Post by West on May 21, 2018 22:52:41 GMT -5
I found some Charmed articles. With the 20th anniversary, figured I'd post these. Thank-you Wayback Machine. 
web.archive.org/web/20010624063348if_/http://charmed-net.de:80/en/index.asp
web.archive.org/web/20010624063348if_/http://charmed-net.de:80/en/index.asp
TV Guide Article (December 1998)
Mix the enchanting powers of Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs with the magic touch of Aaron Spelling and - poof! - an instant hit.
LONG BEFORE she was cast as a witch on the WB series Charmed, Alyssa Milano dabbled in
magic. It was last winter, and Milano was approaching the two-year mark of a man drought. No suitor seemed suitable. Frustrated, she decided to create fate: She bought a love-spell kit from a New Age bookstore. "I lit the candles, put the oil in and read a little chant," she says, her story now sending costars Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs, seated next to her in an office on the Charmed set, into fits of giggles. "It took half an hour. And I was like, 'OK, let's see if that worked.' And it did."
A month later, Milano met Cinjun Tate, the lead singer of the Los Angeles-based rock band Remy Zero, at a mutual friend's house. The two have now been together for nine months and are sharing Milano's Los Angeles home. Coincindence?
"I think what happened is that I sat down and thought about what I wanted," says Milano, who
turns 26 next week. "I think manifested it with the spell."
Cue the eerie music and bring in Robert Stack. Could Milano have conjured up a beau with an incantation? Perhaps. When it comes to Charmed and its three bewitching stars, anything seems possible.
Consider this: Without much publicity -- certainly lacking the media blitz given to the WB's other freshman drama, Felicity -- the enchanting show about a trio of sisters who discover they are witches scored the highest ratings for a debut in the network's history. Its premier episode hooked more viewers than the much hped series opener of Dawson's Creek.
A surprise, yes, but you don't need any special powers to see why Charmed is a hit. It has the campy sci-fi vibe and the girl-power message of Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed with the soapy sexiness of Melrose Place. And like Melrose, Charmed is produced by that master of fantasy, Aaron Spelling.
As the Halliwell sisters, the stars solve crimes of a paranormal nature using magic recipe book found in the attic of their San Francisco home -- oh, and they look fabulous doing so. Spelling even likens them to the crime-stopping babes from his '70s seires Charlie's Angels. "I'm the one referred to as Kate Jackson," says Combs, 25, who plays the middle sister, Piper, and is the most serious of the three during this interview. "I'm not, like, a typical Spelling babe."
Milano, however, became one of Aaron's angels when she joined the cast of Melrose Place in
1996 (she left halfway through last season). But Milano wasn't the first choice for Phoebe, the flaky youngest sister on Charmed. Actress Lori Lom, who appeared on the pilot episode, left the show for what Spelling calls "personal reasons." Says Milano, "I got a call from Mr. Spelling on a Wednesday and started work on a Monday. I was nervous because I didn't feel prepared, and I was replacing someone that [my costars] might have really loved."
Doherty, 27, who plays the eldest sibling Prue, says she was "thrilled" by Milano's arrival. "Not
to slight the other girl, because she's a good actress, but this combo works," she says. The three, in fact, are similar in many ways. They all smoke. They all enjoy fast food, as today's feast of french fries and soda attests. And they all grew up performing on TV: Milano on the '80s series Who's the Boss? Doherty on 1982's short-lived Little House: A New Beginning and Spelling's Beverly Hills, 90210 for four seasons; and Combs on producer David E. Kelley's series Picket Fences (1992-1996).
The women share something else, too: They have all had serious relationships with men at relatively young ages. Milano was once engaged to Party of Five's Scott Wolf (and still has his initials tattood on her calf). Milano and Wolf called it quits in 1994, and now their shows are time-slot rivals on Wednesday nights.
At age 18, Combs wed actor Bryan Smith ("Bugsy") in a Las Vegas chapel after only eight dates. "I thought it was the love of my life, but people change," says Combs, whose marriage lasted four years. "You need a lot of time to really know someone, not just what they put forth."
Doherty nods in empathy, having herself had an ill-fated marriage to George Hamilton's son,
Ashley, whom she had known for two weeks. "It was a ridicilous thing," says Doherty, of the much publicized seven-month union that ended in the spring of 1994. "It should have never happened."
