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TV Witches: Sort of Like The Grunge Look

by Lauren Gitlin January 23, 2009 2:34 PM
TV Witches: Sort of Like The Grunge Look Last year was without question the year of the vampire, what with Twilight and True Blood and the return of ruffly shirts. Some recent reports of a Sex and the City-style show about female werewolves called Bitches might have you thinking prematurely that the next supernatural trend on the horizon is our lupine friend, the he-wolf. But with today's news that ABC has greenlighted a series called Eastwick based on the 1987 Jack Nicholson film The Witches of Eastwick (to which I say hells yeah), I'm of the impression that we're cycling back to that reliable TV trope, the witch. Like bushy eyebrows or tapered jeans, the TV witch is a phenomenon that comes into and out of favor intermittently and is wholly at the mercy of fickle, mercurial home audiences. You can try to extrapolate a correlation between the economy and the incidence of small-screen sorceresses if you so choose. Or talk about how it's a sublimation of Hollywood's misogynistic leanings. I'm too lazy, so I'm just gonna list off my favorite harpies of all time. Pretend it's magic.

1) Endora, Bewitched
Samantha, with her twitchy little nose tick, was supposedly at the crux of this show, but her delightfully mean-spirited mom Endora, with her saucy red bob and meddlesome ways, was the real draw. Who the hell wants to use their magical powers to get the laundry folded faster? Wouldn't you rather, say, turn your ex-boyfriend into a donkey?

2) Magica DeSpell, Duck Tales
You don't have to rock a red-headed bob a la Endora, but it helps to have one or the other of these follicular features if you want to be taken seriously as a witch. Magica had the sleek 'do down, and she gets points for that. She made a habit of antagonizing Scrooge McDuck and his nephews on my favorite childhood cartoon Duck Tales by having a funny accent and threatening to steal Scrooge's lucky dime. If that doesn't sound terrifying to you, then clearly you are underestimating the powers of a cartoon duck.

3) Prue Halliwell, Charmed
There were three main bitches witches on Charmed, but for reasons totally unrelated to her fictional character, Shannen Doherty was the most believable. She was the original hot mess pretty much since she came on the scene (I bet you Wilford Brimley has some stories!), and knowing about her reputation off-camera merely added to her potency on this otherwise, let's be honest, pretty goddamned cheesy show.

4) Sabrina, Sabrina the Teen Witch
Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All plus an animatronic talking cat? How can that not be amazing? The production values alone make this show a camp favorite, even if Sabrina lacked the bite (and the hairstyle) we typically like in a TV wizardess. Melissa Joan Hart hasn't done anything worthwhile since.

5) Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Watching Willow Rosenberg blossom from shy nerd to hardcore (magical) power lesbian on Buffy was one of the most satisfying character evolutions ever. And who knew there were Jewish witches? Score one for the Chosen People!

15 Comments

January 23, 2009 5:09 PM
Rowena
Reply

Sabrina ftw! I loved that show so much I'm almost embarrassed to admit it. Almost.

January 26, 2009 10:42 AM
Amy
Reply

I would add Piper Halliwell.

I agree on Sabrina - I still watch that show and I'm in my 30s.

I can see what you're saying about Endorra. I'm all for embracing one's powers, but that character often annoyed me.

The only thing keeping me from the Willow love train is the "crack magic"/evil Willow thing. They should have just left her as a really powerful witch.

FYI - Charmed isn't listed as one of the tags.

January 26, 2009 12:15 PM
Kat
Reply

I always loved Cassie from the BBC's Hex, though she unfortunately asked to be written out and the show went down hill from there. I thought it was refreshingly realistic to have a heroin discover she had magical powers, have no clue what the hell she was supposed to do with them (or the fact that a fallen angel wanted to impregnate her because of them), and kept behaving like an actual teenager while she tried to figure it out because she literally didn't know what else to do. Having that slow growth instead of overnight turning into Buffy was nice. To bad she left before Cassie really got to mature.

January 26, 2009 12:51 PM
Lyssa
Reply

Jewish vampires? I think you meant Jewish witches. Just sayin'

January 26, 2009 3:37 PM
Michelle
Reply

Tabitha from Passions! (Yeah, I know. A soap opera instead of prime time, so sue me!) Tabitha was awesome. But I'm down with the Prue and Willow love too!

January 26, 2009 4:28 PM
Mickey
Reply

I'm with Michelle... Tabitha rocked :D

January 26, 2009 4:28 PM
Mickey
Reply

I'm with Michelle... Tabitha rocked :D

January 26, 2009 5:55 PM
hillary
Reply

teen witch doesn't count, despite the constant tv airings, does it?

willow rules.

January 27, 2009 12:51 AM
zelmia
Reply

I always liked Doctor Bombay.

January 27, 2009 10:21 AM
Tom
Reply

(I'm really dating myself, but) Angelique from Dark Shadows was equally beautiful and evil.

January 27, 2009 3:23 PM
Dave
Reply

Willow should be number 1 !

January 27, 2009 3:50 PM
Mia
Reply

Willow ruled in the TV show, and continues to rule in the Dark Horse BtVS Season 8 graphic novels. Those other witch-like people in the list aren't really in the same category.

January 27, 2009 3:51 PM
Mia
Reply

Willow ruled in the TV show, and continues to rule in the Dark Horse BtVS Season 8 graphic novels. Those other witch-like people in the list aren't really in the same category.

January 27, 2009 5:19 PM
Bob
Reply

Old enough to have watched Bewitched when it originally aired, but young enough to love Buffy (and Firefly and Angel), I think Willow RULES! Most brilliant character evolution ever, most brilliant depiction of a witch, ever. Twitching of the nose ? give me a break. Willow's spell casting, joining of power with Tara, and her slow addiction culminating in her awesome display of pure black magic power near the end of season 6 may never be approached let alone topped.

January 27, 2009 5:34 PM
rewod
Reply

Willow doesn't belong in any club that would have a Halliwell as a member.

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