Why doesn't Charmed have the impact Buffy or Xena have had?

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Christopher

This was something I liked about Buffy and Supernatural. Not all demons are created bad in those shows. They turn bad by the decisions they make. They were made to be similar to humans. We all have choices and it's the one we make that defines who we are. Buffy and Supernatural stayed close to the detail of their story with the seriousness of the supernatural aspect while Charmed was more for children in the Paige years.

I wouldn't even say it was for children, since many of the storylines included sexual overtones. I'd say it was more for... simple-minded adults? Unsophisticated women? Something along those lines.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by TMC

Speaking of Buffy, was there any grey area with the demons to the sisters on Charmed? It seemed like all demons on Charmed (unlike on Buffy with Clem or Lorne) were bad. What I mean is that it was as if there couldn't be a demon that was good. It was stressed many times that the only thing that kept Cole from completely being dangerous was his human side.

Yeah, the demons on Charmed were, as far as I recall, all bad. Cole went from good to bad, bad to good, etc., so many times that I lost track, and it became dumb.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Alyssa got a Molly / Tootie haircut? I'm not surprise. Alyssa was probably getting tired of being the show's sex object and was trying to make herself look awful for viewers.

I thought that Alyssa looked her best in Season 3 (Shannen Doherty's last) with the blonde highlights:




That unflattering haircut that she got midway through Season 4 reminds me of Courteney Cox's hairstyle in Scream 3.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by TMC

I thought that Alyssa looked her best in Season 3 (Shannen Doherty's last) with the blonde highlights:

Yeah, Alyssa's hair looked amazing that season. Very sexy.

That unflattering haircut that she got midway through Season 4 reminds me of Courteney Cox's hairstyle in Scream 3.

That is very similar!

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Christopher

They had leprechauns? I remember fans on IMDb during the shows' run complain about the Harry Potter school. I know I watched the first episode of season 4 and the following one because of Piper's breakdown being well acted by Holly's part, but I stopped following after that. I wasn't a fan of Rose's acting or the character she was playing. I also didn't understand why they're still the Charmed ones since the legend says 3 sisters, not 4 or 3 sisters out of a group of multiple sisters. They ruined the shows premise on who the Halliwell sisters were for the supernatural aspect in the show. Maybe that's why they stopped doing supernatural stories and instead did stories of their sex lives like finding a sperm donor because of a vision of their kid I still can't believe that is an actual episode. I think I bailed out on the right time too. The promos never looked like a supernatural show after Shannen was fired. They were always so campy and focusing on the women's looks from what I remember. That's why I never tuned back in after I stopped.

Season 1 of Charmed will always be my favorite. I like the Prue / Andy relationship, the monster of the week stories, and the dynamic of sisters trying to get along while adjust to becoming witches. The first season was perfect. Season 2 is good and season 3 is alright, but nothing tops how that first season was made.

Do you agree that they show literally treated Paige like a distant cousin until it was time to do a power of 3 spell, then she was a "sister"? What I mean is that they never really showed them building a sisterly bond together with Paige. She was always the odd one out they could've did a lot more with her character.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Yeah, the demons on Charmed were, as far as I recall, all bad. Cole went from good to bad, bad to good, etc., so many times that I lost track, and it became dumb.

They were trying really hard to copy the Buffy / Angel relationship that fans went crazy over at the time. It didn't work as Phoebe and Cole had nowhere near the Buffy / Angel fandom that was going on during the run. Buffy / Angel was on so many magazine covers, talked about on radio news shows, referenced in TV shows, etc. I don't recall ever seeing Phoebe and Cole getting much attention like that.

Originally Posted by TMC

Do you agree that they show literally treated Paige like a distant cousin until it was time to do a power of 3 spell, then she was a "sister"? What I mean is that they never really showed them building a sisterly bond together with Paige. She was always the odd one out they could've did a lot more with her character.