By now, Doherty is seasonsed in the art of public scrutiny. While her marriage was ending, Doherty left 90210 amid rumors she fought with castmates, was chronically late to the set and made unreasonable demands. And her notorious club-crawling escapades left Spelling no choice but to release her from her contract. But now that Spelling and Doherty are on the same team again, both deny that any acrimony ever existed.
"For the most part, it was media hype," Doherty says. Still, she admits her behavior was
problematic, namely, the she partied too much and had revolving door of boyfriends and fiances (there were three engagements in all). "One guy would be in, then all of a sudden there would be another. And it would be, 'No, this is the love of my life. Not the one that was here yesterday.'
"I was really young, doing a show that I didn't think was going to be the phenomenon it became," she continues. "It sounds incredibly spoiled to say that being on the cover of Rolling Stones was a lot of pressure. But it is. Your life changes. Everything has to be done perfectly, and I didn't follow that. I lived my life as if I wasn't in the public eye. I thought, 'I'm young. I have the right to experience new things, and if I want to go to a bar and get drunk, that's my prerogative.' "
"Shannen was not fired," Spelling says. "We talked to her and she wasn't happy, and she left. Was she late sometimes? Yeah. Who isn't? Was she so late we couldn't shoot? Never. And doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?"
According to Doherty, this year's reunion with Spelling lacked drama. "I went into his office, and he hugged me and said, 'Welcome back, kiddo. Do you want to do this together or what?' And I said 'Yeah, let's go for it.' So it was easy."
So easy that Doherty is even thinking about returning to as her character, Brenda, whom writers sent off to Europe when Doherty left the show. "I get so much fan mail about Brenda," she says. "I feel I have a responsibility -- it sounds sort of cheesy -- to thank the fans that supported me and have given me a career." (Spelling, however, says a reunion is unlikely: "Brenda is in the past. We've told her story.")
In the meantime, Doherty says she is "wonderfully, happily single," having ended a four-year
relationship with writer-director Rob Weiss ("Amongst Friends") earlier this year. "He altered my life and taught me so much," she says. "It was the most important relationship I've ever had." She is not, as a tabloid reported, dating Friends star Matthew Perry. "I've known Matt for 10 years," she says. "There is absolutely no thing between us. I wouldn't have a boyfriend right now for the life of me."
The energy that once went into her nightlife now goes toward her other love, horses. Doherty owns two and is an accomplished rider.
Still she hopes one day to tie the knot for good. "I'm the marrying kind and want children so badly," she says. What if her five months of blissful solitude drag out to two years? Not to worry, Doherty has a plan: She has already purchased the same love-spell kit Milano did. "But the minute I bought it, I had a run of bad luck," she says. "So I decided that somebody was tapping me on the shoulder and saying, 'Shannen, calm down. Be happy with the place you are now.' "
Mix the enchanting powers of Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs with the magic touch of Aaron Spelling and - poof! - an instant hit.
LONG BEFORE she was cast as a witch on the WB series Charmed, Alyssa Milano dabbled in
magic. It was last winter, and Milano was approaching the two-year mark of a man drought. No suitor seemed suitable. Frustrated, she decided to create fate: She bought a love-spell kit from a New Age bookstore. "I lit the candles, put the oil in and read a little chant," she says, her story now sending costars Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs, seated next to her in an office on the Charmed set, into fits of giggles. "It took half an hour. And I was like, 'OK, let's see if that worked.' And it did."
A month later, Milano met Cinjun Tate, the lead singer of the Los Angeles-based rock band Remy Zero, at a mutual friend's house. The two have now been together for nine months and are sharing Milano's Los Angeles home. Coincindence?
"I think what happened is that I sat down and thought about what I wanted," says Milano, who
turns 26 next week. "I think manifested it with the spell."
Cue the eerie music and bring in Robert Stack. Could Milano have conjured up a beau with an incantation? Perhaps. When it comes to Charmed and its three bewitching stars, anything seems possible.
Consider this: Without much publicity -- certainly lacking the media blitz given to the WB's other freshman drama, Felicity -- the enchanting show about a trio of sisters who discover they are witches scored the highest ratings for a debut in the network's history. Its premier episode hooked more viewers than the much hped series opener of Dawson's Creek.
