10 Things From 'Charmed' Pilot You Never Noticed...

[cyma]

10 Things From The 'Charmed' Pilot You Never Noticed Because Alyssa Milano Wasn't Always Phoebe


In the late 1990s, the defunct network The WB took up real estate in my pre-teen heart. There was Felicity, Dawson’s Creek, and the show that I still have a complicated obsession with, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When Charmed premiered in 1998 I was quickly hooked. A part of me is still bitter about Prue (the superior sister) being killed off because of the tempestuous disagreements between Alyssa Milano and Shannen Doherty and behind the scenes drama. There were rumors of a Charmed reboot last year. But for any worried Charmed diehards there is no need to worry, the reboot was nixed soon after the announcement.

Charmed may not be considered a great show especially by the prestige standards of today’s television but I have great fondness for its first few seasons. That’s why I decided to rewatch the first three seasons and i was surprised at how much I still enjoyed the pilot. At its best Charmed mixes strong female characters, intense sibling dynamics, frothy romance, and a fun take on witchcraft. It’s interesting to compare the pilot episode to where the show ends up eight seasons later. Why don’t we take a look back to how Charmed started all the way back in 1998?


1) Alyssa Milano Wasn’t The First Actress Cast To Play Phoebe

Lori Rom was the first actress cast as soon-to-be fan favorite, Phoebe Halliwell. But she quit after filming the unaired pilot. Alyssa Milano definitely fits the role much better than Lori did. Just check out the Youtube video comparing their different takes on the character to see why it’s best Milano took on the role.

2) The Animosity Between Alyssa Milano & Shannen Doherty Is Evident

Very evident. But that’s why their dynamic worked so much better than how it was with the original actress cast as Phoebe.

3) It Feels Like A Real Sisterhood

What’s wonderful about the pilot episode that I forgot about was how much Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, and Alyssa Milano imbued their characters with a sense of sisterhood. It was the perfect mix of sibling rivalry and genuine caring. This is why it doesn’t surprise me that Doherty and Combs are still good friends to this day.

4) Charmed Is Totally ’90s

Just look at the fashion.



5) Charmed Gets Compared to Buffy A Lot But It’s More Like This ’90s Show…

I get why Charmed gets compared a lot to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. WB ordered Charmed after witnessing the critical and cult success of the better written Buffy take shape a year into the series. But these two show only have a superficial resemblance. Charmed far more resembles Xena: The Warrior Princess with its mix of drama, wacky humor, intensely layered mythology, and feminism-lite vibe.

6) Witchcraft Is More Central In The Early Seasons

Charmed was very interested in making potions, spells, how the badass Halliwell family line gives these sisters their powers, and legit wicca terminology. But in the later seasons with mystical beings introduced the show moved away from witchcraft as a central theme and had the sister rely more on their increasing powers sans intricate spells and potions.


7) The Writing Wasn’t Always Ridiculously Cheesy

Re-watching the pilot made me realize that Charmed wasn’t always a love obsessed, cheesy show more interested in fantastical creatures rather than the witchy sisterhood at its center. The pilot mixes a compelling dynamic of sisters reconnecting and finding out their true calling.


8) Demons Aren’t The Only Issue For These Sisters

These women have a lot of dating issues. The first few seasons find a balance between modern womanhood and the sister’s lives as witches. But somewhere around Season 4 and 5 the show tips over into caring much more about the drama that comes from the men in their lives rather than how the sister’s relate to each other.

9) Love Is The Main Theme

At it’s heart Charmed has always been about love between sisters and true romantic love.


10) The Show Lost A Lot By Killing Prue

Charmed definitely lost something when the big sister went to the great beyond. While a lot of people blamed Alyssa Milano for Shannen Doherty being fired it has much more to do with other behind the scenes tensions. Doherty felt the show could be better and wanted it have more depth while going for a darker tone but keeping the theme of sisterhood intact.

The powers that be behind the show weren’t keen on her demands and fired her. They felt they could lose her since Milano had the fan base. The other person who left the show when Doherty did? Series creator and writer Constance M. Burge. Charmed got pretty bad in its last few seasons and I can totally understand where Doherty is coming from. It was a fun show that never really amounted to much and lost track of its core theme instead becoming obsessed with increasingly soap plots and the sister’s love lives rather than their own sense of sisterhood in the five seasons that followed after Prue died. Even then I still have a soft spot for Charmed and recommend you to fire up Netflix to watch the show. Just stop around Season 3 for your own sanity.

www.bustle.com/articles/61263-10-things-from-the-charmed-pilot-you-never-noticed-because-alyssa-milano-wasnt-always-phoebe

[Melinda Halliwell]

That's a really good post you put there cyma. I agree with you totally on this which's why I like Charmed seasons 1 to 4 end the best.

