TV Show of the Week: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina – Episode 1

Back in the day, when I came home from primary school, from 3:15PM to 5:00PM, CITV came on. 1-hour and 45 minutes of children’s entertainment, which varied from day to day with maybe one or two regular shows. One of the shows I remember was Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Whilst it may not have been specifically for a boy, I watched it nevertheless, and found it as entertaining as a child who is watching TV because I was allowed to. It was light-hearted and my mum who sat with me certainly found it funny. Unfortunately, nowadays, it’s majorly featured on lists intending to invoke nostalgia – “can you identify all these nineties shows?” or words to that effect.

When I heard the news of it getting a remake, it obviously sparked my curiosity, but not in ways it normally does. It’s been a while before the show ended, so they’re probably going to do a modern take on the show – maybe jiggle with the format slightly for newer audiences, but keeping the same soul the original had. Of course, this was pure speculation, and so I waited for more news to drop. I was expecting it to be aimed at children, so I automatically expected to see what the new show looks like and feel a little nostalgic to what I used to watch, and that’ll be it.

So, you can imagine I was surprised to learn that it would be a darker version, aimed at teenagers and adults, not children. It was also surprising that, after all this time, I discovered Sabrina the Teenage Witch was actually an adaptation based on the characters in the Archie Comics, and that a darker version of the story was released, called, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which is what this series is focusing on. That’s as far as my research went, to be honest. I didn’t read up on any source material, just moved on with my newfound information and wondered how a new, darker, version of a light-hearted show I used to watch was going to turn out.

After watching the first episode, I can safely say the only comparisons with the child-friendly show is the characters. Absolutely everything else is either tweaked or completely different. And it certainly is darker. I was fully expecting to compare the two shows. It isn’t a comedy, but instead a drama. It heavily leans on the witchcraft, dark magic, and their “boss” is the Dark Lord. It separates itself entirely from what came before.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a gripping drama focusing on a sixteen-year-old witch who has to decide between becoming a full witch or staying in the mortal world with her friends. Sure, if I say it like that then it sounds basic and clichéd. But nothing about the show is basic and clichéd. It’s definitely original, and came at the perfect time. I grew up with the light-hearted comedy version of Sabrina’s story, and now I’m older there’s the much darker, adult orientated version of her story.

As far as I can see, there are no deliberate references to the other show, which is a good thing. It’s not at all meant to connect itself to the one previously, because it is its own show. It is for all tense and purposes, unique. If the previous show hadn’t existed, this show wouldn’t have been affected. If you didn’t like it for whatever reason, you cannot say that it’s because the former show was better – that’s equivalent to saying Sabrina the Teenage Witch is much better than the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina when the former’s first episode first aired. The latter never existed then, and whilst yes, the former show does exist, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is so different in every aspect that it treats the other show as if it never existed, and that’s not a bad thing, because it doesn’t have to state during one line of dialogue in one scene that the light-hearted children’s show was once a thing – that would derail the entire concept and tone of this show.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)