A surprise, yes, but you don't need any special powers to see why Charmed is a hit. It has the campy sci-fi vibe and the girl-power message of Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed with the soapy sexiness of Melrose Place. And like Melrose, Charmed is produced by that master of fantasy, Aaron Spelling.
As the Halliwell sisters, the stars solve crimes of a paranormal nature using magic recipe book found in the attic of their San Francisco home -- oh, and they look fabulous doing so. Spelling even likens them to the crime-stopping babes from his '70s seires Charlie's Angels. "I'm the one referred to as Kate Jackson," says Combs, 25, who plays the middle sister, Piper, and is the most serious of the three during this interview. "I'm not, like, a typical Spelling babe."
Milano, however, became one of Aaron's angels when she joined the cast of Melrose Place in
1996 (she left halfway through last season). But Milano wasn't the first choice for Phoebe, the flaky youngest sister on Charmed. Actress Lori Lom, who appeared on the pilot episode, left the show for what Spelling calls "personal reasons." Says Milano, "I got a call from Mr. Spelling on a Wednesday and started work on a Monday. I was nervous because I didn't feel prepared, and I was replacing someone that [my costars] might have really loved."
Doherty, 27, who plays the eldest sibling Prue, says she was "thrilled" by Milano's arrival. "Not
to slight the other girl, because she's a good actress, but this combo works," she says. The three, in fact, are similar in many ways. They all smoke. They all enjoy fast food, as today's feast of french fries and soda attests. And they all grew up performing on TV: Milano on the '80s series Who's the Boss? Doherty on 1982's short-lived Little House: A New Beginning and Spelling's Beverly Hills, 90210 for four seasons; and Combs on producer David E. Kelley's series Picket Fences (1992-1996).
The women share something else, too: They have all had serious relationships with men at relatively young ages. Milano was once engaged to Party of Five's Scott Wolf (and still has his initials tattood on her calf). Milano and Wolf called it quits in 1994, and now their shows are time-slot rivals on Wednesday nights.
At age 18, Combs wed actor Bryan Smith ("Bugsy") in a Las Vegas chapel after only eight dates. "I thought it was the love of my life, but people change," says Combs, whose marriage lasted four years. "You need a lot of time to really know someone, not just what they put forth."
Doherty nods in empathy, having herself had an ill-fated marriage to George Hamilton's son,
Ashley, whom she had known for two weeks. "It was a ridicilous thing," says Doherty, of the much publicized seven-month union that ended in the spring of 1994. "It should have never happened."
By now, Doherty is seasonsed in the art of public scrutiny. While her marriage was ending, Doherty left 90210 amid rumors she fought with castmates, was chronically late to the set and made unreasonable demands. And her notorious club-crawling escapades left Spelling no choice but to release her from her contract. But now that Spelling and Doherty are on the same team again, both deny that any acrimony ever existed.
"For the most part, it was media hype," Doherty says. Still, she admits her behavior was
problematic, namely, the she partied too much and had revolving door of boyfriends and fiances (there were three engagements in all). "One guy would be in, then all of a sudden there would be another. And it would be, 'No, this is the love of my life. Not the one that was here yesterday.'
"I was really young, doing a show that I didn't think was going to be the phenomenon it became," she continues. "It sounds incredibly spoiled to say that being on the cover of Rolling Stones was a lot of pressure. But it is. Your life changes. Everything has to be done perfectly, and I didn't follow that. I lived my life as if I wasn't in the public eye. I thought, 'I'm young. I have the right to experience new things, and if I want to go to a bar and get drunk, that's my prerogative.' "
"Shannen was not fired," Spelling says. "We talked to her and she wasn't happy, and she left. Was she late sometimes? Yeah. Who isn't? Was she so late we couldn't shoot? Never. And doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?"
According to Doherty, this year's reunion with Spelling lacked drama. "I went into his office, and he hugged me and said, 'Welcome back, kiddo. Do you want to do this together or what?' And I said 'Yeah, let's go for it.' So it was easy."
So easy that Doherty is even thinking about returning to as her character, Brenda, whom writers sent off to Europe when Doherty left the show. "I get so much fan mail about Brenda," she says. "I feel I have a responsibility -- it sounds sort of cheesy -- to thank the fans that supported me and have given me a career." (Spelling, however, says a reunion is unlikely: "Brenda is in the past. We've told her story.")
