaps on another plane? I guess we’ll never know.
If you’re looking for the perfect Halloween marathon, both iterations of Sabrina’s magical journey are each suited for different vibes that work best when paired together. Regardless of which show you choose to watch, you’ll likely leave the wicked worlds of Sabrina Spellman with the urge to adopt a black cat. Just be extra careful when you’re mixing potions in your kitchen sink.
Gillian Bennett is a writer and editor who has been featured in Strike Magazine, Her Campus, and now Paste Magazine. She enjoys watching copious reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and fantasizing about living in London. You can find more of her neverending inner monologue and online diary on her Twitter or her blog.
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