These Sabrina the Teenage Witch Secrets Are Spellbinding

1. Before Melissa Joan Hart was formed successful the titular role, Sarah Michelle Gellar was reportedly the network's apical choice. But she decided to walk connected playing a witch to instrumentality connected vampires successful a small amusement called Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead.

2. While Hart had already experienced occurrence connected the tiny screen, acknowledgment to her clip on the Nickelodeon deed bid Clarissa Explains It All, the histrion was preparing to locomotion distant from Hollywood earlier landing Sabrina. 

As she explained to Glamour, "I conscionable thought I was fortunate I had a show, Clarissa, and that assemblage would pb maine to my adjacent career."

"Shirley Temple was a immense relation exemplary of mine," she continued. "She went connected to beryllium an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia and get progressive with authorities and rise her family. She discontinue astatine 20, truthful I thought, I'll discontinue astatine 20. But past my vocation conscionable benignant of kept going erstwhile Sabrina hit."

3. What galore radical don't cognize is that Hart's mom, Paula Hart, was really the idiosyncratic liable for getting a Sabrina TV bid going aft idiosyncratic gave her the comic publication connected a playground.

"She took it to Viacom, made the 1996 movie, and kept saying this would beryllium a large TV show. [Executives] kept going, 'Okay, whatever, whatever,'" Hart told Glamour successful 2020. "She went to the editing country for the movie and chopped unneurotic a five-minute trailer for a TV show, took it to the networks, and sold it to ABC connected the spot. In the TGIF clip slot!"

Paula would service arsenic an enforcement shaper connected each 7 seasons, "hiring and firing, progressive with the music, the editing—the full facet of it," Hart explained. "I didn't person to interest astir the adjacent thing, due to the fact that she was successful complaint of the adjacent thing."

4. In the 1996 TV movie, Charlene Fernetz and Sherry Miller played Sabrina's aunts Zelda and Hilda, respectively. But erstwhile it became a TV series, Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea replaced Fernetz and Miller arsenic Zelda and Hilda Spellman.

5. Oh, and the family's past sanction successful the movie was Sawyer, but reverted backmost to the archetypal past name, Spellman, from the comics for the ABC series.

6. Even though her ma was 1 of the producers, Hart enjoyed herself during  her Sabrina days, detailing her partying ways successful her 2013 memoir, Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life. The prima revealed she took Ecstasy astatine the Playboy Mansion successful 1999, made retired with a miss successful the limo thrust location and did a Maxim photoshoot portion inactive high. "That was my 3rd oregon 4th clip connected Ecstasy," Hart admitted.

7. In the book, Hart wrote astir the aboriginal days of her relationship with Britney Spears, who made an quality connected Sabrina, including the clip they snuck into a nine unneurotic erstwhile the popular prima was underage. "I devised a program to sneak her retired of her edifice and past instrumentality her dancing truthful she could chill with radical person to her age, if conscionable for 1 night," Hart recalled. "Britney loved the idea," 

After lying to Spears' bodyguard, they drove to L.A.'s Club Cherry wherever they were snuck successful done the backmost door. "But erstwhile we got inside, Britney got absorbed by the crowd, and I mislaid her," Hart explained. "At the extremity of the night, I recovered her successful a backstage booth with dozens of radical kissing her ass arsenic she basked successful the attraction and down clip she'd worked truthful hard for...Since then, Britney's been snuck successful and retired of much backmost doors than I tin count, but I shudder to deliberation that I archetypal showed her however it's done."

8. Hart besides elaborate her clip partying with Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez aft striking up a relationship with them when 'N Sync impermanent starred connected the amusement successful 1999.

"No question memory, however, compares to erstwhile 'N Sync...asked maine to articulation them successful Turks and Caicos astatine the extremity of their 2001 summertime tour," Hart wrote. "In the Caribbean, we had a large clip sipping fruity drinks and partying with immoderate different celebrities like Tori Spelling and Olympic medalist Tara Lipinski."

9. But determination was 1 celeb of the epoch she wasn't down to bent with, Hart revealing she and Ashton Kutcher, who was starring on That '70s Show astatine the time, "just didn't get along," and that she had doubly tried kicking him retired of parties astatine her location for "smartass remarks." 

10. One histrion Hart definitely clicked with, however, was Ryan Reynolds, whom she met on the acceptable of the 1996 movie. After the histrion gave Hart a ticker connected his last time of filming arsenic Seth, Sabrina's crush, the co-stars ended up making retired successful her edifice room

"I retrieve that his lips were beauteous wonderful, positive helium has these large hands and shoulders that wholly swallowed my petite frame," she wrote successful her memoir. "It was a terrific distraction from however powerfully helium smelled of hairsbreadth product."

11. Sorry to disappoint fans who were ever rooting for Hart and her onscreen emotion involvement Nate Richert (a.k.a. Harvey Kinkle) to hook up IRL, but the 2 ne'er dated.

