codebox
Familiar
Hey I'm a Charmed Veteran have been for a long time. Hope to share some insight and opinions.
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Post by codebox on May 27, 2020 15:07:22 GMT -5
The Bay Mirror became a highly memorable thing during Seasons 5-8, but to me it was for all the wrong reasons. I can see wanting Phoebe to have a job considering one of her personal struggles early one was her inability to hold a consistent job. But to me it never felt like this was the job for her (especially when her college major was psychology) it was just an excuse for Brad Kern to showcase "Look Phoebe is the star isn't she great?" with all the constant praise she got from just about everyone. Phoebe would frequently be excused for things that under normal means would get other's fired.
We constantly hear about her advice, yet are never shown it. Her advice column is hugely successful and famous nation-wide, despite most of what the audience hears being stock love advice, and not even particularly good advice at that. In particular Season 5. After becoming an advice columnist, she repeatedly ignores saving people/her sisters/the world to focus on her advice column, which she treats as being vastly more important than it really is! And her work just served to make her more self centered, even during world ending events her excuse would be "I have to work" not even to just work at times.
What was interesting about working jobs like South Bay Side Social Services, Bucklands and 415 Magazine were that it always linked the girls to an innocent or connected to the plot in someway. It felt like them living their lives and magic just happened to come to their calling. Even Quake despite not having many magic stuff was relaxing in seeing Piper live her normal life. With The Bay Mirror no magical stuff or any of that came to the same degree, it often felt separate.
What do you guys think? What did you feel was the worst/most disappointing thing about The Bay Mirror?
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Esmeralda
Charmed
S2 "What If...?"
Fan Fic Winner
Twenty Years Gone....But Never Forgotten.
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Post by Esmeralda on May 27, 2020 20:34:55 GMT -5
For me, it was her affair with her boss. After having just going through the horror of being Queen of the Underworld, losing her husband, losing her baby, what does she do? Spread her legs for the first guy who gives her the eye! Just made me hate PhoeME more!
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on May 28, 2020 4:30:06 GMT -5
Yeah, the Bay Mirror did nothing for Phoebe except say, "Hey look at me.".
Considering her psychology degree that would've better been put to use in counselling where Phoebe really could've helped people then and met innocents that way through getting visions on them then understood them more when she got empathy.
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Post by Elle Em on May 28, 2020 7:11:37 GMT -5
It was a pretty shallow and uninteresting job. Phoebe at her best could have given advice to others, but even when she was at her most mature and insightful, she was still very young and I don't think ready to help others though life. The idea of her getting and keeping her job through the period of her life when she had the worst judgement of all was ridiculous.
And eventually it turned into a job where she just gave love advice, which is laughable considering her past. But it would have been at least more interesting if there had been letters she answered that were about more than sex or romance. Remember the very first letter she responded to, about the grown woman who was afraid to live alone? That was actually interesting, and her advice actually good. But like mostly everything on this show, if it didn't have to do with sex or romance, it was done away with.
If she wanted to use her psychology degree to help people, I'd prefer it to be done in a more private way. It seemed like the advice column was a way for her to do about two hours of work a day and have her name and face in the paper so she could become famous. I'd rather see her working in a small office somewhere, perhaps a social work clinic or something similar, helping people through real, relatable problems and staying out of the public eye.
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Post by summerreading on May 28, 2020 8:02:18 GMT -5
I never found it at all interesting. It's too bad that all the jobs the sisters had that I did enjoy like Bucklands, Quake, and South Bay Social Services, were not around the show for too long, especially when those managed to link the sisters to an innocent.
Bay Mirror was the worse job for any of the sisters by far, and Phoebe was really bad at it with helping people. Also doesn't help that I can't stand Phoebe dating her boss, and what I hated more. Was she tried to rebound from Cole with Miles, and I'd thought her dating him would FOR SURE give her a hint that she just needed to take a step back from dating, but no, only five episodes later, she's onto a new guy with Jason.
I really wished she used her psychology degree for a much better job.
