It is only natural to wish you had magical powers. The thought of bending the laws of nature to suite your smallest whim is attractive. While usually associated with children even adults are prone to such flights of fancy. Anyone who has ever been in an endless meeting at work may have wanted to give the boss a set of horns or make the time fly by faster. This has translated extremely well for films and movies over the years. Of all the TV series with magic as its foundation there is one that is family friendly and a lot of fun to watch; ‘Sabrina the Teenaged Witch’. It started out as a comic book in the sixties that was popular with girls. Back then no self respecting guy would ever be caught dead reading anything from the ‘Archie’ series of comics. We would restrict our comic book reading to Superman, Batman and for the more adventurous Spiderman. Well, we are now a more enlightened as a culture now and it is alright for boys to watch Sabrina and her magical antics. In fact, I freely admit that when a rerun comes on TV on the ABC Family network I have been known to watch it. The show is fun and that is a lot better than most sit com faire lately.

What helps a lot is the cast is talented, the writing imaginative and the direction straightforward and enjoyable. The comic was set in the same universe as Archie, Veronica and Betty as well as other magical creatures as Wendy the littlest witch and Casper the friendly ghost but the television series was completely self-contained. The main character of Sabrina Spellman, nicely played by Melissa Joan Hart, is an affable girl who discovers that she is a witch. The seasons are built upon each other so there is more continuity than most sit-coms can muster. This gave the series a sense of familiarity that allows the audience to feel like they know the characters. The fifth season is now out on DVD and like the previous releases contains a full season’s worth of episodes. The show started on ABC and after four years there was cancelled. There was enough of a fan base to warrant the series gaining a fresh shot at life with the more youthfully oriented WB network. It remained there for another three years. The fifth season under consideration here was the first on the WB and represented some major changes in the format and characters. If you are looking for something that the kids will love and you will completely enjoy you don’t have to go any further; this will fit the bill nicely. The release is through CBS Paramount and like all of there DVD its television that is wroth having in your home.

One year of the series didn’t line up perfectly with a year in the life of the characters. In the pilot episode it is Sabrina’s sixteenth birthday and she is living with her two aunts; Zelda (Beth Broderick) and Hilda (Caroline Rhea). Zelda is the serious sister with multiple advanced degrees and a pragmatic world view. Hilda has been living for the moment for the last five hundred years or so much to the consternation of Zelda. They tell Sabrina that she is a witch and has to learn to use her powers. Sabrina also finds out that the family cat Salem (voiced by Nick Bakay) is actually a witch in cat form who can talk. It took four seasons for Sabrina to go from high school to college but in this fifth season she finally gets there. Sabrina gets accepted to nearby Adams College and decides to move out and try being on her own. The aunts get a dose of empty nest syndrome so Hilda buys a local coffee shop where the students hang out and Zelda becomes a professor at the college. This is something that may seem like a small thing but the producers of the show allowed Sabrina to grow through the run of the series. In this season she was technically no longer a teenage witch but a young woman trying to find independence and figure out what she wants to do with her life. The series never got bogged down in dramatic; it handled these topics with humor.

With a new season, network and millennium at hand the writers were free to move the story lines in a different direction. Now was the time to make a fresh start with some new characters. The central cast was expanded to include new roommates for Sabrina. She moves into a house near campus with Morgan Cavanaugh (Elisa Donovan), Roxie King (Soleil Moon Frye) and Miles Goodman (Trevor Lissauer). Morgan is flighty with a strange but strong sense of fashion and a touch of boy crazy. She is overbearing and dominating to all around. Roxie is a child of the protest era. She is quick to form a picket line or organize a sit in. She is outwardly self assured but inside shy and unsure of herself. Miles is the oddball of any group of people he is with. He is a conspiracy nut and obsessed with science fiction and fantasy. The first part of the season shows the changes that Sabrina has to accept with her new independence. Morgan and Miles have their own bedrooms but Sabrina has to share with Roxie. After years bunking with a talking cat this is a major adjustment for Sabrina. Sabrina misses the safety of home and making matters worse she is trying her best to get over breaking up with her high school boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (Nate Richert). He had discovered that Sabrina is a witch but cares for her still and will never betray her secret. In this season he pops in every so often. Sabrina is attracted to a guy in school, Josh (David Lascher) and has gone out with him in the previous season but in this one he is dating Morgan. Now Sabrina is a full fledge, licensed witch but she still manages to get into trouble with her spells. She turns to the magic book for solutions that usually make matters worse and knows that she can always turn to her aunts as a last resort. Some of the stories touch on real social issues such as the one where Sabrina dates a witch from the other realm. His parents are bigots that feel that mortals are beneath them. Since Sabrina is half mortal it is up to the aunts to show that her new boyfriend shares those feelings. This is standard for the series and this season in particular. They may make light of an important issue but the message comes across loud and clear. Other episodes are puree whimsy. In one Sabrina and her roommates decide to go to Florida on their first spring break. Thanks to a spell by the aunts Sabrina, and her roommates find themselves in a fifties bikini flick complete with period outfits and hairdos. It is literally a blast from the past. Other episodes focus on things that are typical for a new college student. Sabrina was an A student in high school but has difficulty in getting used to the pace of college and gets a C. She tries to use magic to gain more time but learns that what is needed is good old fashion hard work.

This is just a fun show to watch. It is well done and Hart is perfect in the role of Sabrina. The rest of the cast are also great. This represents of the return of Frye to sit-coms; she was once ‘Punky Brewster’. The series shows a girl learning to be on her own but stresses the importance of maintaining close ties with her family. It is something that will consistently entertain the entire family.