I'm not able to answer this as I've never seen all the Paige seasons. I just know in the first episode it was established that the Charmed ones were 3 sisters who contained powerful abilities. They were witches. Paige was a whitelighter. She wasn't even a witch if I remember correctly. It was her whitelighter traits that gave her powers like Leo, right? I never understood how they were still the Charmed ones after introducing Paige since the legend did not apply to them.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Shannen Doherty tried very hard to make Charmed a serious show like Buffy but was over ruled by Brad Kern. She had nothing to do with why Charmed isn't a great series. What killed Charmed's quality was Brad taking over the series from Constance Burge. Brad made Charmed into a fluffy female sex object show. It was no longer based on the sisters after he became in charge. It was about displaying the female leads body's more, mainly Alyssa Milano, to draw in horny viewers. Look at the stupidest stories from Charmed over the years after Shannen and Constance were no longer part of the show. There was Phoebe riding a horse naked downtown, Phoebe in a genie outfit, Phoebe in a mermaid outfit, the superhero costume episode where the females are in tight outfits, and so much more where it always involved getting the female leads showing off more of their bodies. Seasons 1 and 2 of Charmed will always be a classic though. Constance started the show off great and I'm glad for what she was able to create those two seasons.

I can't speak for Xena, but with Buffy that show was always about the storylines. It had actual character development, realistic stories that fans could relate to, the strong mother / daughter relationship that young female viewers needed to see, strong friendships, writers and creator that cared what was being produced, and the most important aspect is the creator knowing how he wanted his show to go so there were "easter egg" hints seasons before a story occurred. Buffy will always be superior than Charmed because of how much thought was put into the seasons before they were created.

Now that I think about it, you could say that Charmed was similar to the 2000s Charlie's Angels movies in which you don't know if it's supposed to be a feminist piece about strong independent women or a pandering, exploitative male fantasy. Both Charmed under Brad Kern and the Cameron Diaz/Drew Barrymore/Lucy Liu movies you could say, exists as merely an excuse to get their female stars in as many skimpy, "fetish-y" type of outfits or situations as possible. Heck, I always thought that Holly Marie Combs kind of resembles Lucy Liu, but that's merely a coincidence.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Yeah, Alyssa's hair looked amazing that season. Very sexy.



That is very similar!

I had recently written in the Who's the Boss? forum about how much I loved Alyssa's hair in Season 5 through the first half of Season 6 of that show. She actually did look an awful lot like Ariel (albeit with brown-ish hair instead of red) from The Little Mermaid.



She was absolutely drop dead gorgeous in the episode "In Search of Tony" (from the adjoining photo), which primarily took place in Jamaica.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Shannen Doherty tried very hard to make Charmed a serious show like Buffy but was over ruled by Brad Kern. She had nothing to do with why Charmed isn't a great series. What killed Charmed's quality was Brad taking over the series from Constance Burge. Brad made Charmed into a fluffy female sex object show. It was no longer based on the sisters after he became in charge. It was about displaying the female leads body's more, mainly Alyssa Milano, to draw in horny viewers. Look at the stupidest stories from Charmed over the years after Shannen and Constance were no longer part of the show. There was Phoebe riding a horse naked downtown, Phoebe in a genie outfit, Phoebe in a mermaid outfit, the superhero costume episode where the females are in tight outfits, and so much more where it always involved getting the female leads showing off more of their bodies. Seasons 1 and 2 of Charmed will always be a classic though. Constance started the show off great and I'm glad for what she was able to create those two seasons.

I can't speak for Xena, but with Buffy that show was always about the storylines. It had actual character development, realistic stories that fans could relate to, the strong mother / daughter relationship that young female viewers needed to see, strong friendships, writers and creator that cared what was being produced, and the most important aspect is the creator knowing how he wanted his show to go so there were "easter egg" hints seasons before a story occurred. Buffy will always be superior than Charmed because of how much thought was put into the seasons before they were created.

