Sabrina Article
WOW - Computer News 09/27/96 02:58 PM CST
'Sabrina, The Teenage Witch,' premiering Friday night on ABC On her 16th birthday, Sabrina levitates in her sleep, learns the family cat talks and converses with her father, a photograph that comes to life in an old book. ''You're not like other kids. You're special,'' announces Dad (a hard-to-spot Robby Benson). ''I don't want to be special. I want to be normal,'' Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) whines upon learning she's a witch. ''I understand, but that ship has sailed,'' Dad says. The girl can't help it. As played by Hart, the young star of Nickelodeon's ''Clarissa Explains It All,'' Sabrina is special, charming, bewitching. The ABC sitcom ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'' is not special. It casts only one compelling spell, but it's a humdinger: casting Hart as the title character. (The sitcom debuts at 8:30 ET Friday night.) Otherwise, the pleasant ''Sabrina'' has few magical or original powers. Young followers of ABC's TGIF lineup probably won't mind, but it's going to seem mighty familiar to ''Bewitched'' fans. (Actually, ''Sabrina'' is based on the Archie Comics character.) Two dotty aunts, Hilda (Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (Beth Broderick), watch over witch-in-training Sabrina and give her pep talks. ''You can't go through life being afraid of things,'' Hilda tells her niece. ''Toughen up.'' (That's good advice to the people who make this show.) Sabrina has a rough time at her new high school. A nasty schoolmate, Libby (Jenna Leigh Green), taunts her as a freak and spills a drink on her. The spotty special effects range from high winds in the school cafeteria to the mechanical-looking cat. Salem, the talking furball, happens to be a warlock under a 100-year curse for seeking world domination. Despite the trite abracadabra, annoying laugh track and cutesy dialogue, Hart still dazzles. Unlike Brooke Shields, she's cute without straining herself. At first, Sabrina refuses to believe that she's a witch. Her wayward use of hand gestures _ no wiggling nose for her _ brings a dead frog to life in biology class. Though Sabrina accepts being a witch a little too patly, that doesn't make life at school any easier. Infuriated by the bullying she suffers, Sabrina turns belligerent Libby into a pineapple. Things go so badly that Sabrina begs the witches council to reverse time and let her relive a dreadful day. The sitcom slips in several casting stunts to amuse adult viewers. Pop singer Deborah Harry sits on the witches council, along with magicians Penn and Teller. ''Oh, the problems of teen-agers are so interesting,'' Drell (Penn) says derisively after hearing Sabrina detail her woes. Look hard or you won't recognize the mature Benson, who directed Friday's episode. Sporting a top hat, he puts in a nifty cameo as Sabrina's father. But for a show about witches, Sabrina could use more tricks. The star's mother, Paula Hart, serves as an executive producer, yet Sabrina often looks less like a labor of love than run-of-the-mill kids' show. The ship might have sailed for this sitcom, but in television, that doesn't mean the craft can't return to dock for repairs. The winning star deserves better.
Television critic Hal Boedeker welcomes your views and suggestions. Mail: The Orlando Sentinel, MP-12, P.O. Box 2833, Orlando, Fla. 32802-2833. Phone: (407) 420-5756. E-mail: OSObodeker on America Online, or OSObodeker(at)aol.com on Internet.
(c) 1996, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.). Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Eric Last, November 8th 1996