tv show Charmed: Original Series Discussion | Complete Blu Ray Boxset Released

[chosensparkles]

57 minutes ago, Buffy said:

It got so stupid. Phoebe became unbearable to watch. I don’t know how the main actors didn’t see the decline in the show’s writing. How do you go from S1-S4 and then suddenly break out into episodes with dwarves, mermaids, dragons, elves, and Excalibur (which happens to be Holly’s favorite episode ever  - no wonder the show was doomed)? They also got super lazy with the vanquishes too. All they ever did was throw potions in S7-S8. 
 

Look at this, the Triad got vanquished by potions. Hearing them cast spells and seeing unique vanquishes was what made the show fun to watch 

 

 

yes and it got more stupid, I remember when Piper started killing demons just by making them explode on her own

like before it was harder for them to actually vanquish them

it became a parody after S4, like the fact Alyssa, Rose and Holly still believe it's the best female show ever and stuff

[John Slayne]

6 hours ago, chosensparkles said:

yes and it got more stupid, I remember when Piper started killing demons just by making them explode on her own

like before it was harder for them to actually vanquish them

i agree overall that the quality dipped after S4, but to this specific point - their powers were supposed to grow over time and they were the charmed ones, so it made sense that killing lower level demons was a lot easier for them later in the show.

 

as far as all the unnecessary magic stuff they brought out later in the show, i absolutely hated the magic school 

[John Slayne]

On 6/20/2023 at 12:57 AM, Nano said:

With the exception of the Avatars storyline

the avatars storyline was one of my least favourite, it was sooo lazily written and tried to be deeper than it was. Zankou >>>>

[Dream]

I often wonder what the show's legacy would be like if it ended with Season 4. Would it be as well remembered today with only 88 episodes? I think critical appreciation for it would be much fonder since people often point to Phoebe turning into a mermaid or the introduction of Magic School as when the show jumped the shark. But hitting 100+ episodes helped the show stay in syndication all these years later.

 

I blame The WB more than the producers or the actresses. Allegedly, the evil Phoebe storyline was going to last until the 100th episode and the show was going to remain darker but The WB didn't like the idea. They kept threatening the show with cancellation in Season 4 so the writers condensed everything they had planned into one season, leaving them with absolutely nothing for Season 5 onwards. So messy.

[chosensparkles]

7 hours ago, Dream said:

I often wonder what the show's legacy would be like if it ended with Season 4. Would it be as well remembered today with only 88 episodes? I think critical appreciation for it would be much fonder since people often point to Phoebe turning into a mermaid or the introduction of Magic School as when the show jumped the shark. But hitting 100+ episodes helped the show stay in syndication all these years later.

 

I blame The WB more than the producers or the actresses. Allegedly, the evil Phoebe storyline was going to last until the 100th episode and the show was going to remain darker but The WB didn't like the idea. They kept threatening the show with cancellation in Season 4 so the writers condensed everything they had planned into one season, leaving them with absolutely nothing for Season 5 onwards. So messy.

Oh please the way Alyssa, Holly and Rose defended the show storylines and love the worst episodes… clearly they did enjoy the mess and were content with it.

glad they didn’t drag the dark Phoebe storyline, it was… cringy sometimes

[Dream]

1 hour ago, chosensparkles said:

Oh please the way Alyssa, Holly and Rose defended the show storylines and love the worst episodes… clearly they did enjoy the mess and were content with it.

glad they didn’t drag the dark Phoebe storyline, it was… cringy sometimes

But even if they were content with the show at the time, they didn't have much influence over the writing. Holly and Alyssa's producer title was mostly for vanity and extra $$$.

 

I don't remember Rose defending the show's storylines. Holly drags the show a bit on her rewatch podcast and calls out some of the silly stuff now.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Dream

[chosensparkles]

10 minutes ago, Dream said:

But even if they were content with the show at the time, they didn't have much influence over the writing. Holly and Alyssa's producer title was mostly for vanity and extra $$$.

