What Charmed got right...

[Ruth Marie]

Thanks Es for the bump. A thread I never got to post in.

Im with Pheebs on missing Quake and Andy. Imagining how the series would be if those were still around in S2 or later. It seemedso out of character for Piper to want a club. But that was the WB requesting. I guess P3 could just have been a nightclub they attended once or twice a season.

Henry was a great addition. Too bad he wasn't introduced earlier.

S7 got the supporting cast right with wonderful additions. Zankou, Drake and Kyra. Again them being only in one season might be why they are remembered more fondly.

[gzv969]

I agree. They also got it right with Cole up until the end of season 4. Cole should have never come back after season 4. Maybe just that one miraculous time from the wasteland to save phoebe in Witch Way Now, but then not again until the 150th episode. Cole should have just been remembered by phoebe as the one that she was still truly in love with but lost to evil.

[Esmeralda]

Jul 24, 2018 5:37:16 GMT -5 gzv969 said:

I agree. They also got it right with Cole up until the end of season 4. Cole should have never come back after season 4. Maybe just that one miraculous time from the wasteland to save phoebe in Witch Way Now, but then not again until the 150th episode. Cole should have just been remembered by phoebe as the one that she was still truly in love with but lost to evil.

Especially if she didn't spread her legs for the first guy who showed up. Had her next boyfriend been Drake, who would show up in S7 and marry her in Season 8 when Paige and Henry actually got married (save them for the Angel of Destiny's wedding in the flash-forward...), it would've been much better and maybe even make S5-8 watchable.

But then if they ended it with 'Witch Way Now?' except with the sisters deciding to give up their powers if their kids could still have their heritage, not only would it have been much better, but it truly would be closer to the time when they could reboot it and not have such a huge backlash. Them giving up their powers would be a perfect way to set up the new set in Michigan.

[Aaeiyn]

Retaining its female empowerment message, even if it's not as "sisterly" as earlier seasons.  I don't think the series ever deterred away from the female empowerment concept.

[Sandra]

*Everything they set up in Season 1 and Season 2. They really got the concept set up well.

*The sisterly relationship.

*Their original powers. How they were tied to their emotions and personalities.

*The way they balanced out subplots with the main plot. I did like following the sisters daily lives as much as I liked seeing them be the protectors of the innocent.

*Innocents being real people. Half the time you root for them.

*The Manor was a very fitting home for the Charmed Ones.

*Really well done standalone episodes. They really knew how to hook you from start to finish so often. Maybe more than story-arcs. Charmed is still my favorite show that manages to really do standalone episodes so well.

*The Halliwells having real jobs (social worker, restaurant manager) that forced them to balance the real world and their magical world.

The Demon-of-the-Week structure of S1-2. Especially when demons were actually scary threats and didn't just wear leather and throw fireballs.

*Andy and Darryl serving as the eyes of the viewers, being completely non magical.

[Esmeralda]

I decided to forward this from the previous page. I wrote it way back in 2014, but after our board re-watches, I still feel the same way and I find the other responses very interesting.

Dec 11, 2014 13:52:26 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Not sure if I posted it here, but I started a thread like that at a different site. Here are the responses:

First, here's how I started it:

As long as there's a thread about what you hate about this show, let's do the reverse. These are mine as I thought of them, not necessarily in this order.

1. When it's a show about three sisters who happen to be witches

2. Prue as the Oldest Child; Piper as the Middle Child and Phoebs as the Baby

3. The special humor of Charmed - "They're Everywhere"; "Chick Flick"; "Sin Francisco"; "Sense and Sense-Ability"; "I Dream of Phoebe"

4. Piper and Phoebs in Season 1; Prue and Phoebs in Season 2; Piper in Season 3; Paige in Season 4; Piper in Season 5 (not counting "Oh, My Goddess!"); Paige in Season 8

5. Kit

6. Melinda Warren

7. Most of the innocents, especially Maggie Murphy (Amy Adams)

8. Barbas (even if he was overused)

9. Zankou

10. The Seers - both the one in Season 4 and Kyra in Season 7

11. Phoebs before "Sleuthing with the Enemy"

12. Phoebe and Drake

13. Andy and Prue after Prue told him her secret

14. Prue and Bane, and Prue and Micah

15. Piper and Leo in Season One

16. Piper and Dan before "Awakened"

17. Paige and Henry

18. The episodes before Season 6 that include Patty and/or Victor and the episodes before Season 4 that include Grams

19. The time-travel episodes before Season 6

20. Thinking about what the series *could've* been like...

I'm sure there's more, but that's what comes to mind right now. What about you?