I wonder if the general public and/or media initially took Alyssa Milano's side in the so-called feud because Shannen Doherty already had a history of supposedly being difficult stemming back from her 90210 days. It wasn't like we ever heard about Alyssa being problematic when she was doing Who's the Boss? or Melrose Place. So naturally, why should we believe the girl who got fired from her previous show despite being the "star"?

I'm also wondering if people are more inclined to believe what Rose McGowan has said about her making the set environment toxic. Rose I hate to say this, does sometimes comes across as an "unreliable narrator". It's sort of hard to fully support her when she never expressed remorse or regret over working with a convicted child molester in Victor Salva.

Rose also came across as very eccentric, incoherent, and flaky when she appeared on Stephen Colbert's show.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Shannen Doherty tried very hard to make Charmed a serious show like Buffy but was over ruled by Brad Kern. She had nothing to do with why Charmed isn't a great series. What killed Charmed's quality was Brad taking over the series from Constance Burge. Brad made Charmed into a fluffy female sex object show. It was no longer based on the sisters after he became in charge. It was about displaying the female leads body's more, mainly Alyssa Milano, to draw in horny viewers. Look at the stupidest stories from Charmed over the years after Shannen and Constance were no longer part of the show. There was Phoebe riding a horse naked downtown, Phoebe in a genie outfit, Phoebe in a mermaid outfit, the superhero costume episode where the females are in tight outfits, and so much more where it always involved getting the female leads showing off more of their bodies. Seasons 1 and 2 of Charmed will always be a classic though. Constance started the show off great and I'm glad for what she was able to create those two seasons.

I can't speak for Xena, but with Buffy that show was always about the storylines. It had actual character development, realistic stories that fans could relate to, the strong mother / daughter relationship that young female viewers needed to see, strong friendships, writers and creator that cared what was being produced, and the most important aspect is the creator knowing how he wanted his show to go so there were "easter egg" hints seasons before a story occurred. Buffy will always be superior than Charmed because of how much thought was put into the seasons before they were created.

I just so happened to find this magazine profile on Brad Kern on Instagram.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Shannen Doherty tried very hard to make Charmed a serious show like Buffy but was over ruled by Brad Kern. She had nothing to do with why Charmed isn't a great series. What killed Charmed's quality was Brad taking over the series from Constance Burge. Brad made Charmed into a fluffy female sex object show. It was no longer based on the sisters after he became in charge. It was about displaying the female leads body's more, mainly Alyssa Milano, to draw in horny viewers. Look at the stupidest stories from Charmed over the years after Shannen and Constance were no longer part of the show. There was Phoebe riding a horse naked downtown, Phoebe in a genie outfit, Phoebe in a mermaid outfit, the superhero costume episode where the females are in tight outfits, and so much more where it always involved getting the female leads showing off more of their bodies. Seasons 1 and 2 of Charmed will always be a classic though. Constance started the show off great and I'm glad for what she was able to create those two seasons.

I can't speak for Xena, but with Buffy that show was always about the storylines. It had actual character development, realistic stories that fans could relate to, the strong mother / daughter relationship that young female viewers needed to see, strong friendships, writers and creator that cared what was being produced, and the most important aspect is the creator knowing how he wanted his show to go so there were "easter egg" hints seasons before a story occurred. Buffy will always be superior than Charmed because of how much thought was put into the seasons before they were created.

Perhaps one tell tale sign that the women on the show were becoming overly-sexualized, especially after Shannen Doherty's departure was during the mermaid episode, where Paige comes to work (keep in mind that she was a social worker) in a tank top, soaking wet, with no bra on, and with a mini skirt.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

Xena and Buffy are still considered the best television shows with female leads but why is Charmed sort of forgotten outside the internet?

Did the "Shannen Doherty vs. Everyone" drama ruin its impact? Or did it being a poor-man's Buffy stop that?

Why doesn't Charmed have the impact Buffy or Xena have had? Xena and Buffy are still considered the best television shows with female leads but why is Charmed sort of forgotten outside the internet? Did the "Shannen Doherty vs. Everyone" drama ruin its impact? Or did it being a poor-man's Buffy stop that?