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Primetime Picks… 10/26/18

Oct 26, 2018 Posted by in Features | Comments

Early this morning, Netflix released the first season of the new series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which is based on the iconic comic book characters. Set in the small town of Greendale, where it seems like Halloween every day, the series centers around the life of teenage half-witch Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men). After her parents died in an accident, Sabrina was raised by her witch aunts—the bubbly and nurturing Hilda (Lucy Davis, The Office (UK)), and her stricter, more serious sister Zelda (Miranda Otto, 24: Legacy)—who run a mortuary along with Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo), a necromancer who’s been under house arrest and unable to leave the property for the past 75 years.

Sabrina seems like your average teenager—she enjoys hanging out with her boyfriend Harvey (Ross Lynch, Austin & Ally) and best friends Roz (Jaz Sinclair, Paper Towns) and Susie (Lachlan Watson, Nashville). But she has magical abilities, which she often uses to secretly help her friends—such as to teach the misogynistic high school principal (Bronson Pinchot, Perfect Strangers) a lesson when he refuses to stop Susie from getting bullied. As her 16th birthday approaches, Sabrina has an important decision to make—she must choose between the Path of Night or the Path of Light. If she undergoes her dark baptism to become a full-fledged witch, she will need to leave her human life and friends behind and head off to the Academy of Unseen Arts. However, if she doesn’t get baptized, she will grow old and eventually lose her powers. There also seems to be some other unknown ramifications to this decision that Sabrina isn’t aware of. A mysterious witch (Michelle Gomez, Doctor Who) arrives to town, disguising herself as one of the Baxter High faculty members, and uses her powers to try to influence Sabrina into embracing her darker side, trying to steer her towards her baptism. Meanwhile, the three Weird Sisters—Prudence (Tati Gabrielle, The 100), Agatha (Adeline Rudolph) & Dorcas (Abigail F. Cowen, The Fosters)—, who are students at the Academy, don’t want a half-blood joining their ranks, and try to dissuade Sabrina from taking her oath. To help her make an informed decision, Sabrina’s aunts seek the assistance of high priest Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle, Coupling), but he also seems to me hiding something, and has ulterior motives. And to make matters worse, there may be someone in town hunting witches.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a fun mix of teenage drama and supernatural thriller, with a healthy dose of humor thrown in to keep it from getting too dark. Originally the character of Sabrina was supposed to show up on Riverdale, but they decided instead to spin her off into her own series, which is a much wiser choice. While this series has a similar overall tone to Riverdale, the supernatural elements would have felt odd and out of place in that show’s more grounded reality. The cast of this show is excellent. Kiernan Shipka is delightful as Sabrina—though it’s a little strange to see her all grown up because I’ll always think of her as the young Sally Draper from Mad Men. Plus it’s always great to see Michelle Gomez in another deliciously evil role! I look forward to seeing how this season plays out, and with a second season already ordered, there’s plenty more adventures to come!

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording Child Support.

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 10/26/18 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.