TMC
12-22-2020, 02:56 AM
https://thecharmedcafe.proboards.com/thread/10800
Actually, Charmed consistently ranked among the top 3 rated shows for the WB network in it's first three seasons, even maintaining a higher viewership than Buffy the Vampire Slayer at certain times. Buffy and Charmed routinely switched between the #2 position when it came to the WB's top rated programs, just behind 7th Heaven. The only reason Buffy was treated better by the WB was because it was a critical darling, and this gave the WB a type of credibility that Charmed didn't because most critics labelled it "Charlie's Angels with broomsticks". While Aaron Spelling being the executive producer helped get Charmed on the air because of the success of 7th Heaven, most critics thought it was a campier take on what Buffy was already doing, and this included the WB execs.
Dawson's Creek and Roswell NEVER topped Charmed in the ratings. I mean Charmed ran three years longer than Dawson's Creek when they both debuted in 1998, because it had a stronger fan base. Dawson's Creek was treated better and got great promotion because it got critical recognition for its smart writing. Also, add to the fact the creator of Dawson's Creek, Kevin Williamson, was also behind the hugely popular Scream slasher movie franchise, the WB literally kissed Williamson's behind to promote his show because he was the new "it writer/producer" of the late 90s/early 2000s. The WB's execs favoritism for Dawson's Creek also occurred because it pulled in good numbers for the network's target audience. Meaning, even though Charmed had more viewers on average, Dawson's Creek had more audiences from ages 18-34 watching its show.
Roswell, while a critically admired show, the WB treated it even WORSE than it did Charmed. Roswell only averaged 2-3 million in viewers, and the show was deemed too complex for their targeted demographic of teens and twenty-somethings, and so the WB forced the producers of Roswell to make changes to the show as they would later go on to do to Charmed starting with season 5. Roswell's ratings subsequently dropped, and so the show got cancelled after its second season (which ran at the same time as season 3 of Charmed, which averaged around 6 million viewers that year). However, 20th Century Fox having seen potential in the series told UPN the only way they could buy the rights to the new season of Buffy was for them to also buy the new season of Roswell for the 2001-2002 TV season as 20th Century Fox produced both shows, which helped Roswell get a third and final season.
But back to Charmed's ratings, the show averaged 6-7 million viewers from seasons 1-3, and then 5-6 million viewers during seasons 4-6. Shannen's departure hurt the series, but it wasn't enough to knock Charmed out of the top 5 rated shows for the WB. Charmed's ratings didn't really plummet until season 7 & season 8. The last two years only averaged 3-4 million, which was a 50+% drop from where it was in its early years. However, this was still better than most other shows on the WB network at the time, sans 7th Heaven and Smallville.
Despite the ratings success Charmed had for the WB's standard, they still treated the show like the "ugly step-child", as stated by Rose McGowan because of the demographics it brought in. One of the reasons the WB kept harking down changes for Charmed was due to trying to get more teenage and twenty-something viewers to watch the show. Enter the lighter tone for season 5, then Drew Fuller for season 6, followed by Nick Lachey for season 7 (fresh off his MTV reality show Newly Weds, which had a high teen following), and lastly Kaley Cuoco for season 8. While Charmed had a strong older demographic 35-49 (as did Aaron Spellings other WB show 7th Heaven), older adults aren't worth much when selling commercial spots to advertisers. Advertisers think that audiences 18–34 are more likely to buy something from an ad on TV, than those in the 35+ range. Since Charmed cost so much to produce, the WB felt the show should target to the age range that advertisers are willing to pay top dollar for, which happened to be the 18-34 range.
Charmed's crime was that it attracted the 35-49 demo, and so the WB forced Kern and his staff to "dumb down and sex up" his show to get the "coveted" younger viewers (which meant the WB could make more money off the show by offering advertisers a timeslot to pander to their desired demographic). However, the opposite happened. A majority of viewers, both younger and older, stopped watching in the later years because the show changed so much from what made them enjoy it so much at the beginning. Then the new younger viewers the change in tone did attract weren't as large as the original audience.
Season 6 only aired because the WB signed a contract committing themselves to airing it back during season 4. If they cancelled Charmed then, they could have been sued for breach of contract. However, since the WB couldn't cancel Charmed's season 6, they cut the budget in the middle of the season instead since they weren't making a huge profit back by selling commercial spots. The only reason season 7 and season 8 aired was because Kern bargained each season with taking on a budget cuts, in addition to introducing new guest stars/characters meant to draw in the younger 18-34 audiences. None of which helped the quality of the later years.
The fact is the WB's #2 rated show made less money than their #4 and #5 rated show, which was why they spent less money advertising it than other shows like Dawson's Creek and Smallville, and why they kept figuring out ways to "make it more appealing" to a bigger younger audience. It wasn't that Charmed had low ratings for the WB, it was that it didn't have enough of the "right audience" (18-34 year olds) during its prime in order to make the WB think its high budget was worth keeping it on the air.
