Did The WB network really treat Charmed horribly

[TMC]

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.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by TMC

most critics thought it was a campier take on what Buffy was already doing

It was.

[Christopher]

This article brought back memories to that TV season of 2000 - 2001. When Buffy was being bought by UPN, Sarah was against it. I remember she said The WB will always be the home to the show. I'm sure UPN loved seeing that When Shannen was fired that season, she said over the summer (possibly the start of the season 4 TV season) that Charmed was a show for 12 year olds. So much drama. Then we find out last year Rose would cry every time Charmed got renewed and called Alyssa out for making the series a wreck to do. That's gotta sting fans a bit. You want your shows to have performers that enjoy working on the set; not resent it. The WB still canceled the show because rumors were going around (I think it was from Alyssa) that the actresses wanted to go on but didn't have the chance. Now I don't even believe that since Rose hated acting on the show. Although she could be lying to get sympathy reactions from fans. That seems to be all she does these days.

I also remember the show's budget cut for season 8. That pissed off so many fans of those seasons of Charmed. They wrote Leo out for over half the season or more. I know he came back for the last episode. Fans didn't like he was gone for the last season of the show. I'm not sure if anyone else got the boot. If Morris was still in the show, I wouldn't be surprise if he was cut too. I don't know how fans still watch this show. I can rewatch season 1 fine. Season 2 I get a bit bored with it. Season 3 I start to resent the show because I know it's Shannen's last season for unfair reasons. I never bother to rewatch, or even think to, the last 5 years. It's a completely different show.

Edit: Forgot to say this. I don't think Charmed was treated poorly by The WB. It got to air for 8 years. Angel didn't even get past season 5. Popular got canceled after its second season when they purposely moved it to a death slot. Birds of Prey didn't get an opportunity to gain an audience before The WB canceled it. I think these shows are better than Charmed but didn't get a fair chance on the network. Instead of saying The WB was bad to them, they should be grateful for what they got IMO.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Christopher

This article brought back memories to that TV season of 2000 - 2001. When Buffy was being bought by UPN, Sarah was against it. I remember she said The WB will always be the home to the show. I'm sure UPN loved seeing that When Shannen was fired that season, she said over the summer (possibly the start of the season 4 TV season) that Charmed was a show for 12 year olds. So much drama. Then we find out last year Rose would cry every time Charmed got renewed and called Alyssa out for making the series a wreck to do. That's gotta sting fans a bit. You want your shows to have performers that enjoy working on the set; not resent it. The WB still canceled the show because rumors were going around (I think it was from Alyssa) that the actresses wanted to go on but didn't have the chance. Now I don't even believe that since Rose hated acting on the show. Although she could be lying to get sympathy reactions from fans. That seems to be all she does these days.

I also remember the show's budget cut for season 8. That pissed off so many fans of those seasons of Charmed. They wrote Leo out for over half the season or more. I know he came back for the last episode. Fans didn't like he was gone for the last season of the show. I'm not sure if anyone else got the boot. If Morris was still in the show, I wouldn't be surprise if he was cut too. I don't know how fans still watch this show. I can rewatch season 1 fine. Season 2 I get a bit bored with it. Season 3 I start to resent the show because I know it's Shannen's last season for unfair reasons. I never bother to rewatch, or even think to, the last 5 years. It's a completely different show.

Edit: Forgot to say this. I don't think Charmed was treated poorly by The WB. It got to air for 8 years. Angel didn't even get past season 5. Popular got canceled after its second season when they purposely moved it to a death slot. Birds of Prey didn't get an opportunity to gain an audience before The WB canceled it. I think these shows are better than Charmed but didn't get a fair chance on the network. Instead of saying The WB was bad to them, they should be grateful for what they got IMO.

Why did Rose hate her time on the show? Charmed pretty much kept her career afloat after Harvey Weinstein essentially, tried to blacklist her. I immediately assumed is because she had issues on set with Alyssa Milano.