At the time:Did You think Prue/Shannen Doherty would return?

[rebooted]

When you watched the series when it aired (if you did)...or if you watched Season 3 

Did you ever think there would be a flashback or return of the Shannen Doherty in her role after Season 3?

I personally though when watching Season 4, that Shannen would have made an appearance with a photo on the wall or a back at least. 

[Aaeiyn]

Other: I knew Shannen would never return, physically, for any new additional episodes.  But, she has no say in the show utilizing her likeness from shots/scenes already taken of her.  She doesn't own anything that she appeared in, from S1-S3.  The network does, so I was hoping for flashbacks and/or photos, on the wall, from S1-S3.  S5E18 "Cat House" was close (with her back, on the motorcycle).  It was very nice of the show to abide by her wishes, though in not using her likeness.  Or, the show thought, "no problem, that means we won't have to pay you" LOL

[Prue's Feather]

Nov 13, 2021 23:22:57 GMT -5 rebooted said:

When you watched the series when it aired (if you did)...or if you watched Season 3 

Did you ever think there would be a flashback or return of the Shannen Doherty in her role after Season 3?

I personally though when watching Season 4, that Shannen would have made an appearance with a photo on the wall or a back at least. 

Even though I didn’t watch the show when it was airing live, I’m still gonna answer the question with my silly response anyway xD

Let me tell you a bit about my story/journey of watching Charmed…

So since I caught Charmed on TV for the first time about mid-Season 4 (first time I watched it was in 2020—I know, where have I been? Apparently living under a rock LOL), I really didn’t know who Prue was. I may have caught her name or the mention of her a few times, but I’m not sure I actually did. So for a while in my first watching of Seasons 4-8 (and remember, I was watching it as reruns on TV, so whatever I happened to catch is what I watched, so I know I missed episodes in between), I probably honestly thought Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were the OG sisters. But then one day, I remember looking something up for the show and I came across Prue’s name, and I was like, "Oh, hey, they have an older sister. And I guess she died." And then I was even more surprised because I recognized Shannen’s name from watching some episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 on this same channel (because when I started watching this channel, 90210 aired more episodes at night in comparison to Charmed and this changed later on). SO, initially, in my first watch of Charmed (at least of what I caught on TV then), I don’t know that I expected her to come back or anything of her likeness to be shown. I may have assumed it already happened in the episodes I had missed after her death.

BUT, when I finally started watching Seasons 1-3 for the first time and fell in love with her character, I figured she’d been shown in some way after her death (since I already knew she was going to die going into it). Then I saw the last episode she was in (and let me tell you, I’d been really excited for that episode and expected Prue’s death to be more, epic, I guess? So it was kind of a letdown for me, but that’s another topic lol), and I think I really expected something of her to be shown in the Season 4 opener. I think the timing worked out that I caught All Hell Breaks Loose and Charmed Again Parts 1 & 2 on the same day on TV, and I was surprised that no pictures or anything of her were shown (like at the funeral or just Piper and Phoebe looking back at the iconic photo of the three of them taken by Grams or even a flashback of some kind).

So I suppose part of my answer would kind of be: Yes, I expected Prue/Shannen to be shown in the Season 4 premiere as a way of bringing closure to her death.

As I started watching Seasons 4-8 for the second time (still as reruns/recordings from TV—I didn’t own any of the DVDs yet—but more closely this time, as I had taken a liking to the show by this point), I’m not sure I expected her to make an appearance or her image to necessarily be shown. (I hadn’t looked up anything about the details of her departure at this point.) Her name or her memory to be mentioned/talked about once in a while? Sure. When I got to Cat House and started to see what they were showing as Piper’s memories, I think I got a bit excited and thought a "true" Prue flashback would show up. (Me thinking before each memory played out: "Are they going to show Prue this time? Like, actually show her?") But then all we got was her back in the motorcycle scene (which apparently wasn’t her but her stunt double? So this doesn’t exactly count in my mind lol) and her as a dog from Look Who’s Barking (which is really such a boring episode to me and a really underwhelming pre season finale episode).

Well, you can say I was disappointed.

