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Post by whitelightertony on Oct 24, 2007 0:15:31 GMT -5
The WB's contract with Charmed was for three years, which means that's the minimum they could commit to? The WB would have had the option to continue with Charmed past Season 3 (which they did).
The reason I clarify this is because no network is going to pick up a primetime episodic series with the explicit intention to run only three years and nothing beyond that. Networks and studios want to hit that magic 100 episode mark so the show will be more profitable in syndication, and three seasons would have given Charmed only 66 episodes total.
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Post by ArchAngel on Oct 25, 2007 9:02:07 GMT -5
The WB's contract with Charmed was for three years, which means that's the minimum they could commit to? The WB would have had the option to continue with Charmed past Season 3 (which they did). The reason I clarify this is because no network is going to pick up a primetime episodic series with the explicit intention to run only three years and nothing beyond that. Networks and studios want to hit that magic 100 episode mark so the show will be more profitable in syndication, and three seasons would have given Charmed only 66 episodes total. Uh, Uh. Star Trek was Canceled with a shorter life then the original contract for Charmed. Constant re-runs, syndication, novels, Multiple Movies, multiple spin offs, yearly conventions, and a permanent Museum/Casino in Vegas... Proof that longevity isn't a guarantee of success or popularity.....also is proof that sometimes it's better to burn out then fade away But 3 years is standard and if Charmed hadn't held it's own it could have been yanked for no real reason like Star Trek was. Mom is watching my Charmed DVDs and I am reminded that in the end the "Ultimate battle" was between Billie the Super Witch and her Firestarter Sister and the ex-Charmed Ones were just spectators (and weaklings compared to the real combatants of the battle)....kinda, what was that over used phrase?, Anti-climatic...lol, but I was yawning since Season 5. |
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Post by whitelightertony on Oct 27, 2007 5:02:13 GMT -5
Do you honestly believe that when Star Trek first premiered, NBC said, "We're only going to let this show run three years, no longer"...?
No way! If Star Trek had been a major ratings hit, NBC would have gone out of its way to keep it on the air for as long as possible.
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Post by ArchAngel on Oct 28, 2007 11:06:17 GMT -5
Do you honestly believe that when Star Trek first premiered, NBC said, "We're only going to let this show run three years, no longer"...? No way! If Star Trek had been a major ratings hit, NBC would have gone out of its way to keep it on the air for as long as possible. Yeah, point is that there are no guarantees either way in T.V. Land But on the upside it kept Star Trek "fresh" to where it turned into multiple spin offs, multiple movies, Conventions that showed the old Series, and almost 40 years of Syndication just on the Original 2 seasons, plus the Release to Video and DVD (with bnonuses and extras) Look at Charmed......all it's showings are on TNT where I am, they drove it into the ground so much that the writers were exhausted and left skid marks at the hint of a "spin off" by fans, and I just lost a DVD-Ram that had episodes 151-156 due to corruption and only was able to get Scry Hard off the disk before it Crashed and missed Freaky Phoebe and Little BOx of Horrors but got the last 3 Eppisodes for Season 7, and when my mom saw the eppisodes she didn't even miss the 2 eppisodes. Actually I have 2 sided cartrige rams with all the eppisodes of Charmed and turns out she was only watching one side of all the seasons and thought she watched the "complete series" (Shows you how much "filler" was in there) Don't really morn the lost of the last 6 eppisodes of Season 7 and it was only because my mom was complaining that she wanted to see the girls fight Zanku and by luck TNT was in the back end of Season 7 that I bothered to rebuild the RAM with 2 placers for Freaky Phoebe and Little Box of Horrors comes around again.....if I catch it....If I care to...lol It is the last time I use a overused RAM disk for archiving though (Was using it over and over to record American Idol and thought it was still stable enough to archive Charmed 7 151-156...opps,my bad) |
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Post by whitelightertony on Oct 28, 2007 13:59:27 GMT -5
So what was your original point? The show may have initially been contracted for 3 years, but there was always the option of The WB extending the show's contract beyond that point. The WB was never going to intentionally end the show at Season 3.
And the actresses (at least, HMC and AM, since Shannen was released from her contract) had each signed five-year contracts from the beginning, I believe with the clause that they could have the option to become producers beginning with the fourth year of their contract.