In the meantime, Doherty says she is "wonderfully, happily single," having ended a four-year
relationship with writer-director Rob Weiss ("Amongst Friends") earlier this year. "He altered my life and taught me so much," she says. "It was the most important relationship I've ever had." She is not, as a tabloid reported, dating Friends star Matthew Perry. "I've known Matt for 10 years," she says. "There is absolutely no thing between us. I wouldn't have a boyfriend right now for the life of me."
The energy that once went into her nightlife now goes toward her other love, horses. Doherty owns two and is an accomplished rider.
Still she hopes one day to tie the knot for good. "I'm the marrying kind and want children so badly," she says. What if her five months of blissful solitude drag out to two years? Not to worry, Doherty has a plan: She has already purchased the same love-spell kit Milano did. "But the minute I bought it, I had a run of bad luck," she says. "So I decided that somebody was tapping me on the shoulder and saying, 'Shannen, calm down. Be happy with the place you are now.' "
The Women of the WB Entertainment Weekly (December 1998)
No mere babes in the woods, these. The superheroines of BUFFY, DAWSON'S CREEK, 7th HEAVEN, CHARMED and FELICITY prove Prince Charming is just another accessory.
And to think, only two years ago, the most famous pair of legs on The WB belonges to the network's corporate mascot, Michigan J. Frog.
Then Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy the Vampire Slayer kicked down the door for strong young women on TV. Soon 7th Heaven's Jessica Biel, 16; Dawson's Creek's Katie Holmes, 20, and Michelle Williams, 18; Charmed's Shannen Doherty, 27, Alyssa Milano, 26, and Holly Marie Combs, 25; and Felicity's Keri Russell, 22, joined Gellar, 21, as WB poster girls, attracting legions of young female fans and millions in ad revenue. Suddenly a struggling network had an identity, and the entertainment biz a burning obsession.
Hollywood execs lusting after young women? Nothing new there. Resting the fate of an entire network on their collective shoulders, however, is a fresher concept. And The WB -- one of the few networks to see Nielsen growth this season thanks to its young viewers (the net says two thirds of its audience is under 35) -- has been savvy enough to corner the market on smart, youth-directed, female-driven programming. "Twelve-to 34-year-olds view women differently than do older adults," explains WB entertainment president Garth Ancier. "They've grown up in a world where women are more empowered. We're just reflecting that world."
Ironically, these characters -- most of whom are in high school or college -- seem more competent and self-confident that their older sisters on other networks, neurotic career women such as Ally McBeal and Veronica Chase. Biel's Mary "is a good student who can take on any guy in basketball and win," says Ancier; William's Jen and Holmes' Joey are growing up without their parents; Russell's freshman Felicity is making it on her own in New York City.
So yes, the WB girls are positive role models. But don't underestimate the power of the superficial: They're also smokin' hotties (to use common guy parlance). "Charmed is a perfect postfeminist girl-power show," says Milano, one of its three witch sibs. "Even independent of their special powers, these women are strong, but they're still feminine and accessible."
Never ones to miss a moneymaking opportunity, moviemakers have taken note of The WB's girl-power gold mine, snapping up Gellar for Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer, Holmes for Disturbing Behavior, and Williams for Halloween H20. Coming attractions include Russell's Irish romance Perfect Timing, Williams' Nixon-era comedy Dick, Holmes' revenge fantasy Killing Mrs. Tingle, and Cruel Intentions, an adolescent adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons with the WB all-star team of Gellar, Creek's Joshua Jackson, and Selma Blair (whose mid-season series about a New York teenager, Zoe Bean, will try to translate The WB's successful female formula to sitcoms).
Of course, Party of Five's Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt also made the leap to movie stardom, but there's a difference: While their TV aliases continue to mope, The WB's women are kicking butt, literally (in Gellar's case) and figuratively. "They're all fighters," observes Russell. "They're not sitting in their pink bedrooms with their teddy bears. They're young women who are exploring and experiencing life." You go, WB girls. --- Bruce Fretts
No mere babes in the woods, these. The superheroines of BUFFY, DAWSON'S CREEK, 7th HEAVEN, CHARMED and FELICITY prove Prince Charming is just another accessory.
And to think, only two years ago, the most famous pair of legs on The WB belonges to the network's corporate mascot, Michigan J. Frog.