So as I continued watching, I figured, "You know what? Maybe she’ll make a cameo in the series finale." (Because I don’t think I’d actually caught the series finale in my first watching of Charmed.) This had happened with another actress I follow (who had been in two shows I like, had been written out in the one show and left after not signing a contract extension in the other BUT came back for BOTH show’s series finales), so I kind of thought along the same lines that she’d come back since she was a big part of the earlier seasons and as a way of honoring her character and being able to be reunite with her sisters after all that time.

Well. Obviously that didn’t happen. So once again, I was disappointed.

So… To wrap up my "story/journey" of watching Charmed, my answer is "Other" because:


First Time I Watched Charmed (With S4-S8 being what I watched first):

(1) I didn’t really know who was she/her significance so I expected no appearance.


Second Time I Watched (After having seen S1-S3 for the first time and then rewatching S4-S8 more closely:

(2) Expected her to be shown through photos or flashbacks in Charmed Again Parts 1 & 2 to bring closure to her death.

(3) Seeing that she wasn’t shown at all in Charmed Again Parts 1 & 2, figured mentions would be it.

(4) Then got my hopes up and expected a flashback of her as I watched Cat House.

(5) And then got my hopes up once again and expected her to make a cameo in the series finale.


Lol, I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up xD

BUT, I do like the nod to her with the closing of the door scene at the end of Season 7. At least we got that and some name mentions. Not how I would have done it, but I’ll take something over nothing at all ;P

--

You bet after this second rewatch of Seasons 4-8 I looked up what had happened with Shannen’s departure to see why we got nothing lol ;P

Nov 14, 2021 1:18:55 GMT -5 Aaeiyn said:

Other: I knew Shannen would never return, physically, for any new additional episodes.  But, she has no say in the show utilizing her likeness from shots/scenes already taken of her.  She doesn't own anything that she appeared in, from S1-S3.  The network does, so I was hoping for flashbacks and/or photos, on the wall, from S1-S3.  S5E18 "Cat House" was close (with her back, on the motorcycle).  It was very nice of the show to abide by her wishes, though in not using her likeness.  Or, the show thought, "no problem, that means we won't have to pay you" LOL

LOL, about her owning parts of Charmed… I just think of people who honestly believe there is a second part of All Hell Breaks Loose and that Shannen "owns" this episode and just won’t release it, even to this day. Like, after all this time, do you really think Shannen is just sitting on this episode and just not releasing it to torture fans and she’s just thinking, "Ha, ha! I’m never going to let you guys see this episode! Only my eyes can see it!" xD

[rebooted]

Nov 14, 2021 1:18:55 GMT -5 Aaeiyn said:

Other: I knew Shannen would never return, physically, for any new additional episodes.  But, she has no say in the show utilizing her likeness from shots/scenes already taken of her.  She doesn't own anything that she appeared in, from S1-S3.  The network does, so I was hoping for flashbacks and/or photos, on the wall, from S1-S3.  S5E18 "Cat House" was close (with her back, on the motorcycle).  It was very nice of the show to abide by her wishes, though in not using her likeness.  Or, the show thought, "no problem, that means we won't have to pay you" LOL

Such a slap in the face to Shannen in that Flashback imo. 

[Prue's Feather]

Nov 14, 2021 3:11:20 GMT -5 rebooted said:

Nov 14, 2021 1:18:55 GMT -5 Aaeiyn said:

Other: I knew Shannen would never return, physically, for any new additional episodes.  But, she has no say in the show utilizing her likeness from shots/scenes already taken of her.  She doesn't own anything that she appeared in, from S1-S3.  The network does, so I was hoping for flashbacks and/or photos, on the wall, from S1-S3.  S5E18 "Cat House" was close (with her back, on the motorcycle).  It was very nice of the show to abide by her wishes, though in not using her likeness.  Or, the show thought, "no problem, that means we won't have to pay you" LOL

Such a slap in the face to Shannen in that Flashback imo. 

I'm in the same boat as you, rebooted. Between the motorcycle scene (was that actually her or her stunt double?) and showing Prue as a dog from Look Who's Barking, I was definitely disappointed and wished we could have had something much better as a nod to Prue/Shannen.

If you could chose any flashbacks to be shown of Prue in Cat House (forgoing whether Shannen's image could be used or not), what scene or scenes (since there were two flashbacks of Prue), would you chose to put in this episode instead?