After having just gone through being the queen of the underworld, losing Cole and losing her baby, and used the Bay Mirror as an excuse to keep busy than resolve and get through her own pain and issues.
Elle Em, I love your suggestion for what Phoebe should have done with her psychology degree and working in a small office than a bigger place. Maybe even helping troubled teens or something with social work.
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Post by Assassin Witch on May 28, 2020 10:36:58 GMT -5
Aside from what everyone else is saying, HOW she got the job. I don't remember it fully at the top of my head, but it was basically handed to her by the innocent/previous columnist. HOW? WHY? WHAT? STOP!
Best thing: Elise.
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Post by Elle Em on May 28, 2020 11:04:51 GMT -5
I wish Phoebe and Paige's jobs had been put together somehow. I don't care for the newspaper angle, but Paige's job was really interesting and important. Maybe she could have gotten Phoebe a job there. And like you said, Summer Reading, her working with troubled teens would be perfect. I think back to how well she got through to Aviva, and she'd do great working with others in similar situations.
And Assassin Witch, I also liked Elise a lot. Maybe they could have had Elise also working at South Bay Social Services as Phoebe's supervisor. Mr. Cowan could still be there as Paige's boss. I could see the two of them commiserating together about the two sisters and how crazy they were at times. And then both Paige and Phoebe could work in the same building, but perhaps in different departments so they wouldn't live together, work together, and do magic stuff together and get sick of one another.
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on May 28, 2020 12:15:34 GMT -5
True about Phoebe working at South Bay Social Services. I'm sure there could've been another department on a separate floor where Phoebe worked with Elise helping troubled kids.
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Post by Assassin Witch on May 28, 2020 14:33:06 GMT -5
That would require them to have not dropped SBSS in S5. Poor Paige. I was really upset.
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Post by BriannaWarren2.0 on Jul 27, 2020 10:33:48 GMT -5
I would have wanted her occupation to be writing romance novels, sex books and sex knowledge, with her psychology degree, she could actually write some awesome books on seduction based on scientific research and her experience in and outside the bedroom.
Some people may not agree with me though, however I believe that would have been a unique idea.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2020 13:32:57 GMT -5
My favorite workplace was Buckland's, I loved that Prue would come across artifacts that would develop into a whole episode adventure. I do think Phoebe's advice column could have been used in this way, but I don't recall the writers ever using it for her to find innocents (?). Like others I don't think Phoebe should have been giving anyone advice on love 😂
Somehow the column was used to give Phoebe some kind of celebrity, that made no sense to me since in a logical world the Charmed Ones would want the anonymity to be able to use magic.
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Post by Elle Em on Jul 31, 2020 15:27:34 GMT -5
My favorite workplace was Buckland's, I loved that Prue would come across artifacts that would develop into a whole episode adventure. I do think Phoebe's advice column could have been used in this way, but I don't recall the writers ever using it for her to find innocents (?). Like others I don't think Phoebe should have been giving anyone advice on love 😂 Somehow the column was used to give Phoebe some kind of celebrity, that made no sense to me since in a logical world the Charmed Ones would want the anonymity to be able to use magic. I loved Buckland's too. It was so professional, and limitless with the number of artifacts that came in on a regular basis that could have a magical connection. I totally agree about the celebrity thing. It's also why it made sense to me that they lived in a crowded city so they'd blend in more. |
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cyma
Witch
Waiting
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Post by cyma on Aug 1, 2020 6:56:50 GMT -5
The standout moments at Bay Mirror which come to mind were Phoebe giving advice to beat someone with a stapler, Cole shouting at Phoebe about expectations about being the Source and his Queen and finally Nomend casually observing Phoebe's empty office before Elise caught him and they have a conversation about Phoebe's whereabouts.
The rest are just worst disappointing and hated moments. The most has to be celebrity status of Phoebe.
While they did portray in an episode how celebrity culture is toxic with a person trying to kill Phoebe for making his wife leave him and Jason taking the bullet, that didn't later stop everyone worshipping and glorifying the Fabulous Phoebe Almighty.
