CHARMED TO BE ON TNT!

[vandergraafk]

Maybe it's time to devote a thread to TNT. 2007 got off to a great start with a five hour mini-marathon that showed It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World Parts 1 and 2, Something Wicca This Way Goes, Still Charmed and Kicking and Malice in Wonderland.
On Sunday (New Year's Eve), there was an eight hour marathon of Charmed that ran from Lucky Charmed through Oh My Goddess Parts 1 and 2. I managed to catch 9 of the 13 hours.

It's strange to call this a marathon in the usual sense. The promo suggested that perhaps a best of might be shown. Sunday's eight hour marathon featured many of the weakest Charmed episodes. of course, it did answer the burning question as to why the morning cycle on Friday departed from Lucky Charmed and scrolled back to Enter the Demon. But, then Monday's marathon raised more questions as it started with the usual afternoon cycle. (On Friday, TNT concluded with Witch Wars!) Then, curiously all but one episode of Season 7 was skipped. Wow!

So what does the immediate future hold. In addition to Law and Order Tuesdays and Without a Trace Wednesdays, TNT will have Charmed Mondays featuring a five hour block of Charmed from 4 pm to 9 pm. Holy vanquish! I suppose these episodes will run in order. Still, that's quite a block and TNT should be encouraged and applauded for its devotion to Charmed. (We should send TNT an e-mail.) I hope this push can help get a Charmed spin-off on the air sometime soon. I hope also that it will keep Simon and Schuster interested enough in maintaining a now diminished production schedule for the Charmed series of books. (The next book does not arrive until May 2007.) The final every other month book, Phoebe (Who) was released in December.

In the event, TNT's blockbuster led me to consider a challenge of sorts. I've opened a thread in my own forum charmedverse.proboards74.com to work this out. In a nutshell, here's the challenge. Suppose we (the fans, that is) had complete freedom to schedule a 24 hour Charmed marathon. The only condition would be that whatever episodes were selected, the entire showing would have to convey the major plot stories for the entire run of Charmed. Thus, you couldn't just show Death Becomes Them, Something Wicca and the entire Season 8 in one 24 hour period. On average, you could select 3 episodes per season. Could we select these 24 episodes and meet the condition set forth above?

I'm already pulling out my hairs because I'm not even sure if that could be done. However, maybe we could start with a 48 hour marathon. That would allow 6 episodes per season on average. This, I believe, is doable. Let's go for it!

[spiritsas]

Regarding the new Monday five hour blocks of Charmed. I looked ahead at the first set to be aired on the 8th and they seem to run in order. They are season 8 episodes. Technically, this block started on New Years Day, when TNT did a mini marathon on that day and the Sunday before. However, those blocked seemed to be all over the place. Well, at least the Sunday ones were. The Monday shows may have been more connected, but not sure.

Either way, TNT is doing an incredible job capitalizing on the shows popularity. They've been showing four hours of Charmed each week day for some months now, running different seasons in the morning two hours than in the afternoon. I'm not sure how much more saturation they can do, but they do appear to want to get their money's worth out of them.

Will this help keep the show alive enough, in the mind of the viewers, to help get a spinoff on the air. It's possible. Certainly, Law and Order reruns, which are show about as often as Charmed, if not more, help the shows popularity for the new episodes. Obviously, several L&O spinoffs have come about and you know they will wind up on TNT at some point too.

TNT often gets the shows out of order, for no apparent reason, at least not apparent to us viewers, but they should be applauded for respecting the show for what it is. I wonder if they skip certain episodes for specific reasons or are influenced to do so, by sponsors. Actors, if they worked their contracts well, often get residuals every time an episode is played. Does this influence which are played and skipped in some manner. Just speculation. There's probably some other bizarre reason this happens as, certainly, the TNT schedulers know the order of the shows.

[vandergraafk]

TNT is our best ally in terms of getting a Charmed spin-off on the air. Second, doesn't it seem as if TNT has run more promos for Charmed Mondays (the 5 hour block) than the WB ever ran for the entire 8 year run? We need to send congrats to TNT. Does anybody have a special e-mail address to make viewer comments?