[cyma]

Thanks :-) Though I disagree with number 10 in the article. Season 4 and onwards had good episodes too worth watching. But of course if one is binge-watching the show, then it's recommended to give yourself a rest after watching the first three seasons.

[Esmeralda]

The one I disagree with is #2. There was NO animosity between Shannen and Alyssa during the pilot - that was all fantastically wonderful acting. All three actresses were great friends during the first two years - Shannnen and Holly were bridesmaid at Alyssa's wedding during the hiatus between Season One and Two. It was only between Season Two and Three when suddenly Alyssa was the most popular when Shannen was supposed to be the star (no Shannen; no Charmed) that there was problems.

Also keep in mind that Holly and Shannen were friends before the show started - Shannen was the one who insisted that Holly gets the role. So for them to stay friends just makes sense.

[Darkhorse Christian]

Jun 18, 2015 12:53:58 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

The one I disagree with is #2. There was NO animosity between Shannen and Alyssa during the pilot - that was all fantastically wonderful acting. All three actresses were great friends during the first two years - Shannnen and Holly were bridesmaid at Alyssa's wedding during the hiatus between Season One and Two. It was only between Season Two and Three when suddenly Alyssa was the most popular when Shannen was supposed to be the star (no Shannen; no Charmed) that there was problems.

Also keep in mind that Holly and Shannen were friends before the show started - Shannen was the one who insisted that Holly gets the role. So for them to stay friends just makes sense.

The other thing is, #10 contradicts this idea that Alyssa and Shannen's beef was paramount throughout the first three years. They openly admit that Shannen leaving the show was more about her issues with the creative direction than the SD-AM beef, and even back it up with Connie's leaving around the same time. So they're not even really being all that consistent.

[Reality Bites]

I whole-heartedly agree with #5 and I never even realized that until reading this article! Thanks for sharing, it was great insight and helped put the show into a new light for me!

[Esmeralda]

Hmmm..maybe I should give Xena a try, since #5 describes the parts of Charmed that I love most - when it's more like Buffy, that's when I don't like it.

[cyma]

Jun 20, 2015 12:49:02 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Hmmm..maybe I should give Xena a try, since #5 describes the parts of Charmed that I love most - when it's more like Buffy, that's when I don't like it.

You haven't watched Xena???  

From Tumblr:

I don't know if you guys watched Xena but Alti (one of xena's enemy) had a cool active premonition power I think something like that would have been a better fit to Phoebe (Alti could project premonitions into someone else mind from its past and make them feel the pain again, so if someone has broken your leg in the past she could make you feel that again and again from just a premonition )




Complete GIF here:

hyxenagabrielle.tumblr.com/post/77437249354/alti-shows-gabrielle-the-future-between-the

Unfortunately the complete GIFs don't show the whole fight scene where Alti uses her powers and wipes the floor with Xena and Gabrielle in 'Between the Lines' episode, but yes Phoebe's empathy powers should've been something like this(a gentler version) rather than copying others powers which made no sense. And yup aspects of Xena resembles most to Charmed.

[Esmeralda]

Nope, never watched it. Not sure why, just never did. So looks like I have *another* show to check out.

A member at another site talked me into giving Buffy another try by skipping the teenaged angst years that I hate so much and hop straight to the Season Five finale and then Season Six. Maybe when I pick up Buffy Season Six, I'll also pick up Xena Season One....

[cyma]

Great. Cause these three villains are worth watching Xena for:

[Melinda Halliwell]

I loved Xena to when it was on and Hercules also.

My 3 main villians I liked from there were Callisto, Ares and Cesear probably 'cause they were all bad ass characters and Ares was funny sometimes which was a bonus to although I was always glad when Xena kicked their butts of course.

And my 2 funniest characters were Joxer the bumbling idiot with a heart of gold who loved Gabrielle and Autolycus the thief played by the funny Bruce Campbell who you couldn't help but laugh at to.

Only saw seasons 1-3 as channel 5 in England never showed the rest of them unless I missed them of course. And Gabrielle was the perfect friend for Xena also been her ying to Xena's yang who kept the warrior princess on the straight and narrow most of the time.