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cyma
Witch
Waiting
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Post by cyma on Aug 1, 2020 7:04:06 GMT -5
Somehow the column was used to give Phoebe some kind of celebrity, that made no sense to me since in a logical world the Charmed Ones would want the anonymity to be able to use magic. Exactly. Especially considering the celebrity status Piper and Prue gained in All Hell Breaks Loose got Piper shot and Prue killed. And the sort of celebrity status Phoebe gained in Morality Bites got her burned at stake. Then the reporter who happen to discover Prue using powers to save a boy and blackmailing them. Piper, Leo and Phoebe should've had a million reservations on any one of them working for a newspaper. |
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Aug 1, 2020 15:23:08 GMT -5
Yeah, you'd think the sisters after being exposed a couple of times before Phoebe got the job at the Bay Mirror would wanna make sure any jobs they had didn't put them in harm's way again of course.
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Post by Elle Em on Aug 2, 2020 7:04:59 GMT -5
They even seemed pretty well known because of P3. I remember in Charmed Again, Paige telling Shane about her search for her biological family, casually saying she thought she might be related to the Halliwell sisters, as though they were well known enough for people to know their names. Even if it was Piper's club and they were all there a lot, how many people know the name of club owners in a city?
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cyma
Witch
Waiting
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Post by cyma on Aug 2, 2020 12:07:58 GMT -5
They even seemed pretty well known because of P3. I remember in Charmed Again, Paige telling Shane about her search for her biological family, casually saying she thought she might be related to the Halliwell sisters, as though they were well known enough for people to know their names. Even if it was Piper's club and they were all there a lot, how many people know the name of club owners in a city? Okay wow. Was so busy in chewing on Phoebe's celebrity status that I forgot Piper practically getting celebrities to perform at her club. Besides attracting attention, demons have attacked inside her club which put lives in danger and risked exposure. This adds another strong reason Piper should've never opened a nightclub. |
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Post by stratego on Aug 3, 2020 18:42:50 GMT -5
My favorite workplace was Buckland's, I loved that Prue would come across artifacts that would develop into a whole episode adventure. I do think Phoebe's advice column could have been used in this way, but I don't recall the writers ever using it for her to find innocents (?). Like others I don't think Phoebe should have been giving anyone advice on love 😂 Somehow the column was used to give Phoebe some kind of celebrity, that made no sense to me since in a logical world the Charmed Ones would want the anonymity to be able to use magic. I loved Buckland's too. It was so professional, and limitless with the number of artifacts that came in on a regular basis that could have a magical connection. I totally agree about the celebrity thing. It's also why it made sense to me that they lived in a crowded city so they'd blend in more. I feel the exact same way about Buckland's! Phoebe from the early seasons would SO have become a counselor or social worker. |
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Ruth Marie
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Post by Ruth Marie on Aug 3, 2020 22:22:07 GMT -5
I loved Buckland's too. It was so professional, and limitless with the number of artifacts that came in on a regular basis that could have a magical connection. I totally agree about the celebrity thing. It's also why it made sense to me that they lived in a crowded city so they'd blend in more. I feel the exact same way about Buckland's! Phoebe from the early seasons would SO have become a counselor or social worker. I've always wondered if Paige was never introduced and Prue didn't die and was in S4, if Phoebe was originally intended to be a social worker, but it ended up being used on Paige, so they had to give Phoebe a different job. A counselor or social worker would be great jobs for Phoebe. |
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Post by stratego on Aug 3, 2020 22:28:53 GMT -5
I feel the exact same way about Buckland's! Phoebe from the early seasons would SO have become a counselor or social worker. I've always wondered if Paige was never introduced and Prue didn't die and was in S4, if Phoebe was originally intended to be a social worker, but it ended up being used on Paige, so they had to give Phoebe a different job. A counselor or social worker would be great jobs for Phoebe. I had never really thought about it before, but since some threads here discussed alternative storylines, I thought Phoebe having Paige's job would've been a great idea. I really liked her working at the hospital and wish we had seen her there more often. |
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