 

I don't remember Rose defending the show's storylines. Holly drags the show a bit on her rewatch podcast and calls out some of the silly stuff now.

meh... tbh I had such a good memory of Charmed and when I did a rewatch two years ago, I was embarassed at how bad it became after 4... and it was a struggle to finish it

[Dream]

Just now, chosensparkles said:

meh... tbh I had such a good memory of Charmed and when I did a rewatch two years ago, I was embarassed at how bad it became after 4... and it was a struggle to finish it

oh yeah you're definitely right about that. 1-4 and 5-8 feel like they aired on two different channels, that's how different the vibe feels.

[chosensparkles]

2 minutes ago, Dream said:

oh yeah you're definitely right about that. 1-4 and 5-8 feel like they aired on two different channels, that's how different the vibe feels.

I'm glad Buffy stayed consistent to the great quality from 1-7, one of my fav shows not ruined by time passing by

[Dream]

Let's remember the fact that Brad Kern wanted Paige and Cole to develop feelings for each other in season 5 but Holly, Alyssa, and Rose thankfully refused to play that storyline. So season 5 could've been even worse than what we got. It might also explain why that season was so disjointed, possibly due to rewrites. Kern really had no idea how to run the show.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Dream

[Julianna Calm Down]

Can we just appreciate the S3 finale? I remember watching it at my grandmother's house as a kid, not knowing that it was the S3 finale or anything - just thinking it was a "regular" episode, and that everything would be okay at the end. The sisters would come together, overcome the challenge, vanquish the demon and all would be fine in the end like it usually was. All Hell Breaks Loose left me TRAUMATISED to say the least. I've never been the same since and find it a bit touchy to re-watch that episode to this day. Now that is good TV sistrens. 

[ithinkheknowsoutsold]

On 7/23/2023 at 9:38 PM, ithinkheknowsoutsold said:

Rewatching the show for the first time in years, and the first 3 seasons have been amazing so far. I always preferred the Prue seasons but I do love Paige as a character, I'm excited to see how the rest of it goes.

Finally finished watching the series.

 

Y'all were right, there's a big quality dip after Season 4 but honestly that didn't bother me too much till maybe season 7. For all their flaws, season 5 and especially season 6 were still very entertaining. However season 7 was an absolute slog to get through, especially the final third after the Avatars arc had been dropped. The girls had become very unlikeable by that point, and Piper constantly bitching about wanting a normal life and Phoebe constantly ranting about work and boys infuriated me to no extent. Paige was quite likeable even then, but by season 8 even she had started to become more like the other two. 

 

My least favourite aspect of it was how the girls really became indifferent to helping innocents or fighting demons unless something affected them personally. Paige still took the initiative to learn about the craft and save innocents, but Phoebe and Piper were unforgivable. I really hated Wyatt being given all these extra powers and the whole evil Wyatt arc in Season 6 was quite middling till the final few episodes when Gideon really stepped the game up. Zankou was boring and predictable and with the Avatars the show was just not able to handle the idea of a utopia with the kind of depth required to go about it. In Season 8 Billie was far more likeable than the Charmed ones, and I wish Christy had been given more focus than Phoebe's stupid relationship issues since she was a far more interesting character. That whole plot in season 8 could've been really interesting had the writers given it more time to develop.

 

I did really enjoy the build up of drama over the 3 episodes prior to the finale, but I am still so mad Prue wasn't featured in the finale.

 

Ultimately, Charmed is still a thoroughly enjoyable show and one that I will watch again in the future, but there's a clear discrepancy in quality between the first and second half, and by the final two seasons that had been especially apparent. 

[ithinkheknowsoutsold]

2 hours ago, Julianna Calm Down said:

Can we just appreciate the S3 finale? I remember watching it at my grandmother's house as a kid, not knowing that it was the S3 finale or anything - just thinking it was a "regular" episode, and that everything would be okay at the end. The sisters would come together, overcome the challenge, vanquish the demon and all would be fine in the end like it usually was. All Hell Breaks Loose left me TRAUMATISED to say the least. I've never been the same since and find it a bit touchy to re-watch that episode to this day. Now that is good TV sistrens. 

