Charmed CW Reboot Ordered to Pilot: Attempt Number 3

[summerreading]

Dec 16, 2018 8:48:18 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Dec 15, 2018 19:06:18 GMT -5 Granny Charmed said:

Thanks for sharing dear. I read it with my family, none of us have watched it at all. But my granddaughter pointed out, that the writers must have gone back on their idea for all three sisters to have different fathers. Which was mentioned in articles in the press months ago?

So they decided to have the witch/whitelighter be a non-Charmed One this time.

I've seen lots of people complain and dislike how fast paced and they are throwing too many Classic Charmed plots into the show in just nine episodes. Also, the sisters are not being developed, and the core focus on them isn't being done. Especially with what I hear every episode, they split up the sisters in turns of plots, and on some occasions not even have all three needed for a vanquish.

I know many do not like Galvin or Parker at all. But I do hear that Jada they don't mind as a possible love interest for Mel.

I still wonder why they got rid of Niko (their Andy) character after five episodes. Unless she returns, I wonder what behind the scenes made them want to abandon that character?

I can't help but wonder if they decide they like their idea of making their half-whitelighter Mel's new love, so they had to get rid of her old love.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Wanting their own Piper/Leo relationship, well not really since the Leo is a half-whitelighter and not even their guide, but another similar way to compare to Piper/Leo.

But yet again pairing the middle sister with a magical love interest. Like pairing the youngest with a half demon again and the oldest/half sister getting the non magical.

At least they didn't make the half-whitelighter one of the Charmed One. I thought one of them would be. 

Still haven't seen this show beyond the pilot I saw and not interested to see more. Than reading and being more glad I didn't see more.

[Esmeralda]

I'll decide if I like the idea of none of the Charmed Ones being half-whitelighter when we find out if the NuPaige is actually half-demon and what that would mean to the trio. It's the fact that the NuPaige was raised by her father that makes me wonder, because how could NuPatty let NuSam raise NuPaige if NuSam is a demon?

[Esmeralda]

I do get a kick that they have NuCole be NuRex's son with NuRex trying to get rid of NuCole's human side so that NuCole can become the Source. We thought about making Cole one of the Rowe Coven, but Rex's son? That's something we never considered!

[cyma]

Dec 15, 2018 18:53:15 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Wasn't sure where to put this since there's no thread for "Jingle Hell" (and no one has complained about that fact...I find that very, *very* telling...), but figured this was as good of a spot as any.

I noticed the absence of Jingle Hell review thread a few days ago. I was going to bring attention to it but got distracted by something and totally forgot until I saw this post.

Charmed EPs Break Down Fall Finale Twists, Including (Spoiler)'s Fate

By Andy Swift / December 10 2018, 1:21 PM PST

Charmed wrapped the first half of its freshman season on Sunday with a series of game-changing reveals, putting the sisters’ big secret — as well as one character’s very existence — in jeopardy. TVLine spoke with executive producers Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin about how the events of the midseason finale will affect the Charmed Ones moving forward, but first, a quick recap:

Maggie and Mel’s dad not showing up for Christmas proved to be the least of the girls’ concerns when Hunter attacked them at home, forcing Parker to intervene and reveal himself as a half-demon, which led to Maggie breaking up with him. The sisters received additional assistance from the Sarcana’s flock of reinforcement crows, who apparently also tried to save Marisol from her unknown killer — at least according to Jada. Hunter eventually returned for a rematch, but was sucked into Tartarus (aka hell’s prison) by a portal opened by Parker. Unfortunately, he managed to drag Harry into the abyss with him — and as if that wasn’t bad enough, a stupefied Galvin watched the whole thing go down.

Below, O’Toole and Rardin tackle some of our burning questions from the midseason finale, including how Galvin will react to Macy’s secret and whether we’re imagining sparks flying between Mel and Jada. (Spoiler alert: We’re not!)