Then Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy the Vampire Slayer kicked down the door for strong young women on TV. Soon 7th Heaven's Jessica Biel, 16; Dawson's Creek's Katie Holmes, 20, and Michelle Williams, 18; Charmed's Shannen Doherty, 27, Alyssa Milano, 26, and Holly Marie Combs, 25; and Felicity's Keri Russell, 22, joined Gellar, 21, as WB poster girls, attracting legions of young female fans and millions in ad revenue. Suddenly a struggling network had an identity, and the entertainment biz a burning obsession.
Hollywood execs lusting after young women? Nothing new there. Resting the fate of an entire network on their collective shoulders, however, is a fresher concept. And The WB -- one of the few networks to see Nielsen growth this season thanks to its young viewers (the net says two thirds of its audience is under 35) -- has been savvy enough to corner the market on smart, youth-directed, female-driven programming. "Twelve-to 34-year-olds view women differently than do older adults," explains WB entertainment president Garth Ancier. "They've grown up in a world where women are more empowered. We're just reflecting that world."
Ironically, these characters -- most of whom are in high school or college -- seem more competent and self-confident that their older sisters on other networks, neurotic career women such as Ally McBeal and Veronica Chase. Biel's Mary "is a good student who can take on any guy in basketball and win," says Ancier; William's Jen and Holmes' Joey are growing up without their parents; Russell's freshman Felicity is making it on her own in New York City.
So yes, the WB girls are positive role models. But don't underestimate the power of the superficial: They're also smokin' hotties (to use common guy parlance). "Charmed is a perfect postfeminist girl-power show," says Milano, one of its three witch sibs. "Even independent of their special powers, these women are strong, but they're still feminine and accessible."
Never ones to miss a moneymaking opportunity, moviemakers have taken note of The WB's girl-power gold mine, snapping up Gellar for Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer, Holmes for Disturbing Behavior, and Williams for Halloween H20. Coming attractions include Russell's Irish romance Perfect Timing, Williams' Nixon-era comedy Dick, Holmes' revenge fantasy Killing Mrs. Tingle, and Cruel Intentions, an adolescent adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons with the WB all-star team of Gellar, Creek's Joshua Jackson, and Selma Blair (whose mid-season series about a New York teenager, Zoe Bean, will try to translate The WB's successful female formula to sitcoms).
Of course, Party of Five's Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt also made the leap to movie stardom, but there's a difference: While their TV aliases continue to mope, The WB's women are kicking butt, literally (in Gellar's case) and figuratively. "They're all fighters," observes Russell. "They're not sitting in their pink bedrooms with their teddy bears. They're young women who are exploring and experiencing life." You go, WB girls. --- Bruce Fretts
Close to the Truth Constance M. Burge on creating Charmed and creating the sisters
TV Zone Magazine
We talk to the creator of Charmed, and are told how the three Halliwell sisters get their powers…
In America, the WB has had great success unleashing a variety of vampires and slayers on an unsuspecting world. Unwilling to leave well enough alone, it’s turned their attention to a trio of witches in the series Charmed (now showing on Channel 5 in the UK).
Unfolding through the eyes of the Halliwell sisters, Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Charmed is about modern-day descendants of witches who discover what they actually are. They recognize that they have to use their powers to help the innocent and vanquish warlocks intent on robbing them of their abilities and unleashing evil on the world.
Guiding the Halliwells through their Wicca ways is executive producer Constance M Burge, who was as surprised as anyone to be involved with the show. “I had come in to pitch on an entirely different project,” says Burge, who had also served as the executive producer of the short-lived primetime soap opera, Savannah. “At the time, Buffy had been a huge success and the WB was looking for a companion piece that would go on after Buffy. They thought the area of witches might be something fun and interesting to explore.
"To be honest, though, I didn’t know anything about witches, although I had a lot of pre-conceived ideas and notions. So after the meeting I did some fairly significant research before I went back to the network. Then I pitched the idea of three sisters. At the time, they were living in Boston, but it was ultimately moved to San Francisco, and they had come from a long line of Wiccan women. I actually have two older sisters, so it was very easy for me to create the characters because they were in my life.”
Is she suggesting that somehow the series is autobiographical? Burge lets out a laugh before responding. “Their characteristics are definitely created from my own life,” she admits, “although we’re not witches.