"I deliberation I astir apt crushed connected him a small bit, but helium was dating a miss connected a TV amusement crossed the mode from america astatine Universal Studios our archetypal season— helium started dating her beauteous aboriginal on—and I had a fellow erstwhile we archetypal started," Hart revealed to Distractify successful January. And his then-girlfriend Lindsay Sloane ended up joining the amusement arsenic Sabrina's person Valerie, becoming Hart's BFF.

"So helium was benignant of gone a batch toward the end, and I deliberation astatine that point, helium had breached up with Lindsey," Hart detailed. "But Lindsey is 1 of my champion friends, truthful I could ne'er day him."

12. After the bid moved from ABC to the WB aft play four, Harvey was written disconnected the amusement due to the fact that producers were hoping for a caller commencement erstwhile Sabrina near precocious school. Fans, however, were not acceptable to accidental goodbye to her archetypal love, with Richert rejoining the formed full-time successful play six. 

13. Hart's small sister Emily Hart appeared connected the amusement successful seasons 3 and 5 arsenic Amanda Wiccan, Sabrina's cousin, and the web tried to motorboat a spinoff bid centering connected her quality twice. The archetypal iteration was going to absorption connected Amanda, her mom, and her sister adjusting to beingness successful the Mortal Realm. The last effort was the play 5 occurrence "Witchright Hall," which served arsenic a backdoor aviator focusing connected Amanda's clip astatine a boarding schoolhouse for witches.

14. The Spellman's talking feline Salem was voiced by Nick Bakay, who was besides a shaper and writer on the series. In a 2016 interrogation with Huffington Post, Hart revealed that a operation of live, animatronic and fake animals were utilized for Salem's scenes. 

"There were antithetic cats for everything," Hart explained. "There was a feline that jumped, determination was a feline that's bully for holding, determination was a feline that was bully for attacking a shot of yarn and determination were each these backup cats."

But the existent felines weren't ever the astir cooperative on-set, with the prima adding, "They're feeding the cats, truthful they're bare erstwhile they start, but erstwhile they get afloat they're beauteous overmuch nary bully anymore. They won't bash what you privation them to do. They're not similar a dog. They don't care."

15. Michelle Beaudoin played Sabrina's champion person Jenny Kelly successful the archetypal season, but did not instrumentality for the remainder of the bid and her departure was ne'er explained astatine the time.

"Oh, Jenny," Hart recalled successful a 2016 interrogation with the Huffington Post. "Yeah, play by play our show's formed would travel and spell based connected assemblage reaction, and sometimes there'd beryllium quality astir contracts and negotiations arsenic acold arsenic outgo goes for definite actors. And conscionable bringing successful a caller position from a antithetic character."

16. Sabrina had galore large casting shakeups during its seven-year run, with Martin Mull, Lindsay Sloane and Jenna Leigh Greene each departing up of play four. Soleil Moon Frye and Elisa Donovan joined the amusement successful play 5 arsenic Sabrina's assemblage friends.

"There's a batch of authorities that spell connected down the scenes, similar erstwhile a writer develops a definite quality they get paid connected the [likeness] of that quality for each episode," Hart explained of the show's turnover rate. "If a writer develops a character, but that writer's gone and there's atrocious blood, they mightiness get escaped of the quality they developed, truthful they didn't person to wage them anymore. There are a batch of things that spell into that situation."

17. In her 2018 memoir Just the Funny Parts, Sabrina's archetypal showrunner Nell Scovell revealed the caput of the web initially wanted her to marque a large alteration to the aviator script: Hoping for struggle betwixt Zelda and Hilda, the enforcement pitched the thought to person 1 of the aunts not privation Sabrina to unrecorded with them. 

"'That seems sad,' I said. 'Sabrina's a teenager. If she's not with 1 of her parents, and the aunts she's surviving with don't privation her there, however tin we laugh?'" Scovell recalled of her counter-argument, yet getting to support the dynamic the mode she envisioned it. 

18. Scovell besides reflected connected the series' deficiency of diversity, revealing that her agents had pitched legendary histrion Cicely Tyson for the portion of Aunt Zelda. "I should person jumped astatine the suggestion. Instead, I said that we were already zeroing successful connected Caroline Rhea and it wouldn't marque consciousness for the 2 to beryllium sisters," she explained, to which her cause countered, "It's a satellite of magic. Maybe 1 sister is Black."

Scovell admitted, "It would person been an absorbing and bold move, but I didn't prosecute the idea."

19. Ahead of its seventh and last season, the penning was connected the partition that the bid was apt going to beryllium canceled aft the WB ordered lone 13 episodes, not the accustomed 22. 

"It's a beauteous crappy mode to dainty a amusement arsenic aged arsenic we are," Hart told TV Guide Online astatine the time of their shortened order, "but it happens."

Hart past accused the WB of not caring astir the bid due to the fact that it initially began astatine ABC "so cipher determination backs our show, cipher determination is afloat supporting it oregon putting their cervix retired for it."

20. Broderick and Rhea were not bid regulars successful the last season, which focused connected Sabrina navigating adulthood portion moving astatine a magazine.

"It was clip for her to turn up, it was clip to get her connected her ain 2 feet," Paula Hart told The Hollywood Reporter astatine the time, "and, yes, it was clip to reinvent the show."