TVLINE | I’m guessing Macy won’t be able to use her old “drunk and clumsy” excuse on Galvin this time.
O’TOOLE | [Laughs] That’s probably good, because there are only so many times you can do that. We’re going for a whole new dynamic with [Macy and Galvin], and I think it’s going to be really fun.
TVLINE | I have to imagine the next episode will pick up soon, if not immediately where we left off.
O’TOOLE | Relatively speaking, yes. We’ll have a lot of urgent things to pick up with. Harry is now stuck in hell’s prison, so everyone is really worried about his fate, as are we. We’ll get to see hell’s prison. We won’t leave people hanging with that stuff.

TVLINE | I was surprised that Maggie learned Parker’s secret so soon. Was there talk of drawing that out longer?
RARDIN | We talked a lot about when we were going to reveal that to Maggie. Jessica and I were in the Jane the Virgin writers’ room for several seasons, and one of Jennie Snyder Urman’s big mantras is that it’s more fun to not hold secrets. “What happens if people know everything?” So we took that to heart in this episode with Maggie finding out about Parker and Galvin finding out about magic. We just thought it would be great to blow a lot of our secrets in the midseason finale, and we’ll see where the chips fall when we come back.
O’TOOLE | And we have plenty more secrets coming!

TVLINE | I get that they’re like the new Phoebe and Cole, but I just want to reach through the TV and shake her. She can’t take him back.
O’TOOLE | We talked about that a lot. We grew up in a time where bad boys were such TV tropes. You could do anything, but as long as the guy felt a little bad about all the people he killed, we all still loved that character and forgave them. Young women these days have much higher standards, which is great. We’re trying to revisit that relationship in a way that doesn’t just let him off the hook because he’s brooding about the bad things he’s done.
RARDIN | Jessica and I had a long conversation after the Kavanaugh hearing. We realized that we had internalized a lot of this stuff from growing up when we did. We had internalized finding that sexy and attractive and we came in the room after the hearing and we were like, “We have to talk about Parker!” It was really eye opening for us to talk about this bad boy in a different way.
O’TOOLE | We all love to watch TV villains do terrible things, and I think Hunter is an example of that kind of fun character. But if someone’s going to be with Maggie, it’s a different set of expectations. The “Parggie” struggle will continue. That’s what we’ve been calling them.
RARDIN | I saw online that people are calling them “Parkerita,” which is more fun.
TVLINE | I was thinking “Marker.”
O’TOOLE | That’s good too!
TVLINE | You know it’s a good ‘ship when you have so many names for it.

TVLINE | I was intrigued to learn that the Sarcana tried to help Marisol, at least if Jada is to be trusted. How is that Marisol mystery going to unfold?
RARDIN | We’re going to explore the mystery of who killed Marisol for the rest of the season. We have a lot of twists and turns in that story. We have a lot of mysteries to reveal. We’re excited to explore it. And we’ll continue to talk about the Sarcana. Like, we don’t know if they’re good or bad or good people with misguided intentions. We’ll play with that for the rest of the season, along with the Elders.
O’TOOLE | We’ll talk about how those groups contrast — how they’re different, how they’re similar. That’s a dynamic we’ll explore for the whole season.
RARDIN | And we’ll learn more about Jada, including her backstory.

TVLINE | Speaking of Jada, am I imagining sparks between her and Mel?
RARDIN | I think there are sparks!
O’TOOLE | I watched the episode again last night, and I saw sparks. I don’t think you’re imagining things.
TVLINE | That’s encouraging, though I have to admit — I really miss Niko. Will she back?
RARDIN | We can’t say.
O’TOOLE | We’ll just say that it’s Charmed, so anything can happen.

That’s it? Nothing about the sisters’ relationship and character development and their fathers or families? All the excitement for romance?

We grew up in a time where bad boys were such TV tropes. You could do anything, but as long as the guy felt a little bad about all the people he killed, we all still loved that character and forgave them. Young women these days have much higher standards, which is great. 

If she thinks young women have high standards now, then why oh why are they zoom in focusing on their romantic relationships and drama it brings in the first place? Sam and Dean in Supernatural weren’t put through tiresome pointless romantic drama beginning from the first episode. Investigating a mark on their girlfriend’s butt which wards off evil things? Sam confronting another guy dating his girlfriend thinking he’s some Succubus demon and being interpreted as jealously by his girlfriend and other people. Dean hiding secrets from his cop girlfriend and performing some kind of ritual to change time to make sure he and his girlfriend never met to protect her. Then getting a half-angel girlfriend. Or even Sam kissing someone else’s girlfriend to prevent her from seeing an exorcism then worrying and fretting over what the other guy would think and whether to reveal the kiss to him.