My sisters are actually very corporate. But definitely the idea that the oldest sibling is always very focused and driven and successful. The middle sibling tends to be the negotiator and the middle-man, and, because they’re always in the middle, tends to be the humorous one. Then the youngest is always in trouble or getting in trouble or doing something that is in absolute conflict with the older siblings. That was me.”
Once she settled on those particular characteristics, each sister’s powers came naturally. “With Prue,” Burge says, “it was very in her mind. It felt like she would have the power that would be mind-related, hence the power of telekinesis. The middle sister is always having trouble with Time, because she’s so busy people-pleasing, as is her nature. It felt like that would be a good power for her: the ability to freeze time. And because the younger sibling was viewed as having no vision of the future, because they were always in the moment, I thought it would be nice to give the power of premonition. I just thought there was something so ironic in the ability to see everyone else’s future but their own...
TV Zone Magazine
We talk to the creator of Charmed, and are told how the three Halliwell sisters get their powers…
In America, the WB has had great success unleashing a variety of vampires and slayers on an unsuspecting world. Unwilling to leave well enough alone, it’s turned their attention to a trio of witches in the series Charmed (now showing on Channel 5 in the UK).
Unfolding through the eyes of the Halliwell sisters, Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Charmed is about modern-day descendants of witches who discover what they actually are. They recognize that they have to use their powers to help the innocent and vanquish warlocks intent on robbing them of their abilities and unleashing evil on the world.
Guiding the Halliwells through their Wicca ways is executive producer Constance M Burge, who was as surprised as anyone to be involved with the show. “I had come in to pitch on an entirely different project,” says Burge, who had also served as the executive producer of the short-lived primetime soap opera, Savannah. “At the time, Buffy had been a huge success and the WB was looking for a companion piece that would go on after Buffy. They thought the area of witches might be something fun and interesting to explore.
"To be honest, though, I didn’t know anything about witches, although I had a lot of pre-conceived ideas and notions. So after the meeting I did some fairly significant research before I went back to the network. Then I pitched the idea of three sisters. At the time, they were living in Boston, but it was ultimately moved to San Francisco, and they had come from a long line of Wiccan women. I actually have two older sisters, so it was very easy for me to create the characters because they were in my life.”
Is she suggesting that somehow the series is autobiographical? Burge lets out a laugh before responding. “Their characteristics are definitely created from my own life,” she admits, “although we’re not witches.
My sisters are actually very corporate. But definitely the idea that the oldest sibling is always very focused and driven and successful. The middle sibling tends to be the negotiator and the middle-man, and, because they’re always in the middle, tends to be the humorous one. Then the youngest is always in trouble or getting in trouble or doing something that is in absolute conflict with the older siblings. That was me.”
Once she settled on those particular characteristics, each sister’s powers came naturally. “With Prue,” Burge says, “it was very in her mind. It felt like she would have the power that would be mind-related, hence the power of telekinesis. The middle sister is always having trouble with Time, because she’s so busy people-pleasing, as is her nature. It felt like that would be a good power for her: the ability to freeze time. And because the younger sibling was viewed as having no vision of the future, because they were always in the moment, I thought it would be nice to give the power of premonition. I just thought there was something so ironic in the ability to see everyone else’s future but their own...
The Real Stories Behind a Trio of 'Charmed' Lives Television hollywood.com (1999)
The witch siblings on the WB sitcom have mortal touchstones in the show's writer and her two sisters.
MICHAEL P. LUCAS
The three beautiful Halliwell sisters are the fashionable good witches on the WB's "Charmed." They battle evil, cast spells, romance a procession of attractive males--and bring a little magic to the three sisters who get to sit home and watch their alter egos at play.
Series creator and executive producer Constance M. Burge heeded the authors' creed to write what she knows by recapturing her own family dynamics in the relationships of the TV coven.
Her earliest memories are of a cul-de-sac in West Covina where she toddled along behind her older sisters Edie and Laura. So now the three take great sport in dissecting the show's metaphoric arcs about three women who can overcome any fantastic obstacle--as long as they have each other.
"We're so close, I'm always going to them for advice," Burge said one recent morning at Spelling Productions in Los Angeles, working in an office with a bundled-straw broom leaning against a wall and a tall, black cone hat on an end table. Willowy, blond, in her 30s, Burge has an engagingly fragile smile that seems quite ready for the other side of the camera.
