As we celebrate Samhain with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina once again, witches take center stage, and while they should every year, there still aren’t that many witch centric shows out there.
Vampires still have the market on that, along with the general supernatural genre show, so if after you are done with Sabrina and you wanted to find some other witch-y shows to delight in, here are five you might find enjoyable. I didn’t mention the cartoon show W.I.T.C.H because it would lead to me ranting endlessly about The Winx Club and you guys don’t deserve that.
5. Witches of East End:
(Lifetime/20th Television)
Yes, it was campy, but I really loved Lifetime’s Witches of East End, it was everything that The Secret Circle wanted to be, but with more fun and a really interesting mythology. In true Secret Circle fashion, it got canceled right as it was finding its footing as a show.
East End is about the Beauchamp family witches: Joanna Beauchamp (Julia Ormond) and her daughters, Freya Beauchamp (Jenna Dewan) and Ingrid Beauchamp (Rachel Boston), and hot bad girl sister Wendy Beauchamp (Mädchen Amick). The series opens with Freya and Ingrid initially being unaware of their powers, but a series of events lead them to discover their abilities and new enemies. It definitely has some issues, but it was a fun two-season show and I loved the cast. It ended on a cliffhanger that I’m still mad about.
4. Summer Camp Island:
(Cartoon Network)
Are you a child at heart? Well, then Cartoon Network’s Summer Camp Island is the show for you. It takes place in a world of anthropomorphic animals with best friends Oscar Peltzer, an elephant, and Hedgehog … the hedgehog, at a magical summer camp. The camp counselors who are mean girl witches who use their magic to torment their campers. Lead witch Susie McCallister is a legend.
The horses transform into unicorns, there are talking sharks, yetis, magical pajamas and a bunch of other adorable stuff that make the show a pleasure to watch in terms of animation as well as storytelling. Also, the series was created by Julia Pott, a former animator and story/staff writer on Adventure Time, and has some of the best LGBTQ representation on television right now aimed at kids. It is the cutest.
3. The Worst Witch:
(BBC/Netflix)
I used to watch the 1998 television version of The Worst Witch (which starred Felicity Jones for a season), but it was redone in 2017 and streamed by Netflix for us non-Brits. The Worst Witch is originally a series of children’s books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy about a young witch named Mildred Hubble. Mildred is the titular Worst Witch and due to her clumsy nature, she tends to be a disaster magnet to herself and the students at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches.
The 2017 series is a fun update of the series with more diversity in the casting, but still has a lot of the same humor and friendship of the original. If you are a Harry Potter fan it is very surreal at times watching the series and seeing the similarities in terms of certain characters. It’s not plagiarism by any means, but the 1974 book series does definitely seem to be an inspiration for Rowling.
2. Switch:
(ITV2)
When I was deep in my Misfit phase (ahh I miss you season one and two of Misfits) I discovered the show Switch, a one-series British show about four young witches trying to make it in Camden, North London. While only six episodes (why do witch shows get canceled so quickly damn you vampires!) it was a really fun domestic drama with a delightful cast of characters.
I especially love shows about witches and female friendship. Our elementally designated witches are: Stella Munroe (Earth), Jude Thomas (Fire), Grace Watkins (Water) and Hannah Bright (Air), they each have awesome chemistry and the magic is very creatively done. I wish this series had gotten more love while it was out, but I absolutely adored it.
1. Penny Dreadful:
(Jonathan Hession/SHOWTIME)
Showtime’s Penny Dreadful defies category but I will call it a witch series because of the character of Vanessa, who is a badass witch who would top my list of greatest modern day witches. I’ve never loved and lost the way I loved and lost with Penny Dreadful. With the exception of the deeply problematic way that race in this show was handled (woof Sembene, thank goddess Danny Sapani stays getting checks), this show was one of my favorites and I still haven’t fully processed its end (or watched the last episode).
The show is based on the gothic fiction and popular serial literature of the Victorian Era pulling from elements of Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as other well know and public domain characters. Vanessa Ives, played by the exceptional Eva Green, is not officially called a witch, but she checks all the boxes including the outfits. Penny Dreadful was a really dense show and while that made it boring to some, I felt like it stood out as a series that really loved its setting and (white) characters. It played with the mythology and enjoyed dragging out the mystery, but most importantly it allowed us to watch Eva Green slay television for three seasons. If you love gothic horror and magical elements I’d highly recommend watching Penny Dreadful if only for Eva Green crushing it.
What witch-related shows would you recommend? Did anyone enjoy Salem?
(image: Netflix)
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