Member #1 replied:

The beginning when it was just the sisters and no live-in boyfriends or husbands, and especially no children. I liked them young and without ties, and if the series had to be shorter to encompass just that time, I'd take it.

The first few years when it felt like three magical women living in the real world and trying to fit in, rather than later on when it felt like three magical women who lived around magic and had no connection to the real world anymore. Paige had no real job, Phoebe's climb up the ladder at the newspaper was a joke, and they practically lived in magic school at the time. I once heard someone say that the best way to present fantasy was to have 99% reality mixed with 1% magic, or something to that effect. Too much magic just ruins it.

I also love the boredom it helped me escape from as a teenager. It got my imagination working again and inspired me to want to do things like write. No other show has sparked my creativity quite like this one, and I'll always remember that.

Member #2 replied:

Paige. Especially in the later seasons when it seemed like Piper and Phoebe were more interested in their own lives.

Paige and Henry. That was one of the few things I actually liked about season 8, and wish he was brought in sooner. And Henry's acceptance of Paige's magic.

Prue going from emotionally uptight, to a more open person.

Zankou and Barbas.

The different powers until it seemed like everyone had plain telekinesis except Paige and most of the demons the sisters faced in the later season had the same powers.

The demons in the earlier seasons, where they actually looked like demons and not humans in leather.

The long term arc there was with the Source.

Phoebe finally finding a job at the Bay Mirror until it seemed like she got famous really quickly.

Phoebe's premonitions until they became about finding her baby daddy.

Piper's power to blow things up until that became the default power to dealing with the demons.

Using spells and potions to defeat demons. Especially using the Power of Three spell.

I don't necessarily love this, and wish they explored this further, but the Avatar's and "Utopia".

Cole, until he just would. Not. Stay. Dead.

Piper and Leo in season 1.

I agree with the sister dynamic in the early seasons with Prue as the oldest, Piper as the middle, and Phoebe as the baby. I wish once Piper became pregnant in season 5, Paige was given more of the older sister responsibilities even though she was the youngest.

Member #3 replied:

I love all the lead ladies performances Season 1 - 4.
I love Andy and Leo Season One.
I love Cole.
I love Grams and Patty Season One.
I love the Manor.
I love The Seer in Season Four (the best and best acted villain).
I love the sisters holding hands even just to walk to another room.
I love Paige's fashion in Season Four.
I love everything about Paige Season Four.

I'm sure there's more but this is all I can think of currently. And though I don't like some of the character choices they made along the way, during Seasons One - Four, the actors played them damn near flawlessly.

Member #4 replied:

I love the first season, I wish it would've continued like that.

I liked the combination of humour and darkness better. Later episodes were either too dark or too silly. I liked the sisters and the relationships between them better. Yes, Prue was a bit uptight, but she already began to change. I thought she became too goofy in subsequent seasons. Piper became nastier and more sarcastic, while she was sweet in the first season. Phoebe became too selfish and just a mess in general. I liked the "monster-of-the-week" episodes better, and also the mythology, which was more mysterious in the beginning. And I hate the continuity problems that just grew and grew. I prefer the setting of the restaurant instead of the club and I also liked the auction house. I liked the detective angle with Andy and Darryl, which was more prominent. The season also had a more gothic atmosphere that I really liked. And perhaps more superficial, but I like the sophisticated wardrobe of the first season much better than the messy and slutty look of later seasons.

Except for some cheesy acting, dialogue and special effects, I think the first season is pretty much perfect.

Member #5 replied:

Shannen, Holly and Alyssa as the original sisters, T.W. King and Dorian Gregory, most of seasons 1, 2 and 3 ,especially episodes with Patty and Grams, episodes with possible lovers for the Charmed Ones (like Dead Man Dating), the Book of Shadows, Leo before the Elders became too important, time travel episodes, Rose McGowan, some of seasons 4 and five, a bit of the rest.

and yes, I do love the monster-of-the-week format a lot more than the "Source of all Evil" approach.

Member #6 replied:

1. Prue in Seasons 1 to 3 being the big sister Piper and Phoebe looked up to and obeyed. At least tried as hard as possible to (Whatever Prue said goes)

2. Prue in later Season 4. Her Buffy like focus and zeal to kill demons was a part of her I liked.

3. Piper in early season 4. Yes she was crazy and "Charles Bronson cubed" according to Cole but in a way she was very effective and focused on demon killing. Pipers new cocky attitude didn't bother me as long as she focused it on demons and warlocks for the right reasons.