If Charmed had been about brothers, would they focus on their romances? And would they be in-your-face political too? 

[Esmeralda]

That's an interesting point - is all the romance just due to the fact that they're women? If true, how horrible! I'm so glad we didn't do that with Elemental Charmed!

[pheebs]

That's horrible. I know that show Supernatural has lasted 14 seasons without romance to keep it going right.

So proud of Elemental Charmed.

[Ruth Marie]

Don't like that at all. That a woman needs men in their lives to keep a show interesting. Why? Like you said Pheebs, that series Supernatural has lasted well over a decade and never needed to rely on it.

But this reboot is worse, because all three sisters are attached to a love interest already half a season in, or all three were. Why didn't they just let one have her love interest? Can you imagine Classic Charmed having Prue/Andy, Phoebe/Cole and Piper/Leo all happening in S1? I don't want to think about that at all.

[Esmeralda]

Dec 16, 2018 20:58:16 GMT -5 Ruth Marie said:

Don't like that at all. That a woman needs men in their lives to keep a show interesting. Why? Like you said Pheebs, that series Supernatural has lasted well over a decade and never needed to rely on it.

But this reboot is worse, because all three sisters are attached to a love interest already half a season in, or all three were. Why didn't they just let one have her love interest? Can you imagine Classic Charmed having Prue/Andy, Phoebe/Cole and Piper/Leo all happening in S1? I don't want to think about that at all.

Ditto! I much prefer Prue and Andy starring in S1, Piper and Leo starring in S2 and Phoebe and Cole starring in S3, even if I really don't like any of those storylines!

[Ruth Marie]

Dec 16, 2018 21:02:24 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Dec 16, 2018 20:58:16 GMT -5 Ruth Marie said:

Don't like that at all. That a woman needs men in their lives to keep a show interesting. Why? Like you said Pheebs, that series Supernatural has lasted well over a decade and never needed to rely on it.

But this reboot is worse, because all three sisters are attached to a love interest already half a season in, or all three were. Why didn't they just let one have her love interest? Can you imagine Classic Charmed having Prue/Andy, Phoebe/Cole and Piper/Leo all happening in S1? I don't want to think about that at all.

Ditto! I much prefer Prue and Andy starring in S1, Piper and Leo starring in S2 and Phoebe and Cole starring in S3, even if I really don't like any of those storylines!

My thoughts exactly Es. When you overdo the love stories, the sisters lose some focus. And that is what happened in the later seasons.

[cyma]

Dec 16, 2018 20:58:16 GMT -5 Ruth Marie said:

But this reboot is worse, because all three sisters are attached to a love interest already half a season in, or all three were. Why didn't they just let one have her love interest? Can you imagine Classic Charmed having Prue/Andy, Phoebe/Cole and Piper/Leo all happening in S1? I don't want to think about that at all.

Thinking more about it, Grey's anatomy had most characters involved in romance in seasons 1. And ofcourse so did Game of Thrones.

Grey's Anatomy season 1 might be fuzzy, but I do recall that despite the romance, there was abundant focus on their career development, medical exams, complicated operation, surgeries and teamwork. And there was the occasional bomb or shooter in the hospital and plane crash episodes to keep things extra interesting.

Game of Thrones has a million types of forbidden relationship and romance going on starting from the very first episode. But they don't make it a huge deal of epic proportion like Charmed later seasons and the reboot are making and constantly cramming it into the plot rather than let it be organic.

But one can get away with multiple couples if one doesn't make romance as goals to achieve for characters, especially female ones.

Worst part is that focusing largely on the girls romantic side in the reboot makes them complete strangers to me.

It's like if I met someone random somewhere and all they talked about was their boyfriend/husband what he did what she is planning to do for him when he gets home. What clothes to wear and what food to cook for him. Babies to have with him.

