Television Interview from <http://smash.cs.com/tv/intrview/mj_hart.html>

By <smash@cs.com>Alice Jacobson

Melissa Joan Hart, 20-year-old star of Nickelodeon's "Clarissa Explains It All," is already a star on cable, but I hope she's prepared for the kind of fame she'll experience as the lead of a network series. Adapted from the 1960s Archies Comics spinoff (and, no, doubt, inspired by that decade's hit show "Bewitched"), ABC's new show for fall, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" (Fridays, 8:30-9:00 pm, ET) was picked up from a 90-minute pilot movie aired in April on Showtime. In the series, Sabrina continues to try living a normal life while keeping the fact that she's a witch hush-hush. Havoc is wrecked.

Sabrina is spending a year with her two very unusual aunts in set in Archie's hometown of Riverdale while her parents are away. On her 16th birthday, Sabrina discovered her new magical powers, something which draws her closer to her aunts but sets her apart from her more mundane schoolmates. Her best friends, Marny and Harvey, can't learn her secret.

Hart, who was attending auditions, filming TV commercials, and playing stage roles alongside William Hurt ("Beside Herself," Circle Repertory) and Martin Sheen ("The Crucible"), can identify with a teenage nonconformist.

"I had a lot of frustration when I was a teenager," says Hart. "Everyone [in her town of Sayville, Long Island] else was so cool and knew what to wear. I just had no clue. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I think a lot of that was also true of Sabrina." But it's hard to be cool when you're hot. In May, Hart showed up on NBC in "Twisted Desire" with "Homicide"'s Daniel Baldwin.

Hart and her mother, Paula, were executive producers of the film and will co-produce the series. "About two and a half years ago, mother and I came up with the idea for "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and sold it to Viacome and Showtime. And then ABC picked up on it for next fall.

"The Archie comics are big again," says Hart, "an all-American type thing. They're making an Archie movie. Also, there haven't been many series about witches on TV, a couple of movies maybe. There was Samantha, the witch Elizabeth Montgomery played in 'Bewitched.' I think it was the only one. But Samantha tried not to use her magical power. Sabrina is going to have fun with it. Sabrina can do anything but make someone fall in love with her. That's the rule." We guess there without the rule there would be no show. Or maybe one very short show about Sabrina marrying Brad Pitt.

"She's a very lively character, and we're studying up on details about witchcraft to figure out what she can and do and can't do. We've already come up with some stuff, like witches can't cry and they can't go in water. We'll have to play it by ear as we go along," says Hart.

"Kids are going to love this series because it's something new. They weren't around for 'Bewitched.' And I think we'll get a lot of adult viewers who remember Sabrina from the Archie comics and animated series."

Career and school are fighting for dominance in Hart's life, with career decidedly gaining the edge. Hart's enrollment at New York University has been sporadic, and only partly due to work. "I was having a tough time at school. I was overwhelmed. I couldn't talk in class at all. I was just a mess. I wasn't ready for it, " Hart says, with surprising candor. "I'm still doing a lot of exploring, kind of figuring myself out." Just like a certain Riverdale teen.

Eric Last, November 8th 1996

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