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Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)

American television sitcom (1996–2003)

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ383104 ↗
Source-derived summary

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is an American fantasy sitcom series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina Spellman which shares the title of the 1971 comic book series Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Created by Nell Scovell and developed by Jonathan Schmock, the series premiered on September 27, 1996, on ABC to over 17 million viewers in its "T.G.I.F." lineup.

The show stars Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina, who, on her 16th birthday, learns she has magical powers (a departure from the Archie Comics series, in which she has known of her powers since an early age). She lives with her 600-year-old aunts, witches Hilda (played by Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (played by Beth Broderick), and their magical talking cat Salem (voiced by Nick Bakay), at 133 Collins Road in the fictional town of Westbridge, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston area.

The series aired on ABC for its first four seasons, with the final episode on ABC on May 5, 2000. The final three seasons ran on The WB from September 22, 2000, to April 24, 2003.

Premise

Sabrina the Teenage Witch chronicles the adventures of Sabrina Spellman (Melissa Joan Hart), a girl who discovers on her 16th birthday that she is a witch. As a novice witch, her spells often go awry. Her witch aunts Hilda and Zelda Spellman (Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, respectively) counsel her on the proper use of her magic and give her moral advice. Sabrina lives with Hilda and Zelda until she leaves for college at the beginning of season 5.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)” as american television sitcom (1996–2003). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1971, 1996, 2000, 2003—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Sabrina, Teenage and Witch can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as american television sitcom (1996–2003). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q383104. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971, 1996, 2000 and 2003.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series) primary sources, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series) archive and Sabrina research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.