Before you get too excited about the Riverdale-inspired Sabrina the Teenage Witch Netflix reboot, let’s take a trip down memory lane and rediscover the original live action series. Based off of an Archie comic book, the Sabrina the Teenage Witch sitcom quickly became one of the most beloved ‘90s shows of all time. The show even knocked Everybody Loves Raymond off of its spot on ABC’s T.G.I.F. line up. It's one of the only T.G.I.F. shows that has had a full DVD release.

Though the show was released with hesitancy by ABC, it was met with (near) unanimous adoration. Ask any woman aged 22-35 who their favourite non-Harry Potter related witch is, and they will most likely shout Sabrina after asking why you would randomly bother them with such an odd question.

When I was twelve, there was nothing I loved more than watching Sabrina reruns with my mom after school. Salem was always good for a laugh. Though I was disappointed when I learned that Hilda and Zelda were sisters rather than married, I still enjoyed their witty repartee and constant bickering. Nothing like a bit of after school new age-y witchiness to cleanse the soul. The ratings were right, it was one of the greatest shows of all time. So grab your spellbook and slip into something a little more witchy while we explore 25 spellbinding secrets from the set of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

25 Love Me Tender, Regardless Of Gender

Twenty years ago, you couldn’t turn on a single prime time television show without hearing some sort of ill timed and poorly written gay joke (I’m looking at you, Friends. I love you, but sometimes you go too far). Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see that fall out of vogue. However, it's equally annoying to see that sort of lazy humour replaced with nonstop jokes (or a complete disregard) about being bi. Although, I guess I should be thankful for the jokes as if it’s not being joked about it’s treated as if it doesn’t exist. Bi characters are few and far between. So I would like to take this moment to thank the creators of Salem Saberhagen. They made him canonically bi without making a myriad of overdone jokes about it. His orientation is just one aspect of his personality, rather than being the entire package.

24 Dressed To The Nines... At 9am

Though the show involved long Latin phrases that needed to be memorized, sticky sets, and a lot of reshoots in order to properly capture the shots needed for the show's effects, one title actor's biggest complaint was her wardrobe. Caroline Rhea (who played Aunt Hilda) did not like any of the costuming that was done for the show. She has recently revealed in an interview that she felt that Sabrina/Melissa was never dressed like a proper teen. She even likened the girl’s wardrobe to something an accountant would wear. We all know that teenage girls love dressing like accountants. Caroline also complained about Hilda and Zelda’s costumes, claiming that she looked like she was always on her way to some formal occasion and that her hair was unreasonably styled for early breakfast at home.

23 Salem's Four Lives

Though we all know that cats have nine lives, few people know how many real world cats it takes to portray one fictional one. Now, I can’t speak for all fictional cats, but it took several different cats and five different humans to portray the infamous Salem Saberhagen. Three live cats were needed to portray Salem throughout the show's seven year run. There were also several animatronic cats that were used to give life to the feline felon, as well as multiple puppets that each required four humans to operate. Not to mention Nick Bakay himself who provided Salem with his voice. It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes an army to get a cat to walk and talk at the same time.

22 Sabrina The Vampire Slayer

Very rarely do people set out to cast a show and fill each role perfectly on the first try. Usually roles, especially lead roles, take several auditions, screen tests, and callbacks to properly fill. Such is the case with Sabrina the Teenage Witch. There was a lot of talk over who should fill Sabrina’s magical shoes. And Sabrina isn’t the easiest role to fill. Who else could possibly convey Sabrina’s love for rules and order but defiant and rebellious nature? Well, the producers of the famed show thought that Sarah Michelle Gellar was fit for the job. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Sarah. However, I don’t think that she could master the mischievous innocence that Sabrina is known for. And if she was Sabrina, then who would be Buffy? Some things are just meant to be.

21 Real Life Magic

Remember Drell? That annoying wizard who runs the witches council and does everything he can to make Sabrina’s life a living purgatory in the attempt to get back at Hilda for their failed relationship? Well, it turns out that he might have been more perfectly cast than Sabrina herself. As it turns out that the actor, Penn Jillette, is actually a famous magician. What better person to play the role of a big magical man than a real-life magician? Casting can be tough and grueling, but I am incredibly proud and awed that they decided to pick a real-life magician to fill the role. I don’t think there has ever been a better casting decision made in the history of television. I don’t think there will ever be a greater one in the future.

20 Practical Magic

If you want to make a show about magic, you’re going to need to rely on quite a bit of special effects. But when playing around with special effects, one needs to decide whether traditional practical effects or more modern digital manipulation is the tool needed to get the job done. And what with the technological limitations of the late 20th century, it only seemed fitting to rely on practical effects as much as possible. Stand-ins, double shots, special lighting effects, specialized sets, animatronic cats, and even an actual dump truck filled to the brim with candy corn were used to create many of the effects seen on the shows long seven-year run. Green screens and digital manipulation were used when needed, but one cannot deny that an actual river of candy corn is much more impressive than anything a computer could do.

