Entertainment

THE WITCHES

spellbound sisters hit tv this fall, but not for the first time.

by faran krentcil

If you're sick of vampires and werewolves on your TV, don't stress - there's a another coven of supernatural forces in town, and these girls don't bite - at least, not literally. They're witches, and by Fall, they'll be everywhere. (Actually, they're already on buses and billboards all over New York and LA.) 

But before you get excited about a "new" character trend, read this roundup of television witches that spans the past fifty years of favorite TV sorceresses.  Britt Robertson and the rest of her Secret Circle will join them on Thursday, September 15, when the show about teenage magic debuts on The CW.  It comes on at 9pm... immediately following The Vampire Diaries, which has been on TV since 2009, and seems well on its way to proving vamps are indeed immortal.

Elizabeth Montgomery on Bewitched, 1964. There's never been a witch this blissfully domestic since. (Insert sigh of relief here.)

Bonnie on The Vampire Diaries, 2009. Kat Graham would be magical even without her Salem roots.

Fairuza Balk on The Worst Witch, 1986. Before she played a sadistic teen sorceress in The Craft, Fairuza played a 12-year-old Hogwarts flunky who couldn't do anything

Melissa Joan Hart on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 1996. Clarissa explained it all, but Sabrina solved it all with spells and a never-really-that-funny cat.

Alyson Hannigan on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1997. It's always the quiet ones that end up causing the most trouble... Willow the wallflower was no exception when she gained her wizarding powers.

Holly Marie Combs on Charmed, 1998. Who knew Aria's mom had such a dark past?!

Fiona Shaw and Lauren Bowles, True Blood, 2008 - 2011. Alan Ball introduces us to "necromancers" and also the scariest seance scene we've ever seen.

The Secret Circle, 2011. Britt Robertson is a shell-shocked teen who returns to her dead mom's homeland and discovers a major family secret.  Stay tuned...