[BriannaWarren2.0]

I am going to quote my cousin here, she watched it during it's original run and I believe her thoughts are better than mine on this poll:

I thought Prue was going to make appearances during the show in flashbacks, especially in the episode of Cat House, I was watching the finale wondering if she was going to make an appearance when Piper was travelling through time but that never happened. 

She later went on and said: 

I thought when Phoebe was the Queen Of The Underworld she was going to stumble across a demonic resurrection spell in the Grimoire to bring Prue back but atlas that never happened. I truely believed that Prue was going to come back but she didn't, it disappointed me in the beginning but now I couldn't care less if she returned or not. 

[rebooted]

Nov 15, 2021 4:30:28 GMT -5 BriannaWarren2.0 said:

I am going to quote my cousin here, she watched it during it's original run and I believe her thoughts are better than mine on this poll:

I thought Prue was going to make appearances during the show in flashbacks, especially in the episode of Cat House, I was watching the finale wondering if she was going to make an appearance when Piper was travelling through time but that never happened. 

She later went on and said: 

I thought when Phoebe was the Queen Of The Underworld she was going to stumble across a demonic resurrection spell in the Grimoire to bring Prue back but atlas that never happened. I truely believed that Prue was going to come back but she didn't, it disappointed me in the beginning but now I couldn't care less if she returned or not. 

I thought she would make an appearance at the end of Season 4. 

I thought that what Grams said was true. That seeing Prue right now, speaking to her, kept her alive to Piper. 

I kept faith for 5 years that Prue would come back eventually. I kind of liked the nod to her in 7x22. 

I feel sadness when I ever watch the post opening credits to A Knight To Remember when Piper is in Prue's room, holding her necklace and wearing her jacket. For me is symbolises the reality and sadness that Prue would never come back. 

[Emmett]

The WORST one was posting an April fools joke that Prue would be back, but posting it a day earlier on March 31st. That broke my heart that a site would dare post something like that to get Prue fan's hopes up. So cruel.

I did keep up hope she'd appear. Especially with all the wishful news we got over the years, that gave hope.

[shandofan]

I don't know what I really thought...but I was so hoping for her to return, so I guess yeah, I thought she'd be back?

In Season 4, I watched the credits in the beginning very carefully and was hoping to catch her name, but it never appeared. I could've known though, as by the time S4 was shown here all episodes already aired in the States.

Then, sometime when S5 was airing in the States I read on some Charmed website that there would be an episode with flashbacks and everyone is hoping to see Prue there, but then we got Cat House, which is such a disappointment. They just shouldn't have done it all.

Nov 14, 2021 1:18:55 GMT -5 Aaeiyn said:

Other: I knew Shannen would never return, physically, for any new additional episodes.  But, she has no say in the show utilizing her likeness from shots/scenes already taken of her.  She doesn't own anything that she appeared in, from S1-S3.  The network does, so I was hoping for flashbacks and/or photos, on the wall, from S1-S3.  S5E18 "Cat House" was close (with her back, on the motorcycle).  It was very nice of the show to abide by her wishes, though in not using her likeness.  Or, the show thought, "no problem, that means we won't have to pay you" LOL

When I researched about this topic, I only found the information that the network would have had to pay her a (seemingly very high) fee per episode for using her pictures/flashback scenes, and that they "couldn't afford to do so" (but no statements on how much it would have costed). When/where did Shannen say that she didn't want it?

[Aaeiyn]

Nov 16, 2021 8:06:48 GMT -5 shandofan said:

When I researched about this topic, I only found the information that the network would have had to pay her a (seemingly very high) fee per episode for using her pictures/flashback scenes, and that they "couldn't afford to do so" (but no statements on how much it would have costed). When/where did Shannen say that she didn't want it?

Two things can be true at once, but I'll use the word "allegedly", as the information regarding Shannen not wanting her likeness to be used has been rumored for many many years. That being said, I did find this one interview, with Holly Marie Combs saying "did anybody tell Shannen? We might have a problem." as a response to the comics question asked, and it having Prue, in it. We can infer if it's just about the money (I think it might be both, personally), or Holly may have implied that it wasn't OK'd by Shannen. Here's that interview, and I linked it to the time stamp, when that question was asked, and Holly's response.

[rebooted]

it was like a reality check growing up.

all good things don't last forever.

its ok to have hope but also to gave gratitude.

don't cry because its over. smile because it happened.