"They give me personal advice," she added with a breezy laugh. "One thing, I don't have to borrow money from them anymore."
Indeed, "Charmed" was an immediate success for WB. The often funny, sometimes campy drama premiered last October with solid ratings and generally favorable reviews, spurring a prompt full-season order of 22 episodes from the network. In one respect it was a prime-time comeback vehicle for Shannen Doherty. The onetime "Beverly Hills, 90210" bad girl plays the eldest of the three sisters: the confident, sensible and telekinetic Prue. The character is modeled on the executive producer's eldest sister, Laura Snow, who works as chief liaison for the Defense Department's National Imagery and Mapping Agency in Washington.
"I wish I looked as good as Shannen," said Snow, who is 8 1/2 years older than Burge. "I see myself as an older Meg Ryan, maybe when she hits 40."
The middle witch and the one who can make time stand still, Piper (Holly Marie Combs), is based on the real-life Edie Burge of San Marino, a communications executive with Avery Dennison Inc.
"I spent a lot of time taking care of Connie," recalls Edie Burge, who, her sisters intimate, has a wicked sense of humor. "I would put on her birthday parties . . . And later on, when we were both at UCLA, I'd rescue her from frat parties."
The youngest and the prescient witch, Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), is based on the show creator. But unlike Constance, Phoebe hasn't quite found her way in the world.
"We tease her a lot, because Phoebe has never had a job," Snow said. But with the teasing come honest reviews, added Snow: "We critique every episode."
Criticism aside, Snow concedes she wouldn't mind having a few of Prue's powers--the ability to move objects, for instance. One episode, which hit close to home, has Prue lifting an elevator straight to the top floor, only a fantasy for Snow, who faces a less-than-speedy ride to the top of her building most days.
"Connie had a great imagination," Edie Burge recalled. "Every trip to the store was an adventure full of marvelous characters, and she'd come home and tell the most wonderful stories about them."
The younger Burge realized she wanted to go into show business when she sat through double features with her stockbroker father, Phil, who took her to air-conditioned movies in the summer heat. She earned a master's degree in playwriting at UCLA, and mostly worked as a waitress and bartender until she landed on the writing staff on "Medicine Ball," a short-lived 1995 Fox drama about the lives and loves of a group of young Seattle interns.
When it was canceled, she rebounded by writing the pilot for "Savannah," a steamy WB prime-time soap opera about three close female friends in the South awash in romance, passion and betrayal. The settings were embellished by recollections that her mother, Cecelia, has about growing up in southern Georgia. After that show was canceled two years ago, she went right to work on another pilot, which she pitched to Susanne Daniels, now the WB's programming chief, then a development executive.
But that pitch failed--Burge had proposed a series about bounty hunters. Daniels recalls that she'd just heard a speech about female empowerment, and "told Connie to work on something with strong female characters."
Burge said her themes persistently express the significant role of femininity in protecting the innocent and creating goodness. The witches invoke a mysterious "power of three" certain to overcome evil, usually in the form of oppressive, dangerous male figures--and which, not surprisingly, has resulted in a predominantly female audience. In the series, Burge has created romantically challenged witches. Prue had a police detective boyfriend for a while, but after a jewelry heist he showed up with a search warrant. Piper's long fling with their handyman-cum-guardian angel seemed to go ice after he announced that he had to fly back home, as he put it. Phoebe, well, doesn't keep boyfriends very long.
"Maybe it's just Los Angeles," Burge said, "but relationships are very tricky. It's very challenging to meet the right one."
Her recent engagement to a music publisher won favorable reviews from her long-married sisters.
"They said, 'Thank God. Keep him. Don't blow it,' " Burge said. "They tell me what I need to know, not always what I want to hear."
The witch siblings on the WB sitcom have mortal touchstones in the show's writer and her two sisters.
MICHAEL P. LUCAS
The three beautiful Halliwell sisters are the fashionable good witches on the WB's "Charmed." They battle evil, cast spells, romance a procession of attractive males--and bring a little magic to the three sisters who get to sit home and watch their alter egos at play.
Series creator and executive producer Constance M. Burge heeded the authors' creed to write what she knows by recapturing her own family dynamics in the relationships of the TV coven.