I literally know nothing about this person. Their occupation, interest hobbies, goals, family(besides husband) nothing. But I know more about husband boyfriend and what he likes and dislikes.

I find myself relating to bloodthirsty insane Queen Cersei in GOT, rather than these three girls in reboot and the post season 4 versions of Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

[Ruth Marie]

Dec 17, 2018 6:50:05 GMT -5 cyma said:

Dec 16, 2018 20:58:16 GMT -5 Ruth Marie said:

But this reboot is worse, because all three sisters are attached to a love interest already half a season in, or all three were. Why didn't they just let one have her love interest? Can you imagine Classic Charmed having Prue/Andy, Phoebe/Cole and Piper/Leo all happening in S1? I don't want to think about that at all.

Thinking more about it, Grey's anatomy had most characters involved in romance in seasons 1. And ofcourse so did Game of Thrones.

Grey's Anatomy season 1 might be fuzzy, but I do recall that despite the romance, there was abundant focus on their career development, medical exams, complicated operation, surgeries and teamwork. And there was the occasional bomb or shooter in the hospital and plane crash episodes to keep things extra interesting.

Game of Thrones has a million types of forbidden relationship and romance going on starting from the very first episode. But they don't make it a huge deal of epic proportion like Charmed later seasons and the reboot are making and constantly cramming it into the plot rather than let it be organic.

But one can get away with multiple couples if one doesn't make romance as goals to achieve for characters, especially female ones.

Worst part is that focusing largely on the girls romantic side in the reboot makes them complete strangers to me.

It's like if I met someone random somewhere and all they talked about was their boyfriend/husband what he did what she is planning to do for him when he gets home. What clothes to wear and what food to cook for him. Babies to have with him.

I literally know nothing about this person. Their occupation, interest hobbies, goals, family(besides husband) nothing. But I know more about husband boyfriend and what he likes and dislikes.

I find myself relating to bloodthirsty insane Queen Cersei in GOT, rather than these three girls in reboot and the post season 4 versions of Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

Very interesting analysis Cyma. I haven't seen those shows you mentioned, but these points make sense. Nothing wrong with relationships, just it shouldn't be the major focus and what defines the characters. 

That's what this reboot needed to do, let the audience get to knows the sisters first, what makes them tick, what they love, interests, goals, and getting the sisters to learn about each other especially the half-sister getting to know her new sisters and vice versa.

[Esmeralda]

This is so true. The introduction of NuPaige should've given us a chance to get to know the sisters as NuPaige gets to know NuPrue and NuPhoebe while they get to know NuPaige. This would give us a chance to care about them and what happens to them when they start having relationships: like our heart aches for Prue and Andy when she can't/won't tell him her secret, or cheer for Piper when she asks Leo out, something from what I can tell, fans of the rip-off haven't been able to do. They rush through everything so much the viewer has no chance to care about the sisters and what happens to them - they care more about what happens to NuGiles (can't call him NuLeo, even if some fans think they're going to end up matching him with NuPaige) than what happens to the sisters.

And I've noticed that each thread has fewer replies than the previous one - to the point where I didn't see a single person complaining here about no "Jingle Hell" thread until yesterday, a whole week after it aired. Now granted that this is the holidays and people are busy, but we've had two groups of members re-watching Classic Charmed, Season One episodes every Sunday, with more watching yesterday's episode "The Witch is Back" than any previous Sunday, so is that really an excuse? I really think that despite what The CW says, this show is failing and with how horribly the producers have been "taking care of it" (far worse than Brad Kern and can I possibly say anything worse than that?), I've got to say I'm glad.

If this was on network TV, it would be cancelled. Since it's on The CW and has gotten the okay for the full first season, it will probably be around for 4 seasons, at least. But I wouldn't call it successful. And unless they do a lot of changing for the better in the second half of this first season, I have to say, I'm glad!  Just calling it Charmed has *not* made it good because they forgot the most important part - this is about three sisters who happen to be witches, not three women and their love affairs.

I count the last half of Season One-first half of Season Two as the Golden Age of Charmed - the only time I loved all three sisters (I didn't like Prue before or Piper after) and I can hope that will be true for the rip-off which will talk me into binge-watching it - but I sincerely doubt it.