That was a brilliant episode, the way they built up all the drama and for there to be actual consequences instead of everything going back to normal made it feel like something truly epic. I wish the latter half of the series had more episodes like that and Morality Bites which dealt with more serious themes.

[ithinkheknowsoutsold]

3 hours ago, chosensparkles said:

I'm glad Buffy stayed consistent to the great quality from 1-7, one of my fav shows not ruined by time passing by

Eh, a lot of fans think Buffy too had a dip in quality post season 5.

[ithinkheknowsoutsold]

13 hours ago, Dream said:

Allegedly, the evil Phoebe storyline was going to last until the 100th episode and the show was going to remain darker but The WB didn't like the idea.

I really hate how the show treated Cole like a villain even though he was possessed and brainwashed the whole time.

[chosensparkles]

1 minute ago, ithinkheknowsoutsold said:

Eh, a lot of fans think Buffy too had a dip in quality post season 5.

S6 was brilliant, S7 was rushed but still not as bad as anything Charmed has done

[John Slayne]

5 hours ago, ithinkheknowsoutsold said:

I wish the latter half of the series had more episodes like that and Morality Bites which dealt with more serious themes.

I know people love Morality Bites, but to me it's one of the worst episodes of early Charmed  the resolution is deeply unsatisfying imo, but I get what they were trying to do 

 

 

[John Slayne]

9 hours ago, Dream said:

Let's remember the fact that Brad Kern wanted Paige and Cole to develop feelings for each other in season 5 but Holly, Alyssa, and Rose thankfully refused to play that storyline. So season 5 could've been even worse than what we got.

omg that would've been even more awful than what they did to Cole. I personally hated how he was treated all throughout S5, the girls kind of made him a villain with their prejudice. he should've stayed on the show as Phoebe's partner. 

[D_Man3379]

5 hours ago, ithinkheknowsoutsold said:

Eh, a lot of fans think Buffy too had a dip in quality post season 5.

 

Isn’t Season 4 the one fans think is a most low of series? 

[Click Clack]

omg how did i miss this thread 

[Click Clack]

On 5/22/2023 at 7:18 PM, GraceRandolph said:

How do you guys rank the sisters? For me:

 

1. Paige

2. Prue

3. Piper

4. PhoeME!

prue

piper

paige 

phoebe 

[ithinkheknowsoutsold]

34 minutes ago, John Slayne said:

the resolution is deeply unsatisfying imo, but I get what they were trying to do 

The resolution is also the only part I don't like, it feels inconclusive and lets down all the tension that had been built up throughout the whole episode. Still, it's a great episode and I think the glimpses of the girls' futures in that episode were far more interesting than what actually happened.

[John Slayne]

1 minute ago, ithinkheknowsoutsold said:

The resolution is also the only part I don't like, it feels inconclusive and lets down all the tension that had been built up throughout the whole episode. Still, it's a great episode and I think the glimpses of the girls' futures in that episode were far more interesting than what actually happened.

blonde Prue served down. i can get behind that! 

[ithinkheknowsoutsold]

On 5/23/2023 at 5:18 AM, GraceRandolph said:

How do you guys rank the sisters? For me:

 

1. Paige

2. Prue

3. Piper

4. PhoeME!

#1. Prue 

#2. Phoebe (S1-S3)

#3. Paige

#4. Piper (S1, S4)

#6. Piper (S2, S5-S8)

#7. Phoebe (S4-S8)

 

Phoebe in season 1 and Phoebe in season 6 are completely different people.

Edited September 20, 2023 by ithinkheknowsoutsold

[John Slayne]

for me:

 

1. Prue

2. Paige

3. Phoebe

4. Piper