Maxwell House, Gevalia, and Ethical Bean have reunited the stars of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Commemorating National Coffee Day, the company released a new infomercial-style ad featuring Melissa Joan Hart and original Salem voice actor Nick Bakay. The new ad also comes along just as the Sabrina the Teenage Witch series celebrates its 25th anniversary. You can watch the video below.
The clip is called “As Bean On TV with Melissa Joan Hart.” While we don’t see Salem the cat himself, his very familiar voice can be heard with Bakay serving as the narrator of the infomercial. Hart and Bakay might be promoting coffee and not acting out scenes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but it’s still very fun to enjoy the reunion a quarter-century after the classic show first premiered.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch premiered on ABC’s T.G.I.F. lineup on Sept. 27, 1996. Created by Nell Scovell and based on the Archie Comics series, the show starred Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman with Nick Bakay voicing her pet cat Salem. Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick also starred as Sabrina’s aunts, Hilda and Zelda. The show picks up with Sabrina learning of her magical powers on her 16th birthday.
On Monday, Melissa Joan Hart also celebrated the 25th anniversary of Sabrina the Teenage Witch online. With a post on Instagram, the actress wrote, “It’s been brought to my attention that 25 years ago today Sept 27, 1996 our show first aired on ABC for 7 seasons. The little engine that could we called it since it was in the shadows of the largely anticipated show #Clueless but it persevered and we got to steal @reddonovan to come over to our fun cast.”
She added. “Tons of talented guest stars, musical acts and magic tv tricks over the years. Full of friendships and crazy memories, it was an incredible ride to be sure! Thanks for the love and support to help us do what we love to do, make people smile!! Happy #SabrinatheTeenageWitch Day!”
More recently, Netflix rebooted the story as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which debuted on the streamer in 2018. Consisting of two seasons with each split up into two halves, the show concluded its run in 2020, a disappointment to many fans hoping for a renewal. Kiernan Shipka plays a new incarnation of Sabrina on the show, but Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick did make a special appearance in the final set of episodes.
In 2019, Melissa Joan Hart also channeled her Sabrina character for a segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden. She was featured in a sketch dubbed “Subpoena the Teenage Witch,” and it wasn’t quite the same genuinely playing Sabrina. Even so, it was a clear nod to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, as Corden had even recreated the familiar living room from the show for the sketch. Nick Bakay had also returned to voice the cat.
It doesn’t seem likely we’ll see a TV series continuation of Sabrina the Teenage Witch anytime soon. But at least Melissa Joan Hart, who recently recovered from COVID, and Nick Bakay are still paying homage to their roles on the show which is the next best thing.