Former "Charmed" Scribe Krista Vernoff Reveals the Season 5 Plot that Led her to Quit the Original Series
by Michael Ausiello
April 1, 2021


Two decades later, that infamous mermaid plot on "Charmed" is still making waves.

Current "Grey’s Anatomy" and "Station 19" showrunner Krista Vernoff — who cut her showbiz teeth working as a writer/producer on the original WB drama from 2000-04 — reveals that a Season 5 arc that featured Alyssa Milano’s Phoebe turning into a mermaid marked a turning point in the auteur’s career. It also paved for her eventual exit the following season.




“I signed on because Charmed was a girl-power show,” Vernoff recalls to The Hollywood Reporter in a candid profile, “and about halfway through there was an episode where Alyssa Milano comes out in mermaid pasties and there was a huge spike in male viewership.

And then every episode after, the question would come from the network, ‘How are we getting the girls naked this week?'”




When it came time to decide whether to stick around for Season 6, Vernoff — who at the time was also reeling from the untimely death of her father — says she ultimately followed her conscience.

“They were throwing money at me, and the number keeps going up, and there’s all this pressure,” she explains to THR. “And all I can think is, ‘I’m creating something that’s now bad for the world, and I’ve had enough bad for the world in my life.'”





UPDATE: Shortly after we published this piece, Vernoff took to Twitter to issue the following clarification:

"I want to clarify here for Charmed fans and also for my colleagues from Charmed who I love and admire, that I do not believe that the show was bad for the world. I felt that the objectifying notes were bad for the world - and were demoralizing for me. All love to Charmed."

https://tvline.com/2021/04/01/charmed-alyssa-milano-mermaid-scene-krista-vernoff/

Charmed Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs fire back at Krista Vernoff for saying the show was "bad for the world" in trying to appeal to male viewers (https://www.thewrap.com/charmed-krista-vernoff-holly-marie-combs-alyssa-milano-bad-for-the-world/)

In a Hollywood Reporter profile (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/krista-vernoff-on-overcoming-her-past-overhauling-greys-anatomy-and-finally-emerging-from-shondas-shadow), the Grey's Anatomy showrunner recalled spending three seasons writing for Charmed and turning down an offer to write for a fourth season. "I signed on (https://thecharmedcafe.proboards.com/thread/13187/charmed-scribe-krista-vernoff-reveals?page=1&scrollTo=493535) because Charmed was a girl-power show, and about halfway through there was an episode where Alyssa Milano comes out in mermaid (https://www.reddit.com/r/charmed/comments/mhy6n7/charmed_alyssa_milanos_mermaid_scene_led_to/) pasties and there was a huge spike in male viewership, and then every episode after, the question would come from the network, 'How are we getting the girls naked this week?'" said (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/krista-vernoff-says-she-left-charmed-over-the-objectification-of-the-actresses.4509208/) Vernoff, insisting there were no attempts at subtlety. "And they were throwing money at me, and the number keeps going up, and there's all this pressure, and all I can think is, 'I'm creating something that's now bad for the world, and I've had enough bad for the world (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9432057/Alyssa-Milano-Holly-Marie-Combs-hit-Charmed-producer-left-series.html) in my life.'" Milano responded (https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1377699635838521346) on Twitter: "Well, this absolutely broke my heart. I hope we didn’t make something that was 'bad for the world' for eight years. I think we gave permission to a generation of women to be themselves and to be strong and own their sexuality. I’m so proud of what this show meant to so many." Combs replied (https://twitter.com/H_Combs/status/1377706573015867394): "I can attest 1000% Charmed was not bad for the world. The reasons and people are too long to list. Maybe it was bad (https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/120433919.html?view=comments#comments) for Krista’s world at the time. End story. And the fact that we can still stand up for ourselves and the show and the people who loved it proves this. I never cared what producer or network exec wanted us more naked for their $. And still don’t. We knew how to rally against it and found our own power. And still do. #Facts." Vernoff later issued a tweet clarifying her comments. "I want to clarify (https://twitter.com/KristaVernoff/status/1377696749125398528) here for Charmed fans and also for my colleagues from Charmed who I love and admire, that I do not believe that the show was bad for the world," she tweeted. "I felt that the objectifying notes were bad for the world - and were demoralizing for me. All love to Charmed."

And then every episode after, the question would come from the network, ‘How are we getting the girls naked this week?'

I've been saying this for over a decade here. That's exactly what Charmed became. It's a show for men to get off because all the series cared about after Shannen was fired was how do they keep showing off the women's bodies in each episode. I don't agree with Alyssa and Holly. There wasn't any story to the show in the last half. It was all superficial. Every promo for Charmed was about how sexy one of the women look to get people's interest into watching. I'll never forget how one promo was about Alyssa riding a horse naked through town. I'm hopping that was just a short dream sequence and not the whole episode but The WB focused on that along with the producers and wanted scenes that sexually objectify the women to be what the show was. Alyssa and Holly should accept they were part of a softcore porno for men to enjoy.

After the first three years, the show slowly devolved into garbage. I can't count the number of times Paige walked in sucking a lollipop or Phoebe was wearing a barely-there outfit. It wasn't just the outfits; the writing suffered, as well. I stopped watching around Season 5.

I've been saying this for over a decade here. That's exactly what Charmed became. It's a show for men to get off because all the series cared about after Shannen was fired was how do they keep showing off the women's bodies in each episode. I don't agree with Alyssa and Holly. There wasn't any story to the show in the last half. It was all superficial. Every promo for Charmed was about how sexy one of the women look to get people's interest into watching. I'll never forget how one promo was about Alyssa riding a horse naked through town. I'm hopping that was just a short dream sequence and not the whole episode but The WB focused on that along with the producers and wanted scenes that sexually objectify the women to be what the show was. Alyssa and Holly should accept they were part of a softcore porno for men to enjoy.

The simplest way I suppose, to describe the show (https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a792330/how-charmed-lost-its-charm-what-went-wrong-with-the-magical-hit/) is that the first three years with Prue (https://collider.com/original-charmed-problems-without-prue/)/Shannen (https://www.reddit.com/r/charmed/comments/f8f5ul/was_charmed_destined_to_fail_if_doherty_stayed/) had a darker, moodier, and more serious edge (https://www.neogaf.com/threads/is-charmed-a-good-tv-show.832102/). The latter seasons with Paige/Rose devolved (https://thecharmedcafe.proboards.com/thread/11179/charmed-poll-when-jump-shark) into a more mythical/Disney like show.