[cyma]

I practically grew up with Xena. Charmed and Buffy didn’t start airing here until Xena had ended. But yeah everyone enjoyed it here and tried to do Xena’s battle cry

Ah you haven’t watched after season 3, that’s when Alti shows up or else she definitely would’ve made it to your Top 3 villains list I find Ares to be more of an anti-villain of sorts. Not evil like Callisto, Alti and Hope. It’s just sad the actor died a year after the show ended.

Oh and before I forget:

"I don't know if you guys watched Xena but Alti (one of xena's enemy) had a cool active premonition power I think something like that would have been a better fit to Phoebe (Alti could project premonitions into someone else mind from its past and make them feel the pain again, so if someone has broken your leg in the past she could make you feel that again and again from just a premonition )."

I recall Alti could actually project visions not only from past, but future too into someone’s mind and cause the wounds to physically manifest on the person in the present. She was kicking Xena’s butt by making her experience all her past injuries while at the same time she was killing Gabrielle by making her experience her future death. An advanced version of Alti’s powers was making someone suffer the deaths of their past and future lives thus instantly killing them in the present.

Before the comics addressed Phoebe's powers used in Morality Bites episode, I think Phoebe actually did premonition Cal Greene to death because electricity powers don’t seem like a progression of her premonition power.

[Esmeralda]

This definitely sounds like something Phoebe's premonition powers could've turned into, because I'm sure the same way Prue's and Piper's powers progressed in "Morality Bites" (over distance and control), no way Connie Burge imagined Phoebe getting a totally different power like empathy.

[cyma]

Did I also mention Alti can astral project? And kill your soul or astral self(never clear about that one) in the astral plane, thus killing you in real-life I'm betting a million dollars that Connie and her sisters watched Xena too.

[Esmeralda]

Hehehehehehe! If she didn't, I'll bet Brad Kern did! Definitely sounds like the person you quoted in your original post is right - Charmed is much more similar to Xena than Buffy. And that person on the other site is going to be disappointed - I think I want to watch that first season of Xena before I watch Buffy...

[irishgirl418]

I agree with number 1. I saw the Lori Rom version, and I didn't like it much. Alyssa did a great job throughout the show. And I never really thought of number 6. It's true, though, I just never realized it.

[Deleted]

I did really like it in the first couple of seasons when the sisters would gather by a cauldron and candles for a proper spell. That never happened later on.

[Esmeralda]

Jun 23, 2015 8:26:44 GMT -5 @p3nathan said:

I did really like it in the first couple of seasons when the sisters would gather by a cauldron and candles for a proper spell. That never happened later on.

That's because the writers got lazy and didn't want to have to write spells. Why do that when Piper can just throw a potion or explode someone? I still think giving Piper a power that allowed her to vanquish demons all on her own without the need of her sisters was one of the worst mistakes that Brad Kern made.

[Esmeralda]

Jun 23, 2015 8:18:50 GMT -5 irishgirl418 said:

I agree with number 1. I saw the Lori Rom version, and I didn't like it much. Alyssa did a great job throughout the show. And I never really thought of number 6. It's true, though, I just never realized it.

Oh, I loved Alyssa's Phoebs when she was based on Connie Burge (S1-2). As soon as she wasn't, she was no longer as much fun except in occasional episodes like "I Dream of Phoebe". As soon as she became the big media star and the show's sex symbol and when it was all about her (PhoeME), I no longer liked her as much. Just like Kaley, Alyssa does much better with comedy than she does with drama.

[ljones]

"CHARMED" was part soap opera since the first episode. One of the reasons Prue and Phoebe were at odds was due to Prue's belief that Phoebe tried to put the moves on her then fiance, Roger Whatshisname. Prue's relationship with Andy partially dominated Season One. The whole Piper/Leo love saga pretty much kicked into high gear in this first season. Those years with Constance Burge wasn't all about sisterhood. Personally, I was never upset over the sisters' relationships with men. The series more or less focused upon both romances and sibling relationships without one overbalancing the other. Were they really supposed to spend five to eight years on the air without a serious relationship experienced by one of them? If so . . . why?

I've noticed this increasing demand from women moviegoers and television viewers that the only strong women characters are those who do not have romantic relationships with men. I've never understood this attitude. In fact, I find it ironic that both women and men seemed to have a problem with major fictional characters getting involved with serious romance. Men seemed to think that such relationships weaken male characters. And women seemed to think that these relationships weaken female characters. Go figure.

Just like Kaley, Alyssa does much better with comedy than she does with drama.

If those two can do comedy, they can do drama. Besides, comedic acting is regarded as more difficult than drama. And Kaley Cuoco got stuck with a badly written character on "CHARMED".