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Post by ArchAngel on Nov 19, 2007 0:32:50 GMT -5
Well I think she was a good writer but Constance Burg didn't want the character of Cole at all from what I've read and heard I think the main thing that she had against Cole is the fact that he's a demon Actually I am thinking that Constance was more worried about giving her "Rebel Character" a Steady and screwing up the fact that Phoebe ran away from New York cause of a failed relationship over there and now they want to give her a Boyfriend and ruin the fact that the show is about sisters that happen to be witches and not about the Girls relationship with men, or their Career. COle and Phoebe took up valuable airtime but the ratings held and went up not cause of the Relationship Drama B.S. but cause the Tabliods said Shannen and Alyssa were being catty with each other. Exit Shannen, and the Show being a part of WB's "We Know relationship Drama" B.S. with no tabliods stories making people tune in to see if the "tension between Shannen and Alyssa is noticable on screen" and the Show peeked then spiral downhill in the ratings as the people who watched it more for the Demon fighting then the "Problems with men","Phoebe's Love live", and "Phoebe and then Paige trying to find themselves"<puke> made it much more fun for the Male viewers to flip to channels with Girl gone Wild Infomercials during the "Sappy parts"...lol In My case I would be in the Kitchen during the first 10 minutes and even in the bathroom during the last 10 minutes of the show cause that was usually the useless Phoebe talky time with the flavor o' the week....lol Just recently one of my DVD-Rams with Charmed Season 7 on it started to fail while my mom was watching it and I only manage to transfer Episode 152 before the ram Crashed. I told my mom..."don't worry you aren't missing much" It was only because she was complaining that she wanted to see the rest of the eppisodes that I happen to catch Season 7 missing only "Sin City" and "Freaky Phoebe". (of course I didn't tell her that) She was happy and didn't even notice that the filler "Another Fricken Phoebe Episode"(what I labed Freaky Phoebe on the DVD-Ram..lol) was missing....and thats the truth. If I happen to catch "Freaky Phoebe" and "Sin City" the next time they swing around, fine, if I don't I won't shed tears for such otherwise uselessness  |
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Post by LeosSON on Nov 19, 2007 15:05:21 GMT -5
I think the show started to decline in season 5. Season 4 was still very much about sisters who happen to be witches. But I also feel that season 4 was too much. Even though I love season 3 and 4 the best, I look back at season 4 now and think “yea… it was a little too dark”. Season 4 could have been spread into two seasons making season 5 the season they defeat the source. I felt that killing the source killed the shows reason for existing.
Up to that point, the show was challenging. The demons were challenging and dangerous. Once they killed the source, everything slowly declined. Each season after, the show just got less and less intriguing. Season 5, although unique and fun, was too light. Some will disagree. It was an interesting season, that’s for sure. But I didn’t care for the fairytale aspect of it. I felt it ruined the realistic aspect of the show. I felt that they dropped Paige is the new sister and just pretend Prue never existed. That Paige had always been there so there was no need to develop the sisterly relationship accept for maybe an episode or two. I stopped watching half way through because I was so disappointed with the change. I didn’t like how they handled Cole’s character. I’m sure most agree. Phoebe changed as well. There was a total difference from season 4 finale to season 5 premiere. Phoebe starting hating on Cole and the sisters as well. What was up with that? Why couldn’t they give Cole one more chance and instead of killing him off as a bad guy (Centennial Charmed. Best ep of the season), they could have had him be a good guy and die protecting the sisters or Phoebe. I hated the way he went out. Uncalled for.
I also felt that rules were broken as the show went on also known as inconsistencies. One thing that bothered me about season 4 was the changing of the source. The source looked demonic and scary. He had a red cloak and red skin. By season 4. They gave him a weak black cloak and he became a bluish-gray. That annoyed me. They really defeated him way too early. I also think they could have struggled a little bit with Shax. I also felt he was defeated a little too easily.
The season 5 finale (the last scene) reminded me of the potential the show has and hoping that one day the show would return to that serious drama the show use to be so I watched season 6. Mainly because of Chris. I felt Chris brought back a family dynamic that was gone since Prue. Chris brought each of the sisters together and everyone was a family again. Chris Crossed was an awesome episode (no where near All Hell Breaks Loose. Of course no episode beats that one) but after that, the 2nd half was OKAY.
I noticed that from season 6 (maybe even season 5) that the first half of the seasons were always pretty good but the 2nd half declined in quality until the last 2 or 3 episodes. I don’t know why that would be but that is my observation. Courtship of Wyatt’s Father was good though. Another thing that bothered me, was the Wyatt is evil storyline. There was SO much potential with that. They showed us in Chris Crossed that Wyatt was consumed with power and not evil. But Gideon is the reason he turns evil? Etc. I just thought that was dumb. To top it off, they kill off Chris. I felt that was a big no no. They should have kept him around another season. They could have had season 7 be all about future Wyatt returning to kill the sisters and whether or not the sisters (piper) would have to kill him. It could have been a dramatic full circle way to go out and end the series. But whatever.