Actually, Charmed consistently ranked among the top 3 rated shows for the WB network in it's first three seasons, even maintaining a higher viewership than Buffy the Vampire Slayer at certain times. Buffy and Charmed routinely switched between the #2 position when it came to the WB's top rated programs, just behind 7th Heaven. The only reason Buffy was treated better by the WB was because it was a critical darling, and this gave the WB a type of credibility that Charmed didn't because most critics labelled it "Charlie's Angels with broomsticks". While Aaron Spelling being the executive producer helped get Charmed on the air because of the success of 7th Heaven, most critics thought it was a campier take on what Buffy was already doing, and this included the WB execs.
Dawson's Creek and Roswell NEVER topped Charmed in the ratings. I mean Charmed ran three years longer than Dawson's Creek when they both debuted in 1998, because it had a stronger fan base. Dawson's Creek was treated better and got great promotion because it got critical recognition for its smart writing. Also, add to the fact the creator of Dawson's Creek, Kevin Williamson, was also behind the hugely popular Scream slasher movie franchise, the WB literally kissed Williamson's behind to promote his show because he was the new "it writer/producer" of the late 90s/early 2000s. The WB's execs favoritism for Dawson's Creek also occurred because it pulled in good numbers for the network's target audience. Meaning, even though Charmed had more viewers on average, Dawson's Creek had more audiences from ages 18-34 watching its show.
Roswell, while a critically admired show, the WB treated it even WORSE than it did Charmed. Roswell only averaged 2-3 million in viewers, and the show was deemed too complex for their targeted demographic of teens and twenty-somethings, and so the WB forced the producers of Roswell to make changes to the show as they would later go on to do to Charmed starting with season 5. Roswell's ratings subsequently dropped, and so the show got cancelled after its second season (which ran at the same time as season 3 of Charmed, which averaged around 6 million viewers that year). However, 20th Century Fox having seen potential in the series told UPN the only way they could buy the rights to the new season of Buffy was for them to also buy the new season of Roswell for the 2001-2002 TV season as 20th Century Fox produced both shows, which helped Roswell get a third and final season.
But back to Charmed's ratings, the show averaged 6-7 million viewers from seasons 1-3, and then 5-6 million viewers during seasons 4-6. Shannen's departure hurt the series, but it wasn't enough to knock Charmed out of the top 5 rated shows for the WB. Charmed's ratings didn't really plummet until season 7 & season 8. The last two years only averaged 3-4 million, which was a 50+% drop from where it was in its early years. However, this was still better than most other shows on the WB network at the time, sans 7th Heaven and Smallville.
Despite the ratings success Charmed had for the WB's standard, they still treated the show like the "ugly step-child", as stated by Rose McGowan because of the demographics it brought in. One of the reasons the WB kept harking down changes for Charmed was due to trying to get more teenage and twenty-something viewers to watch the show. Enter the lighter tone for season 5, then Drew Fuller for season 6, followed by Nick Lachey for season 7 (fresh off his MTV reality show Newly Weds, which had a high teen following), and lastly Kaley Cuoco for season 8. While Charmed had a strong older demographic 35-49 (as did Aaron Spellings other WB show 7th Heaven), older adults aren't worth much when selling commercial spots to advertisers. Advertisers think that audiences 18–34 are more likely to buy something from an ad on TV, than those in the 35+ range. Since Charmed cost so much to produce, the WB felt the show should target to the age range that advertisers are willing to pay top dollar for, which happened to be the 18-34 range.
Charmed's crime was that it attracted the 35-49 demo, and so the WB forced Kern and his staff to "dumb down and sex up" his show to get the "coveted" younger viewers (which meant the WB could make more money off the show by offering advertisers a timeslot to pander to their desired demographic). However, the opposite happened. A majority of viewers, both younger and older, stopped watching in the later years because the show changed so much from what made them enjoy it so much at the beginning. Then the new younger viewers the change in tone did attract weren't as large as the original audience.
Season 6 only aired because the WB signed a contract committing themselves to airing it back during season 4. If they cancelled Charmed then, they could have been sued for breach of contract. However, since the WB couldn't cancel Charmed's season 6, they cut the budget in the middle of the season instead since they weren't making a huge profit back by selling commercial spots. The only reason season 7 and season 8 aired was because Kern bargained each season with taking on a budget cuts, in addition to introducing new guest stars/characters meant to draw in the younger 18-34 audiences. None of which helped the quality of the later years.
The fact is the WB's #2 rated show made less money than their #4 and #5 rated show, which was why they spent less money advertising it than other shows like Dawson's Creek and Smallville, and why they kept figuring out ways to "make it more appealing" to a bigger younger audience. It wasn't that Charmed had low ratings for the WB, it was that it didn't have enough of the "right audience" (18-34 year olds) during its prime in order to make the WB think its high budget was worth keeping it on the air.