19 Leader Of The Coven

Paula Hart, Melissa Joan Hart’s mother, is listed as a producer of the classic show. But that title does not properly describe her role in the show's inception. In the mid-‘90s, Paula Hart found herself reading the famous Archie comics, which featured the character of Sabrina. Sabrina was a blonde, perky, and adorable teenager who also happened to be a witch. She showed them to her daughter, Melissa, who recognized herself in the character and Paula got to work. Paula believed that she could turn this comic book into something great, and that she did. She brought the pitch to several networks and was rejected repeatedly until ABC finally showed some interest. It always amuses me that amazing films and shows take forever to get picked up by networks, yet there are nearly 17 different cities whose housewives have primetime slots.

18 Unofficial Beginnings

However, there was still a lot of nonsense to navigate through even after the show was finally picked up. ABC was hesitant about the show as they worried that it wouldn’t take off. So they struck a deal: instead of creating a pilot for a show that might never air, they would make a TV movie. If the movie took off, then they would translate it to the small screen. But if it didn’t then it couldn’t function as a solid stand-alone movie. The TV film was a minor success, and it inspired the network to say “what the heck” and dive in feet first (but not before recasting the majority of the roles). ABC ended up hosting the show for four great years before they tried to cancel it. The WB picked up the show for its final three controversial seasons.

17 A Cat Of Many Talents

Ah, Salem. One of the shows greatest characters. Maybe even one of the greatest characters ever to grace the ABC network. That sarcastic felon trapped inside the body of a food-loving and sharp-tongued feline that tickled audiences for nearly a decade. Nick Bakay, the man who have Salem Saberhagen his voice, has a series of talents that extend far beyond voice acting. Though his impressive voice talents delighted us for nearly a decade, few may know that Nick actually contributed to the show in more ways than one. Nick was actually a credited contributing writer in at least 12 episodes during the shows seven-year run. The show went through its fair share of writers, but it’s nice to know that there was a familiar face at the writers table every year.

16 Boy Meets Sabrina

One of the most classic and satisfying tropes of late ‘90s Network shows is the crossover episode. There is just something so exciting about seeing characters from one beloved show walking around all willy-nilly on the set of another well-known show and interacting with its characters. Though many modern shows have tried to replicate this sort of thing (as seen on the Disney channel with their crossover specials like That’s So The Suite Life Of Hannah Montana) it pales in comparison to its ‘90s counterparts. One of the greatest moments of my TV watching lifetime was when I marathoned Boy Meets World and observed the episode entitled The Witches of Pennbrook which featured our favourite Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) as a briefly appearing guest star.

15 Sorceress Material

The live action Sabrina show that graced our screens in the late ‘90s was not the only time Sabrina was brought to life. After the initial show premiered, she was also the focus of multiple animated adaptations. The beloved teen witch will be making her way to streaming platforms soon, as the success of the teen drama Riverdale has lead Netflix executives giving Sabrina her own dark twist. That's is an odd choice, considering that the entire point of the character of Sabrina was that she is perky and completely unlike the traditional gothic ideas we have of witches. But where did it all begin? The character of Sabrina first appeared in Archie’s Madhouse #22 in October of 1962. Ever since then, Sabrina has been a regular in the comics, on the small screen, and in our hearts.

14 Protagonist Privilege

Over the course of its seven year run, Sabrina the Teenage Witch had a lot of episodes. 162, to be exact. And Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina) and Nick Bakay (Salem) appeared in every single episode. That sounds like an easy feat, but it is not. Very few characters made it to the final episode of Sabrina. Heck, most characters barely made it through a single season. Not even Aunt Zelda stuck around until the end. But both Sabrina and Salem were there, every single week. This feat is also impressive when one considers the fact that Melissa was even hesitant to star in the show at all. After wrapping production on her previous show, Clarissa Explains it All, Melissa expressed a need to break away from the industry in order to live a normal life. She yearned to attend a normal school like her peers. But, luckily, Sabrina did not get in the way of Melissa’s teen life at all.

13 Sabrina The Not-So-Teenage Witch

Why did Melissa jump into another sitcom (as the title character no less) if she yearned to attend regular school and have a normal teenage life? Well, that’s because Melissa wasn’t a teenager at any point during the filming of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. After Clarissa Explains it All ended, Melissa “retired” in order to enjoy a normal life and was back in the saddle again at the time that she finally reached adulthood. That’s right. Our beloved “teenage” witch was actually 20 years old when she was offered the coveted role. Which means that, by the time filming and production for the show had ended, we had a woman who was nearly 30 playing a recent college grad.