[cyma]

Dec 17, 2018 8:07:47 GMT -5 Ruth Marie said:

That's what this reboot needed to do, let the audience get to knows the sisters first, what makes them tick, what they love, interests, goals, and getting the sisters to learn about each other especially the half-sister getting to know her new sisters and vice versa.

Dec 17, 2018 8:43:07 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

This is so true. The introduction of NuPaige should've given us a chance to get to know the sisters as NuPaige gets to know NuPrue and NuPhoebe while they get to know NuPaige. This would give us a chance to care about them and what happens to them when they start having relationships: like our heart aches for Prue and Andy when she can't/won't tell him her secret, or cheer for Piper when she asks Leo out, something from what I can tell, fans of the rip-off haven't been able to do. They rush through everything so much the viewer has no chance to care about the sisters and what happens to them - they care more about what happens to NuGiles (can't call him NuLeo, even if some fans think they're going to end up matching him with NuPaige) than what happens to the sisters.

Yes to all this!

Honestly, what's the point of constantly emphasizing that majority of women are involved with the show's creation, there are people of color in it and one sister is a lesbian and there will be sisterhood when they're going down the same path Kern did in later seasons?

Seems like the Powers that Be just wanted to profit off the Me Too movement and using women, poc and Charmed itself to do it.

Why else is everything so rushed like season 8? How is it people involved in a show like Jane the Virgin produced something not even at the level zero of good compared to other CW shows? Also why are we getting a male half-demon's family drama and conflict with his sibling and his destiny to become the Source rather than the three main female characters? Is there a Parker and Hunter spin-off in the works?

[Ruth Marie]

Dec 17, 2018 15:26:39 GMT -5 cyma said:

Dec 17, 2018 8:07:47 GMT -5 Ruth Marie said:

That's what this reboot needed to do, let the audience get to knows the sisters first, what makes them tick, what they love, interests, goals, and getting the sisters to learn about each other especially the half-sister getting to know her new sisters and vice versa.

Dec 17, 2018 8:43:07 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

This is so true. The introduction of NuPaige should've given us a chance to get to know the sisters as NuPaige gets to know NuPrue and NuPhoebe while they get to know NuPaige. This would give us a chance to care about them and what happens to them when they start having relationships: like our heart aches for Prue and Andy when she can't/won't tell him her secret, or cheer for Piper when she asks Leo out, something from what I can tell, fans of the rip-off haven't been able to do. They rush through everything so much the viewer has no chance to care about the sisters and what happens to them - they care more about what happens to NuGiles (can't call him NuLeo, even if some fans think they're going to end up matching him with NuPaige) than what happens to the sisters.

Yes to all this!

Honestly, what's the point of constantly emphasizing that majority of women are involved with the show's creation, there are people of color in it and one sister is a lesbian and there will be sisterhood when they're going down the same path Kern did in later seasons?

Seems like the Powers that Be just wanted to profit off the Me Too movement and using women, poc and Charmed itself to do it.

Why else is everything so rushed like season 8? How is it people involved in a show like Jane the Virgin produced something not even at the level zero of good compared to other CW shows? Also why are we getting a male half-demon's family drama and conflict with his sibling and his destiny to become the Source rather than the three main female characters? Is there a Parker and Hunter spin-off in the works?

Truly think it was to profit on #Metoo. Because let's face it, the last two Charmed reboot attempts didn't go anywhere, because neither was Metoo. But this one goes off the ground and ordered to series. I heard they turned down that Supernatural spin-off Wayward Sisters, and from what people who watched Supernatual told me, that show was more focused on women, since they only had five leads all female, without any regulars male apart of the cast.

Yet, this reboot is again got a supporting cast full of men. They even ditched the only female supporting cast member after only a handful of episode didn't they?

I don't understand why, the conflict with this family with the NuRex and his sons, is more important than the sisters. It feels like Classic Charmed at its worst, all male drama with just the three sisters caught in the middle. But they do have all female Elders, and from what I read the group Jada (the hybrid) is apart of.

