HALLOWEEN IN TOOBWORLD, 2006

In the run-up to Halloween, there really was only one new Halloween offering this season which caught my interest as a caretaker for Toobworld: ABC Family added another remake to Earth Prime-Time/Delay last Sunday, "The Initiation Of Sarah". It was about two sisters who were going to the same university, but who wound up pledging to different sororities... both of which practiced their own special forms of magic.

If it sounds familiar, then maybe you enjoyed a steady diet of ABC's movies of the week back in the 1970s. "The Initiation of Sarah" was broadcast in 1978 with Kay Lenz in the lead role.

(And whatever happened to Kay Lenz? You know, there's been a trend of bringing back stars of TV's past to play the parents of Today's TV stars. So howzabout Kay Lenz to play Robin Schablonski's Mom on 'How I Met Your Mother'?)

Anyway, as "The Initiation Of Sarah" is a remake, it must be relegated to the aforementioned Earth Prime-Time Delay; not exactly unexpected.

But here's the interesting twist: in both versions there is a character who shares the same telegenetic makeup as a character in the other version, but they are not the same character. (The Real World reason is that Morgan Fairchild played both roles.)

In the 1978 version, it is sorority member Jennifer Lawrence. In the new version, she is Trina Goodwin, the mother of the two main characters. Like Jennifer, Trina was also a member of that sorority; one who never gave up her wicked ways completely..

The temptation is there to say they were the same character. Perhaps an argument could be made that Jennifer Lawrence changed her name and History repeated itself. I'm not sure if she died or lived in the original televersion, but the path not taken could have caused the catalyst to create an alternate dimension.

But as I want to always keep the TV Universe simplified, I think it's best just to jettison the new version straightaway. It'll be in good company there in the delayed Toobworld with other Halloween-themed fare such as 'The New Addams Family' and the later version of 'Kolchak, the Night Stalker'.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby