Every Witch Way


Every Witch Way is an American/Canadian telenovela-formatted teen sitcom that originally aired on Nickelodeon from January 1, 2014, to July 30, 2015. It was the American version of Grachi, a successful series on Nickelodeon's Latin American counterpart.
The first season aired as a "One Month Event", where the first 20-episode season aired every weeknight in January 2014. On March 13, 2014, Nickelodeon announced that they had commissioned a second season of Every Witch Way, that aired from July 7 to August 8. On July 31, 2014, Nickelodeon renewed the show for a third season, which premiered on January 5, 2015. On February 25, 2015, Nickelodeon renewed the show for a 4th season and announced a spin-off titled WITS Academy. It was announced on June 1, 2015, that the fourth season would be the final season. The series finale aired on July 30, 2015, with WITS Academy announced following its conclusion to air in fall 2015. WITS Academy premiered on October 5, 2015, but was later canceled after one season.

Series overview

Season 1

Emma Alonso moves with her father Francisco to the suburbs of Miami, Florida, where she attends Iridium High. She later learns that she is a witch, and is also the "Chosen One", having great powers and abilities of her generation. Emma barely makes it through the school year with the help of Lily, the school nurse who is Emma's guardian; Andi Cruz, her best friend; Daniel Miller, a mutual crush, and the rest of the Sharks, Iridium High's swim team. There are obstacles along the way, too, including Maddie Van Pelt, the leader of the Panthers, a trio of the school's most popular girls, who is a newly profound witch and Daniel's ex-girlfriend, and the principal, Miss Torres: she is a 400-year-old witch and the old Chosen One, too, but she's malicious. During the upcoming eclipse, she plans on taking Emma's powers, but fails after Maddie and Emma join forces, despite their differences, and send her away using a spell from the Hexoren, a book of spells that Emma inherited from her late mother. At the end of the season, Daniel and Emma become a couple; also, after defeating the principal, both witches think they lost their powers, but in reality, Emma still has them, and she keeps this a secret from Daniel in season 2.

Season 2

It's a new year at Iridium high. The Witches' Council, the head of the magic realm has come to tell Emma that she cannot date Daniel because he is a human and witches and humans cannot date; the only way she can date him is to give up her powers and become human, as her mother did to be with Francisco. But because of her title as the "Chosen One," Emma cannot do that, and at the same time, she doesn't want to go in the other direction. Maddie, who lost her powers at the end of the first season, refuses to accept this, so Sophie and Katie, the other Panthers, try to make her believe that she still has her powers with the help of Diego, a Churi Kanay. The only reason Diego does this is because he hopes that she will notice him more. The truth is that Maddie's mother, Ursula, received her powers and is using them in attempt to make Francisco fall in love with her. Eventually, Maddie gets her powers back in the middle of the season and feels happy. During the season, Maddie and Diego realize that they have feelings for each other. In the season 2 finale, Diego gets Maddie out of a black hole and they kiss. After that, they start dating. Jax Novoa, a new student from Sydney, Australia, arrives at Iridium High and becomes the school's new heartthrob. Francisco has been promoted to the position as new principal and assigns Emma to help show Jax around. While doing so, she has no suspicions that he is a wizard, but she soon learns it later. Andi and Daniel are suspicious of him, but Jax, who has a mysterious past, shuts everyone out and starts to have feelings for Emma. While almost everyone is blinded by his bad side, Emma sees his vulnerable side, too, and she slowly starts to fall for him. Then there's the Fool Moon, a moon that occurs every twenty years and causes witches and wizards' powers to act oddly. The Fool Moon affects Desdemona, one member of the Witches' Council, who becomes evil and plans to take Emma's powers; also, Jax and E, plan to do so, but E is defeated before she could. At the end of season two, Jax reforms, and he, Daniel, and Emma get along.

Season 3

Summer is almost over for the Iridium High
students. Emma is working as a waitress at the Beachside Seven, the gang's new hangout spot, while Daniel works as a life guard there as well. Andi is determined to prove herself to the Council and become a guardian, Jax is sent to Rebel Boot Camp, and Maddie and Diego try to fix the relationship between witches and kanays, who warred with each other in the past. A new girl named Mia Black moves to Miami to take revenge on all witches because Principal Torres killed her parents. Mia, who is a kanay like Diego, plans to destroy Emma and Maddie with the help of the Cristal de Caballero, a sacred gem of the Kanays used to makes a witches' power go haywire. Mia puts a spider seal on Daniel, making him evil and turn against Emma. Mia and Diego get into a kanay duel, resulting with Diego being under Mia's control temporarily. Andi's zombie boyfriend, Phillip, gets out of the game with Hex's help. Desdemona and Agememnon try to overthrow Emma, while she tries to change Phillip into a human, using a forbidden spell. Emma and Mia get sucked into the game and have to work together to get out of there. At the end of the season finale, Emma has to make a decision, either to be with Jax or Daniel and she chooses Jax.

Season 4

Emma's decision to be with Jax triggers a Continuum Break on Daniel, where he shifts into a different life in the Everglades, and everyone except for Emma forgets who he is. Emma and the gang travel to the Everglades to take Daniel back to Miami to restore his memory, but Emma's explanation of the Continuum Break limits the time to have his memory restored to only five days, or else he'll disappear from existence forever, and Emma will not remember him as well. In the crossover with Talia in the Kitchen, Talia Parra's magic spices gave Daniel some of his memory back, but a kiss with Emma finally ends the Continuum Break, giving his entire memory back. However, in the finale, Emma realizes how Daniel misses his other life in the Everglades and triggers the Continuum Break again to make him happy.
Also in the season, Emma starts to miss her mom and wants her back, so she searches for a time manipulation spell so she can go back in time to save her mom. She steals the powers of other witches, while also becoming more reckless with her powers and causing her friends to become mad at her. Eventually in the finale, she realizes her error and gives Maddie and the Council their powers back and changes her mind about traveling back in time.
Meanwhile, Jax's father, Jake, arrives at his home. This leads Jax to soon learn more about his family, as he meets his powerless long-lost sister, Jessie, who soon reveals that his mom, Liana, isn't dead. Jax believed that Jake was evil, but near the end of season 4, it is revealed that Liana is the actual bad witch. In the series finale, Jessie finally gets her powers, and with her help, Emma, Andi and Jax finally defeat Liana, who gets sucked through the portal into Limbo.
At the end of the finale. Emma and Andi visit the Novoas, with Jake saying that Jessie, now that she has her powers, will soon be attending the WITS Academy to learn how to use them. Then, after they see Daniel one last time in the Everglades, Emma announces that Andi will attend the W.I.T.s Academy as well to train to finally become a guardian. Andi packs, they arrive at school, and the series ends with Andi leaving through the portal for the Academy, leading up to the Every Witch Way spin-off series.

Cast and characters

Main

Every Witch Way premiered on July 7, 2014, on YTV in Canada and on July 14, 2014, on Nickelodeon in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Australia, the series debuted on August 4, 2014, on Nickelodeon. The second season premiered on February 9, 2015. The first series also started broadcast on Irish channel RTÉ 2 in April 2015.

DVD releases

Reception

Critical

After a few episodes, Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the show 2 stars, saying that Every Witch Way "devotes too much time and energy to Maddie's superficiality and spite to be considered a likable choice for this impressionable age group. And since none of Maddie's actions ever land her in hot water she can't work a spell to escape, kids never see her learn a lesson." She also notes it "suffers from some subpar acting and a low-budget look and feel, and the absence of even a laugh track", leaving it "unusually flat for a tween sitcom. And without the bells and whistles kids tend to like in their entertainment, there's nothing to distract them from the excessive superficiality and pettiness that plague many of the central characters".

Ratings

The premiere episode had an estimated 2.10 million viewers. The second episode drew 2.86 million viewers, giving a large increase in audience. The season one finale on January 30, 2014 had 2.60 million viewers, while the first season had a total average of 2.166 million viewers, and a top rating for the 4-11 demographic.
The season 2 episodes drew numerous viewers, however, its eighth episode, drew 1.71 million viewers, The one hour season two finale on August 8, 2014 had 1.70 million viewers, giving the second season a total average of 1.696 million viewers. The Spellbound special, which premiered on November 26, 2014 had 1.58 million viewers, earning a top rating in season 2 for the 18-49 demographic.
The season 3 premiere had 1.66 million viewers. The second episode of season 3 had 1.54 million viewers, causing a small drop until the third episode, which drew 1.56 million viewers. The season 3 finale drew 1.71 million viewers.
Season 4 premiered with 1.50 million viewers. The crossover with Talia in the Kitchen drew 1.16 million viewers during its first half. The 14th episode had 0.96 million viewers, an unusually small audience. The series finale on July 30, 2015 had 1.64 million viewers.

Awards and nominations

Spin-off

On February 25, 2015, Nickelodeon announced a spin-off titled WITS Academy. It is a daily strip about the comedic adventures of witches- and wizards-in-training based on the third season of Grachi, and it premiered on October 5, 2015, ending on October 30, 2015. It was announced by Daniella Nieves that the show was not renewed for a second season, thus making the season 1 finale its series finale. The series is created by Catharina Ledeboer, produced by Viacom International, and executive produced by Tatiana Rodriguez.