That should have been their focus, cut out everything else. Just focus on the building of these sisters, and then just let this group of woman led by that Jada who are against the Elders be their only arc.

Feels like the reboot is a smoke screen for the same old problems we all hated in the original. Just adding the diversity, Metoo and all just to click the boxes, but going back to the plots that Kern was always known for.

[Esmeralda]

Curiosity for those watching. Have they done anything with these Latinas that they couldn't have done had the last name still been Pruitt? I don't know Hispanic culture well enough to give examples, but...is all of this diversity that they broke their arms patting themselves on the back over before the show started airing really just a sham - checking off the boxes? I really thought the one who did Jane the Virgin would've done better than that. It very simply does not deserve the title "Charmed" and I will never call it by that name unless a lot of things change.

Fans of the rip-off keep saying that you have to look at it as a totally different show and not compare it to Classic Charmed. If that's the case, why the hell is it called Charmed and what the hell is it doing with its own board on a Classic Charmed site? I really don't think it belongs in this site unless maybe as a sub-board of the "Other Fandom" board - and the way no one said anything about the thread for 'Jingle Hell' missing tells me that AW should stop posting threads for episodes - let fans of the rip-off do that themselves by setting it up so anyone can make a thread in the sub-board.

[ljones]

Are you guys watching the show simply to complain about it? I mean . . . I can't stand the recent version of "Hawaii Five-O". But I've pretty much ignored the show after seeing one or two episodes.

[Esmeralda]

Not sure where to put this, but I saw this on another site:

The show is growing on me ... does it have its problems yes but god help me it’s growing on me

Same here. I couldn't stand the pilot, but I really like the actress playing Macy, and I'm warming up to everyone else - they seem to embrace the camp, which is nice.

I'm wondering if anyone who's watching (I'm not and since I enjoy our discussion after our S1 re-watches, I truly don't plan on watching) agrees and if so, what do they think they mean by camp?

[West]

Feb 19, 2019 19:21:47 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Not sure where to put this, but I saw this on another site:

Same here. I couldn't stand the pilot, but I really like the actress playing Macy, and I'm warming up to everyone else - they seem to embrace the camp, which is nice.

I'm wondering if anyone who's watching (I'm not and since I enjoy our discussion after our S1 re-watches, I truly don't plan on watching) agrees and if so, what do they think they mean by camp?

If they meant campy tv show. Then that from what I think campy means is refers to intentionally exaggerated genre elements, especially in television. “Camp” style over-emphasizes certain elements of the genre or theme.

[Esmeralda]

Feb 19, 2019 19:42:20 GMT -5 West said:

Feb 19, 2019 19:21:47 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Not sure where to put this, but I saw this on another site:

I'm wondering if anyone who's watching (I'm not and since I enjoy our discussion after our S1 re-watches, I truly don't plan on watching) agrees and if so, what do they think they mean by camp?

If they meant campy tv show. Then that from what I think campy means is refers to intentionally exaggerated genre elements, especially in television. “Camp” style over-emphasizes certain elements of the genre or theme.

So do you think the reboot does that and if so how?

[CharmedFaith]

The show is getting retooled for Season 2.

Charmed is conjuring up a fresh creative direction, thanks to some new people in charge behind the scenes.

The CW’s freshman reboot is switching showrunners for the upcoming Season 2, with married writing team Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro (Salvation, Necessary Roughness) taking over for Season 1 boss Carter Covington (Faking It), according to The Hollywood Reporter. The switch signals a creative change for Charmed, which “is expected to lean harder into its supernatural storylines and less into the family dynamic” next season, per THR. (Covington was originally brought on to help creators Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin, a pair of Jane the Virgin writers who had never run a show before.)

Charmed — which stars Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffery and Madeleine Mantock as a trio of sisters who discover after their mother’s death that they’re all powerful witches — was renewed in January, along with nine other CW shows. A reboot of the 1998-2006 WB staple starring Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs, Shannen Doherty and Rose McGowan, Charmed has averaged a steady 0.33 rating in the key demo during its freshman run, which wraps up in May.

tvline.com/2019/03/25/charmed-season-2-new-showrunner-the-cw/