Her earliest memories are of a cul-de-sac in West Covina where she toddled along behind her older sisters Edie and Laura. So now the three take great sport in dissecting the show's metaphoric arcs about three women who can overcome any fantastic obstacle--as long as they have each other.
"We're so close, I'm always going to them for advice," Burge said one recent morning at Spelling Productions in Los Angeles, working in an office with a bundled-straw broom leaning against a wall and a tall, black cone hat on an end table. Willowy, blond, in her 30s, Burge has an engagingly fragile smile that seems quite ready for the other side of the camera.
"They give me personal advice," she added with a breezy laugh. "One thing, I don't have to borrow money from them anymore."
Indeed, "Charmed" was an immediate success for WB. The often funny, sometimes campy drama premiered last October with solid ratings and generally favorable reviews, spurring a prompt full-season order of 22 episodes from the network. In one respect it was a prime-time comeback vehicle for Shannen Doherty. The onetime "Beverly Hills, 90210" bad girl plays the eldest of the three sisters: the confident, sensible and telekinetic Prue. The character is modeled on the executive producer's eldest sister, Laura Snow, who works as chief liaison for the Defense Department's National Imagery and Mapping Agency in Washington.
"I wish I looked as good as Shannen," said Snow, who is 8 1/2 years older than Burge. "I see myself as an older Meg Ryan, maybe when she hits 40."
The middle witch and the one who can make time stand still, Piper (Holly Marie Combs), is based on the real-life Edie Burge of San Marino, a communications executive with Avery Dennison Inc.
"I spent a lot of time taking care of Connie," recalls Edie Burge, who, her sisters intimate, has a wicked sense of humor. "I would put on her birthday parties . . . And later on, when we were both at UCLA, I'd rescue her from frat parties."
The youngest and the prescient witch, Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), is based on the show creator. But unlike Constance, Phoebe hasn't quite found her way in the world.
"We tease her a lot, because Phoebe has never had a job," Snow said. But with the teasing come honest reviews, added Snow: "We critique every episode."
Criticism aside, Snow concedes she wouldn't mind having a few of Prue's powers--the ability to move objects, for instance. One episode, which hit close to home, has Prue lifting an elevator straight to the top floor, only a fantasy for Snow, who faces a less-than-speedy ride to the top of her building most days.
"Connie had a great imagination," Edie Burge recalled. "Every trip to the store was an adventure full of marvelous characters, and she'd come home and tell the most wonderful stories about them."
The younger Burge realized she wanted to go into show business when she sat through double features with her stockbroker father, Phil, who took her to air-conditioned movies in the summer heat. She earned a master's degree in playwriting at UCLA, and mostly worked as a waitress and bartender until she landed on the writing staff on "Medicine Ball," a short-lived 1995 Fox drama about the lives and loves of a group of young Seattle interns.
When it was canceled, she rebounded by writing the pilot for "Savannah," a steamy WB prime-time soap opera about three close female friends in the South awash in romance, passion and betrayal. The settings were embellished by recollections that her mother, Cecelia, has about growing up in southern Georgia. After that show was canceled two years ago, she went right to work on another pilot, which she pitched to Susanne Daniels, now the WB's programming chief, then a development executive.
But that pitch failed--Burge had proposed a series about bounty hunters. Daniels recalls that she'd just heard a speech about female empowerment, and "told Connie to work on something with strong female characters."
Burge said her themes persistently express the significant role of femininity in protecting the innocent and creating goodness. The witches invoke a mysterious "power of three" certain to overcome evil, usually in the form of oppressive, dangerous male figures--and which, not surprisingly, has resulted in a predominantly female audience. In the series, Burge has created romantically challenged witches. Prue had a police detective boyfriend for a while, but after a jewelry heist he showed up with a search warrant. Piper's long fling with their handyman-cum-guardian angel seemed to go ice after he announced that he had to fly back home, as he put it. Phoebe, well, doesn't keep boyfriends very long.
"Maybe it's just Los Angeles," Burge said, "but relationships are very tricky. It's very challenging to meet the right one."
Her recent engagement to a music publisher won favorable reviews from her long-married sisters.
"They said, 'Thank God. Keep him. Don't blow it,' " Burge said. "They tell me what I need to know, not always what I want to hear."
