30 Years Later, An Iconic Teen Sitcom Just Became a Streaming Hit

1990s network television produced some of the most enduring shows in the medium’s history. Friends turned a group of twentysomethings navigating New York into a decade-defining ensemble comedy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer reinvented monster hunting as teenage drama, and Full House built a hit sitcom out of an unprecedented family structure of a widowed father raising three daughters with his brother-in-law and best friend. During the 1990s, ABC’s Friday night Thank Goodness Is Friday block also added a very different kind of coming-of-age story in 1996, adapting Archie Comics’ Sabrina into a sitcom about a teenager (Melissa Joan Hart) who discovers she has magical powers on her sixteenth birthday. Sabrina the Teenage Witch ran for seven seasons and became a cultural landmark, with its magic currently being rediscovered by streaming audiences.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is currently sitting inside Paramount+’s worldwide Top 10 chart for TV shows, according to FlixPatrol. The sitcom has logged more than 100 consecutive days on the chart, most recently holding the No. 8 spot worldwide, putting it ahead of newer Paramount+ originals and long-running procedurals alike. That means we can classify Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a genuine hit, as the interest the show got as soon as it joined Paramount+ last July has not waned. A union of word of mouth and viewers browsing for familiar comfort viewing has ensured the classic sitcom remains relevant, as it should be.

You Should Definitely Get on the Sabrina the Teenage Witch Bandwagon

Sabrina Spellman existed in Archie Comics for more than three decades before Hart ever played her. The character debuted in 1962 on the pages, got her own Saturday morning cartoon in 1970, and starred in a string of TV movies through the mid-1990s until ABC finally built Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a sitcom. The show premiered on September 27, 1996, and its pilot pulled in more than 17 million viewers, a number that would make it the highest-rated show on any network today. Over the years, Sabrina the Teenage Witch would continue to be a major asset for ABC, until the company changed its strategy. ABC ran the series for four seasons before handing it to The WB in 2000, the same fate that met several aging TGIF shows once Friday nights stopped drawing the crowds they used to. Viewership kept sliding from there until the show wrapped its run on April 24, 2003, after 163 episodes. Seven seasons is a long life for any teen sitcom, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch only managed that by making the best of its supernatural elements at the same time it allowed its characters to grow.

As a sitcom, Sabrina the Teenage Witch is also extremely easy to pick up at any time. Contrary to the modern Netflix take on the character, which delves deep into the intricacies of magic, the 1990s series is more concerned with teenage crushes and high school drama. The writers used magic as a dramatic tool, as a love spell backfired or a wish to be popular turned Sabrina into someone her own friends no longer recognized, forcing Sabrina to reckon with the chaos unleashed by the occult. That means the show is lighter than other modern offerings and can be enjoyed by anyone. Even you!

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is streaming now on Paramount+.

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