[Elder]

vandergraafk said:

Suppose we (the fans, that is) had complete freedom to schedule a 24 hour Charmed marathon. The only condition would be that whatever episodes were selected, the entire showing would have to convey the major plot stories for the entire run of Charmed.

This could be done rather easily if you don't mind putting Paige's episodes mixed with Prue's.

[vandergraafk]

I'm not sure I would agree that it would be easy. But, yes, Prue and Paige must be included. On my forum site, I gave a 48 hour option to make it a bit easier. That's an average of 6 episodes per season!

[vandergraafk]

What's going on with TNT? Do they have to butcher the theme song in order to squeeze in more commercials? Come on!

[chrmd4life]

You noticed that too! It's all about the commercials. Oh well, at least we get to keep seeing the episodes!

[vandergraafk]

I will accept it only to the extent that as long as it is being aired, there is the possibility that new viewers will discover the magic of Charmed. However, one of the hooks for me was the theme song. Butcher it and well .... Still, the stories themselves, as well as the actors, speak volumes for themselves.

[oldwitch]

I hate that they cut the song short, but at least they are keeping the show on! Let's try to get as many new viewers as we can for as long as we can.

[vandergraafk]

Yes, and they've done it to the morning airing as well. Pooh on TNT!

[spiritsas]

V-

Go easy on TNT. They may screw up the episode order, show the same ones in the am as in the pm (in the same week), but they are the only ones showing Charmed and it's on 19 hours a week, M-F. Can't be too upset with them because if not on TNT then we'd only watch them on DVD. It's like the show is still alive, even if only in reruns. I know you know what I mean.

[vandergraafk]

I will grant your premise, Spiritkas. But, I am concerned. I know that one of the truly fascinating bits of the theme song was not just the music itself, but the snippets of episodes themselves. They were put together as a sort of mosaic. Oftentimes, I find myself reminiscing about which episode that snippet was from. (And, I always get confused by the Season 1 snippet where the demon has a hideous, vampire like face.) All of this fun and joy has been removed. It blips by way too fast. I worry that what worked for me and perhaps others may not be available to new viewers. They may not be as easily lured in.

[Winchester Witch]

If I had cable I'd watch TNT every night just for that!!!!!!!

[spiritsas]

V-
I hear you. The longer the show is gone, more people lose touch with it, despite the reruns. From the previous entry, not everyone gets TNT, so the audience has shrunk even further for possible new viewers. I remember when Star Trek (the original) was on in 1968, the last year it was showing new episodes. It was a partial season, which only happened due to a viewer write in campaign. However, like most fans, I got hooked mostly watching the reruns. It was not until 1987 that Star Trek NG came out, almost 20 years after the original, even though there had been a couple of movies made with the original cast by then. I sincerely hope we don't have to wait 20 years to see a Charmed spin off or recreation.

[vandergraafk]

Imagine if Star Trek had had its theme music clipped in re-runs. No, I don't even want to imagine that. And, yes I too remember the original run of Star Trek. I was hooked from Episode 1.

[charmedgirl08]

I am glad that charmed is on TNT now. Everyday i come home and get to watch charmed episodes. Since charmed is no longer on the cw, TNT has become the place to watch charmed

[spiritsas]

They started S8 again on the morning (8-10, EST) showings, today.

[vandergraafk]

What did they do yesterday? On Monday, they finished with Death Becomes Them. Did they repeat that for continuity's sake on Tuesday? Or did they pair Something Wiccan with Still Charmed and Kicking?

[spiritsas]

So, what's up now with TNT and the reruns? They went through S8 in the morning and are working towards it in the afternoon, but they didn't go back to S1, they went back to S4 (post Prue and SD). Does anyone know if there's a reason they didn't go back to the beginning. I hope it's not one of those legal issues with showing SD episodes, again.

[charmedfan4evr]

Yes, I also realized. I hope that isn't the issue.