Roommates Rather Than Sisters

[forbuss]

I was just flipping through youtube and I found the season 8 bonus features and one of the exec. producers said that the series was originally about 3 roommates who were witches, and it later switched to being sisters. I am happy that switch happened, but it got me thinking what the series would have been like if it were about roommates. What do you think the differences would be/would it last as long?

As soon as I heard that I thought of the reboot. I think that today, the series rebooted would work better as friends/roommates better than sisters. Also, roommates would mean that they would be at least 19, hopefully.. So no teeny shows haha.

[Esmeralda]

If they were roommates rather than sisters, it could be very similar to S5-8.....

[kriswyatthalliwell]

For the reboot, I do think that roommates would very nice and maybe a much better fit than if they were family. I am rewatching "A Witch's Tail" and Phoebe, Paige, Leo, and Cole got on my nerves a lot... The whole Cole coming back thing was not necessary.

[Esmeralda]

That - having Cole come back in Season Five - was the second-worse mistake they ever made.

The worst was turning Piper into the Power of One. Prue was never that because her power couldn't vanquish demons - she needed her sisters to do that. Piper...now if she could only shove demons back with it, that would be perfect, but once she could take care of them all on their own, the show was no longer Charmed.

[Assassin Witch]

Oh, wait. You mean that's NOT what the show was? Roommates?

















My question on that would be..how would The Power of Three work with roommates. What would make them special?

[iamthesun]

They would have a connection. Like being really close, or each having a power that links together.

[forbuss]

They could be 3 separate descendants of different lines of witches still, and be bound together by the forces of good to be the "chosen three" - If anyone watches Buffy, it could be like how they created the first slayer.

BUFFY SPOILERS BELOW!

Three African shamans (they were called The Shadow Men) chose a human (her name was Sineya) to be "The Chosen One" to fight against the demons and vampires. They chained her to the floor of a cave and fused her soul with powers (strength, speed, stamina, healing, etc) that they got from a demon. Although she was still human, part of her humanity was permanently taken away - this was the sacrifice needed to bestow the powers onto her to fight for the forces of good.. However, it is said that each generation of Slayers after that was more and more human than Sineya was - she was the most powerful slayer ever, because she was directly "infected". In the finale season of Buffy, Buffy jumped into a time portal and went back and saw the men. They knew that she needed more power, so they chained her up and tried to do the same to her, and it would also make her less human. She fought them, knowing that it was too big of a sacrifice to win the final war.. So she didn't take the power, and fought her way out. SO GOOD!

Something like this would be EPIC!

[kriswyatthalliwell]

Yah for Buffy! I LOVE Buffy so much! Also for the reboot, they could be best friends or 3 random girls that are somehow connected by Magic. There are lots of ways for people who aren't relatives to be the Power of 3

[Esmeralda]

And I hate Buffy so much because its fans always compare it to Charmed and Charmed always ends up with the short stick.

And the idea of a bunch of "chosen ones" is something that's been used on a lot of other shows long before Buffy came along.

Personally I have a hunch that's what would've happened had they been roommates - each of them would have a power that together would make up the Power of Three. I don't think closeness would have anything to do with it - they'd become close over the seasons as they have to have each others' back.

In fact, it would be fun if they were all from different parts of the country - maybe even one who's from a different country, and one of them is looking for roommates to share her apartment and the other two show up. It's a typical enough set up, but would work wonderfully.

After all, closeness had nothing to do with Prue and Phoebe at the beginning of the series or Paige and Piper & Phoebe at all.

[kriswyatthalliwell]

Would their names still all start with P, or would they have names that start with different letters? I'd like it if their names all somehow started with P, as a nod to Charmed

[Esmeralda]

I'm quite certain that if they were just roommates, their names wouldn't start with a "P".

Although I must admit, that the idea that letting their names start with a "P" is part of them being part of The "P"ower of Three is interesting...

I just wouldn't want any of those names to be Prue or Piper or Phoebe or Paige or Patty or Penny (I don't count the names some fans use for the 1920 cousins or the kids in the comics, since that's fanon, not canon)....and that uses up an awful lot of them!

Maybe their names would all start with a "T" letting them be part of the Power of "T"hree.

Or maybe their last names can all start with a P.

There's all sorts of possibilities....

But as always, hopefully not until the 2020's.

ETA: Obviously this is about the reboot. If this is what the actual show had been, then, yes, I can see them using the names Prue, Piper and Phoebe.

[kriswyatthalliwell]

The T's would be much easier than P's. I just hope for the sake of the reboot, it's all new writers. None from Charmed, Connie Burge can come if she wants too but absolutely NO to anyone else. Also they should put the reboot somewhere else other than the CW/WB

[Esmeralda]

Can't disagree with you more. I would *really* like some of the writers from the earlier seasons to come back, especially Sheryl J. Anderson, who wrote the sisters the way I love them best, and Edithe Swenson who did the best evil vs. good episodes. And then there's Paul Ruditis who wrote the comics. If those three were the main writers, I'd be a very happy reboot fan.

[kriswyatthalliwell]

Yah! Sheryl, Paul, and Edithe are the real P3. I just read the first comic and I'm absolutely hooked, Paul obviously is a big fan of continuity as am I

[forbuss]

It would be really cool if Shannen directed the first episode/other episodes throughout the reboot. I think she is a fantastic director.

[Esmeralda]

That would be *very* nice! And if Alyssa, Holly, Rose (if she wanted to...), Brian and Julian all made cameos as someone other than their Charmed characters it would be even nicer.

[kriswyatthalliwell]

That would be so fun! Shannon could make a cameo too, which would be awesome! Also would the reboot take place in San Francisco or somewhere? Where would you guys want the reboot to take place?

[forbuss]

I really loved San Francisco as the setting, I've always wanted to visit! What do you guys think if they used the same house for the reboot? Would it be too much? Too familiar?

[kriswyatthalliwell]

I think it would be great except Piper and Leo are living in the Manor, so if the roommates lived there where would Piper and Leo be?

[Esmeralda]

Jan 11, 2014 19:43:14 GMT -5 forbuss said:

I really loved San Francisco as the setting, I've always wanted to visit! What do you guys think if they used the same house for the reboot? Would it be too much? Too familiar?

Much too familiar. I'm sure it would be in a different city, a different house. If they're roommates and not sisters, probably even an apartment rather than a house.

I'd love to see it in Salem, MA or New Orleans or even London! Something totally different than San Francisco so it would be totally different than Charmed.