4. All Pipers funny comments and responses. Especially when the other sisters are quarreling or shouting and Pipers caught in the crossfire. Her facial responses are always hilarious. Especially when there is shouting in her ears. One part I always remember is when Phoebe got married magically S8 and pipers response to seeing phoebes ring on her finger. "Wow, That's Huge!

5. Cole as Balthazar and as the Source. He was smart, calculated and sometimes scary. We saw some of that again in season 5 only when he got tired of phoebe screwing with his head.

6. Cole and Phoebe in season 4 in love and teaming up to fight demons

7. Paige in Season 7 & 8 (She had come full circle into her own)

8. The Source in season 4 (Pity he didn't come back for longer in Season 8)

9. Zankou

10. Barbas

11. Evil Phoebe. (Best when Queen of the underworld and the Woogy Man and every other time she was possessed by evil)

12. Evil Piper (As a Furry, in Bride and Gloom and mean piper under the influence of the blood of the Windego. Piper: Screw you b*#ch.

11. Seer: To me she was very scary and unpredictable. I feared her more than the Source for some reason in season 4. Probably because the Source became wreckless.

12. Seer (Kyra): She was hard to figure out and I always thought she was the most powerful seer. I always felt she had a bigger agenda and she would eventually pose a greater threat than any other demon did. I thought her quest for humanity and her befriending the charmed ones was just part of a bigger insidious plan until she died suddenly and unexpectedly. Thanks to Kern!

13. The Crone: I always thought she was more powerful than given credit. Feared she was going to steal baby Wyatt, and try and raise him evil and eventually rule the underworld. Until she suddenly dies at the worst moment possible. What did she See!! Thanks a lot Kern for the interuptus!

14: All the funny Charmed humor. Sin Francisco, Sand Francisco Dreaming, A Muse to my Ears, Sense and Sense ability, House Call, I Dream Of Phoebe, Hell has no Fury and all the episodes in Season 8 where Agent Murphy tried to use the Charmed ones to solve all his Cold Supernatural cases until it backfired.

Member #7 replied:

I loved the show when evil was evil and good was good. It really felt like a battle was brewing between heaven and hell. The sisters felt like they were the world's most powerful witches during that time and lead to some cool eps that expanded on it. Also loved the atmosphere 1-4 and how they really tapped into their mythology in season 3.

Member #8 replied:

I loved Prue, Piper, and Phoebe as sisters. They were the perfect combination and Prue was perfect as the oldest, Piper as the middle one, and Phoebe as the baby. Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano, and Holly Marie Coombs seemed like real sisters.

I loved Darryl as their close friend.

I loved the monster-of-the week approach best.

I loved Kit, the cat, on the show.

I loved Seasons 1 and 2 the best.

I loved Piper and Leo's relationship.

I loved Andy and Piper's relationship.

I loved Prue with Bane and Jack.

I loved Phoebe with Eric and the original Cupid.

I loved Victor, Grams, Patty, Jenny, and Dan.

Member #9 replied:

Prue as the responsible tough mature big sister, Piper as the sweet, kind and funny neutral middle child and Phoebe as the trouble making, careless baby sister!

What about you guys?

I still want to know - what about you guys?

[forbuss]

This might seem obvious, but one thing Charmed got right were all the wonderful guest stars - the exception being Nick Lachey...

[Aaeiyn]

Aug 31, 2021 14:36:40 GMT -5 Aaeiyn said:

Retaining its female empowerment message, even if it's not as "sisterly" as earlier seasons.  I don't think the series ever deterred away from the female empowerment concept.

So, it's been a couple of years since I said this, and I feel like I don't feel as strongly about it, anymore.

I still think it tried its best to be a "female empowerment" show but missed the mark, several times.

That being said, other thing(s) I think they got right:

They did a good job in keeping THEIR family as "the powerful one". I use the word "family" because it DOES seem to stem from the Warren FAMILY line (despite most of the focus being on the women, but I digress). In turn, I think this series makes for a great "family show" (but like PG+ "Family Friendly" type). Something I can watch with my friends and family and just chill and relax. I think them trying to EXPAND their audience is a GOOD thing albeit they could've done it more modestly, but I digress. There's definitely A LOT of different elements, in the show, that works for different people. Overall, it's just a fun gimmick show to just watch with other people and brings MANY people, together.

I often find, it's us more "hardcore" fans that tend to drag this show through the mud than just the "casual viewer" which was the whole point of Spellings "style", if you will. To put an episode on and enjoy THAT particular episode, for what it is, in ANY order and just have fun! For that, I think this series hit the nail on the head with its "casual viewing".