Season 7 started off well. There’s Something About Leo and Witchness Protection were two of the best episodes of the season. I almost started to believe the show was on track again. The avatars from season 5 were going to be developed more and it’s going to be great. But instead, yet again, the 2nd half declined in quality. They introduce random Zankou and rap up the Avatar plot before it has time to get off the ground. I wanted to see some power usage but Piper just threw her hand up throwing back one or two of them while Zankou did the same and they had a conversation to undo everything. Way too easy and boring. Instead of making Kyle go all crazy, they make him nice and become a Whitelighter. I hated that. I wanted d**n drama. Not all this get out of jail free crap. I will say that Billy Zane even with his 3 short episodes made the 2nd half seem better.
They tried to make Zankou this smart demon but then they go around and make him and the sisters do dumb things for sake of storyline. There were many times they could have hurt or killed one another. It was all just eh.
Everything that made the show what it was declined after season 4. Slowly but surely. The power of three, the book of shadows, powers, etc. All were going down the drain. There reasoning for budget not giving Phoebe back her powers was stupid. She can’t use her powers but everyone else can? That made no sense.
Season 8 started off OKAY, got a little better half way through but the 2nd half sucked. The whole season was a mess. The character of Billie and her stupid sister just took over the show. I felt like it was season 5 but a lot worse. I will admit though, the sisterly bonding was back but everything else was just crap. The show never really went back to it’s glory days. I love season 1-4, have absolutely no problem with the episodes. I can re-watch them over and over but season 5-8 I can’t do the same. There are only a couple episodes in season 5-8 that were classic Charmed episodes. The rest are just no re-watchable.
Sean
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Post by whitelightertony on Nov 22, 2007 2:09:59 GMT -5
I agree whole-heartedly with this. But in light of all of the fan worship as to how much "smarter" Zankou supposedly was (compared to every other Big Bad), his character was, in my humble opinion, overrated.
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Post by ArchAngel on Nov 25, 2007 9:16:21 GMT -5
Up to that point, the show was challenging. The demons were challenging and dangerous. Once they killed the source, everything slowly declined. The Charmed Ones "Destiny" and the Main Story Line was to find,Challange, and defeat the Source with the first mention of the Source By Hannah and Rex who were agents of "Him" and Hannah being burned up by what would latter be known as the Source's "Firestarter power" after she accidently killed Rex....lol There really was no point to keep there jobs as "Charmed Ones" when the Angel of Destiney offered. And no, the Angel only could answer questions in the context of the way they were asking so no longer Being "Charmed" had nothing to do with being born witches with active powers, so they could have given up being Charmed without giving up there actve powers or being Witches. |
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Post by whitelightertony on Nov 25, 2007 17:19:16 GMT -5
Sure there was. To make sure that the Innocent were still protected, to make sure a new Source didn't arise from the chaos in the Underworld, and to bring a whole new generation of magical and powerful offspring into the world.
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piper123
Familiar
Charmed= Piper + Leo
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Post by piper123 on Dec 18, 2007 15:45:56 GMT -5
Just on the original point. Season 6 was absoloutlely ridiculous childish nonsense. But i love all the other seaosns! With 2&5 being my joint winners of best seaosn.
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ljones
Whitelighter
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Post by ljones on Dec 18, 2007 22:42:57 GMT -5
There were "innocents" around before the Charmed Ones appeared on the scene. And I'm sure there were others around to help them. It wasn't really necessary for the sisters to continue their little demon hunting activities.
This whole "with great powers come great responsibilities" mentality, which is apparent in shows and movies like CHARMED, BUFFY and SPIDER-MAN, strikes me as a load of nonsense. And the fact that many people get excited by the idea of fictional characters with special powers acting like a bunch of vigilantes - whether in costume or not - makes me wonder if humans like the idea of someone special "helping innocents", because they like the idea of worshipping heroes and heroines.
Perhaps people like the idea of another - especially someone special - helping the ordinary, because they like the idea of someone taking care of them and not taking responsibility for their own lives.
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Post by foxfire on Dec 21, 2007 2:06:29 GMT -5
You're clearly missing the point here when it comes to heroics. You're not digging deep enough into the world of superheroes and witches. Sure, they save people and that can be viewed as the thing about people wanting to be taken care of but what these heroes teach us is pretty incredible.
Take Wonder Woman, for instance. Sure she can kick butt and does in a bathing suit, but usually she prefers to talk things out if at all possible. She's incredibly gentle and believes in peace. She also believes in truth. If you ask me, she's a wonderful role model and isn't just a hero out there just because "people want to be taken care of and not be responsible". If anything these heroes teach us to be responsible. Geez.