12 "New Age Thinking"

What do you get when you put three scantily clad witches (two of which whom live together, unwed and without a man in sight) on TV in a primetime slot? A lot of angry religious hate mail and outrage. Okay… maybe not a lot. But the show sure did anger a well known televised Evangelist named Pat Robertson. Pat caught an episode of Sabrina The Teenage Witch and boy, was he not a fan. He took to his television show and ranted (for a considerably long time) about how much he hated the show. He accused it of brainwashing the youth of America and trying to influence them with pagan values and “new age-y” nonsense. I don’t know what the show runners were intending to do when they created the show. But I think incurring the rage of a television Evangelist is the best possible outcome!

11 Author Authority

Have you ever wondered what happens to characters after they cease to exist? During a recent binge of Sabrina I noticed that several characters just magically disappear after a season or two. What ever happened to Jenny? Valerie? Libby? Sure, the show gives us a brief two second explanation as to why the character is never to be seen or heard from again (such as they moved or transferred schools). But it was always weird to me that that character would never be acknowledged again after leaving Westbridge. I mean, our friends don’t cease to exist once they move a few miles away... right? But Melissa herself recently explained in an interview that each character was tied to a specific writer. When those writers left the show, their characters were removed as well.

10 Witch-Kraft

Sometimes a part just calls out to an actor. They read the script and there is something inside them that is screaming out to them that this is it. This is the role for them and that they need to get this part in order for their life to be complete. And there are other actors that only auditioned in order to please someone else. The first actor who played Dumbledore only did so to please his granddaughter under threat of a permanent silent treatment. And the actor who brought Willard Kraft to life was no different. It turns out that ABC was wrong and Sabrina was a huge success. So much so that Martin Mull (the actor behind the mess that is Willard Kraft) only auditioned for the show in order to win brownie points with his daughter by starring in her favourite show.

9 What A Time To Be A Witch

The seventies and eighties were dominated by a little phenomenon known as “satanic panic.” Essentially, most of America was overrun by religious zealots who were convinced that their children were in danger for absolutely no reason at all. Daycares were runout as parents became convinced that they were being run by bad people. People even tried to ban Dungeons and Dragons, as they became convinced that it was an occult ritual created to corrupt their children. And in the spirit of teen rebellion, occult themes dominated popular culture all throughout the nineties. From the gritty and dark world-ending occult rituals that were brought to life in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the evil and vindictive Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus, witches were everywhere in the ‘90s. And these gritty and dark witches set the perfect groundwork for the perky and upbeat Sabrina to shine.

8 It's All Relative

Having your mother run the show that you’re the star of can have its perks and its downsides. On the positive side, Melissa shared the stage with her little sister, Emily Hart, who played Sabrina’s horrifically spoiled, bratty, and finger-happy cousin Amanda. Fun fact: Emily Hart is the only guest star to appear at least once in every single one of the show's seven seasons. Asides from the joys of “bring your sibling to work day,” Melissa revealed some real downsides to having to work with her mother in a 1996 interview with Entertainment Weekly. Melissa recalled some days in which her mother had engaged in typical mother-daughter “screaming matches” and then had to later face each other on set, put their personal drama behind, and act professionally toward one another.

7 Un-Familiar

Ah, Sabrina Spellman… the cat loving queen that is the spirit “animal” to all crazy cat ladies out there. But unlike her fictional counterpart, Melissa herself is not a fan of those fuzzy four legged felines. When showering us loving fans with secrets from the set of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, she explained that the several cats needed to play Salem ran amok on the set of the show. Not only that, but their tuna filled food dishes and smelly litter boxes littered the set and their pungent odors permeated the air in a way that no words can properly describe. That would be a lot to deal with even for the most devoted cat lover, but it turns out that Melissa isn’t even a fan of the little beasts in the first place.

6 Bye Bye, Auntie

Though the show lost a good number of characters due to writer changes and personal vendettas, some characters had to be written off. Their actors decided to move on to better things. Such is the case with Aunt Zelda. Around the cusp of the shows seventh season, Beth Broderick (Aunt Zelda) decided that her character was going nowhere and decided to leave the show permanently. The show explained her absence by having Zelda sacrifice her adult years. This causes her to revert back into her eight-year-old self. She saves Sabrina after Sabrina gives up her true love in order to bring Hilda back to life. Little Zelda moves back to the other realm after that whole ordeal, and isn’t seen again until she appears at Sabrina’s wedding in the form of a candle to prevent Sabrina’s mother from turning into a ball of wax. The show got a little weird in its later years...