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ljones
Whitelighter
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Post by ljones on Dec 21, 2007 15:33:53 GMT -5
You're clearly missing the point here when it comes to heroics. You're not digging deep enough into the world of superheroes and witches. Sure, they save people and that can be viewed as the thing about people wanting to be taken care of but what these heroes teach us is pretty incredible. Take Wonder Woman, for instance. Sure she can kick butt and does in a bathing suit, but usually she prefers to talk things out if at all possible. She's incredibly gentle and believes in peace. She also believes in truth. If you ask me, she's a wonderful role model and isn't just a hero out there just because "people want to be taken care of and not be responsible". If anything these heroes teach us to be responsible. Geez. It still strikes me as a desire for many fans to long for someone "special" or strong to take care of them, instead of taking responsibility for one's own life. I'm sorry, but that's how I feel. Shows like CHARMED and BUFFY and movies like SPIDER-MAN are entertaining. But I find it distrubing that many of these leading characters with special powers seem to believe that they have no choice but to act like a bunch of empowered vigilantes, because they have special abilities. What I find even more disturbing is that many fans of these stories seem to harbor the same belief. |
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Post by whitelightertony on Dec 21, 2007 16:39:25 GMT -5
It wasn't necessary...but it was still part of the Charmed Ones' destiny, because having the Power of Three on the side of Good gave half of the magical community a leg-up over Evil.
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Post by foxfire on Dec 21, 2007 22:27:30 GMT -5
If you're given special abilities... what are you supposed to do? Suppress them? Use them for mundane things? If I had superpowers I would want to go out and help some innocents.
As for the vigilante-ism (if that's what you'd call it), it's not like you could go to the police and say "Listen, I have these special powers, can I help?". Although, heroes have been known to associate themselves with the law (like Batman much later on).
All heroes don't have superpowers. Take a look at Sydney Bristow of Alias.
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ljones
Whitelighter
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Post by ljones on Dec 21, 2007 23:01:24 GMT -5
If you're given special abilities... what are you supposed to do? Suppress them? Use them for mundane things? If I had superpowers I would want to go out and help some innocents. As for the vigilante-ism (if that's what you'd call it), it's not like you could go to the police and say "Listen, I have these special powers, can I help?". Although, heroes have been known to associate themselves with the law (like Batman much later on). All heroes don't have superpowers. Take a look at Sydney Bristow of Alias. One, Sydney Bristow is simply a well-trained spy, not a superhero. Two, the Halliwells were born with magical abilities because of their family line. Buffy Summers was born with super abilities because a trio of African shamans had decided to create a line of female vampire and demon slayers through a spell. The first girl who became a Slayer did so against her will, thanks to those three men. Peter Parker acquired super abilities because he was accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider. Just because one has special or magical abilities, does not mean that one HAS TO spend his or her life acting like some damn vigilante. If one wants to help others, that person should do so through CHOICE, not because he or she feels they have NO CHOICE. It has to be about CHOICE. I have no regard of anyone who goes around acting like a vigilante or "helping others" because they feel that they have no choice or because they believe it's a matter of DUTY. I find such reasoning cold and hypocritical. Sorry, but that is how I feel. If the Charmed Ones are going to interrupt their lives hunting down demons and other supernatural baddies, they should do so, because they WANT TO, not because they feel they have due to some abilities they just happen to possess. |
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Post by foxfire on Dec 22, 2007 16:46:53 GMT -5
The guilt would be too much if they didn't...
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Post by spellcheck on Jan 2, 2008 17:20:41 GMT -5
I have a lot to say about how the show went off track. The frustrating thing is, there were so many ways the writers could have recovered from the situations they were dealt.
I hated the way the loss of Shannen had to change the dynamic of the show in S4, but the writers started to recover from that. I didn't hate Paige, but it seemed they were in too much of a hurry to pigeonhole her into "baby sister" slot and never really develop her as a unique character. Making her quit her job was a big mistake in that regard.
The premise of the show had to change also after defeating the Source (3 times.) They tried to change the sister's mission from protecting the innocent to protecting the magical community. By that time the life expectancy of the average innocent was around 15 minutes. SO instead, we were treated to a parade of mermaids, Valkyries, nymphs, Muses, leprechauns...just so mind numbingly stupid. Instead of killing off Agent Jackman, a half-season story arc of the COs being manipulated by him to solve his unsolvable cases would have been an interesting way to get the girls back to basics and not still seem like a step backwards. Cole should have stayed dead.
I could go on more, but I am merciful. I understand that the writers were dealt a series of logistical problems, but there were so many ways they could have come back from them that could have turned out better.
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ljones
Whitelighter
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Post by ljones on Jan 2, 2008 21:52:25 GMT -5
if the series would have ended after season 3 then alot of us wouldn't be sitting here talking to each other right now. I'll bet you ten bucks that we would. That never made any sense to me. Why would the magical community need the Charmed Ones to protect them? Can't they do it on their own? How do you know? Innocents were being saved long before the Charmed Ones appeared on the scene. The Halliwells were never really needed to bring law and order to the magical community. Cole should have never been killed by the sisters while being possessed in the first place. But if you feel that he should have remained dead, then Leo should have remained dead in S8, instead of being kept in stasis by the Elders, so that they could manipulate the Halliwells into doing their bidding. |
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