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Charmed

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Charmed
File:Upfront05-head-CH.jpg
Created byConstance M. Burge
StarringHolly Marie Combs
Alyssa Milano
Rose McGowan
Shannen Doherty
Brian Krause
Dorian Gregory
Julian McMahon
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes178
Production
Running time41-44 min.
Original release
NetworkThe WB Television Network
ReleaseOctober 7, 1998 –
May 21, 2006

Charmed is a long-running American television series by Aaron Spelling about three sisters who are the most powerful good witches known throughout the supernatural community as "The Charmed Ones." Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve over the course of their lives. The Charmed Ones live together in a manor and use their supernatural abilities to battle the warlocks, demons and other evil forces that populate San Francisco, California.

The show is the last in its generation of supernatural-themed shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, or Roswell, and has many times been noted for its mixing of multiple genres (from horror and fantasy to comedy and even soap), as well as continuing despite a number of jump the shark moments, most famously the departure of one of the leading actresses at the end of season three. It also had the highest rated debut (until the debut of Smallville at 8.40 million), for the WB Television Network, with 7.70 million viewers tuning in for the series premiere, "Something Wicca This Way Comes".

As of January 2006, with the airing of episode 8.12, Charmed has become the longest running show with all-female leads, surpassing Laverne & Shirley. Also, after much fan speculation, in March 2006 it was officially announced by The WB that season eight would be the final season of the series, finishing its run on May 21. [1] [2].

Premise

Template:Spoiler Charmed began with the three Halliwell sisters — Prue, Piper and Phoebe — coming together six months after the death of their grandmother. After moving into the old family manor in San Francisco, the youngest sister, Phoebe, discovered an old book — the Book of Shadows — in the attic. Reading an incantation from it, she unwittingly set in motion events that fulfilled an ancient prophecy. Strange and harrowing occurrences began which eventually led the sisters to realize that they are witches.

They discovered that, not only do they possess supernatural powers, they come from a long line of powerful witches. The first in the line, Melinda Warren, prophesised that, one day, the Charmed Ones would be delivered from her lineage. A force of good, they would be three sisters gifted with the powers to battle the forces of evil. Prue Halliwell, the oldest sister, developed the power of telekinesis, later gaining the power of astral projection. Piper, the middle child, was initially given the power to freeze time (temporal stasis), later developing the power to blow things up, molecular combustion; both of these abilities are linked to molecular movement rate. Phoebe, the youngest sister, had the original power of premonitions, later obtaining the power to levitate; in addition, her empathic powers developed in later years.

After the tragic death of Prue, it was revealed that the sisters had a younger half-sister, born to their mother Patty and her whitelighter. As this was forbidden and unheard of at the time, the baby was given to a nun and later adopted by the Matthews, who named her Paige. Due to her whitelighter father, she has the power to "orb". This also had an effect on the powers she inherited from Prue, and instead of telekinesis, Paige is able to call for an object; the object in question will then orb to her.

A central theme throughout the show's run is the sisters' struggle to balance normal lives with their supernatural responsibilites. The burden of keeping their destinies a secret from the outside world has repeatedly created tensions in their friendships, workplaces and romantic relationships. Only a few know their secret and help them on a regular basis. The most important is Leo Wyatt, a whitelighter assigned by the Elders to guide and protect the sisters. Leo means a great deal to the sisters both professionally and personally: he heals their wounds, advises them collectively and individually and mediates between them and the enigmatic Elders. He is the love of Piper's life, her husband and father of her two children. Others who have kept the Charmed Ones' secret over the years include policemen Andy Trudeau and Darryl Morris, tormented half-demon Cole Turner — his demon half going by the name Belthazor — the mysterious time-traveler Chris Perry and most recently Billie Jenkins.

Characters

File:Charmedcast012cf0ee.jpg
The cast of Charmed in Season 8, From Left: Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell, Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell, Rose Mcgowan as Paige Matthews and finally Kaley Cuoco as Billie Jenkins

Main

Supporting

Recurring

Billing order

In the first 3 seasons, the actresses portraying the Charmed Ones are billed according to the ages of their characters: Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano. The initial 5 episodes lists the actors/characters as Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, T.W. King, Dorian Gregory, and Alyssa Milano. Beginning with episode 6, the Charmed ones are listed by character age, followed by the inspectors Andy Trudeau and Darryl Morris. From the 4th season onwards, the veteran leading actresses receive the coveted first and last billing while their new costar gets the middle spot: Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan, and Holly Marie Combs as "Piper". The leads are then followed by whichever supporting players are contracted for that particular season. If one of the supporting players does not appear in a particular episode, his/her name also does not appear in the opening credits. Brian Krause, who became a main cast member halfway through the 2nd season, was in virtually every episode by the 3rd season. His name is listed 4th in the credits from season 3 onwards, apart from in season 8 where Kaley Cuoco (Billie) takes that spot.

Show changes

In its eight-year course, Charmed has undergone many changes, including departure of cast and crew members, some of which have had a large impact on the series as a whole. While in the case of some of the newer changes executive producer Brad Kern openly referred to budget cuts as the reason, most of the changes happened without the reasons being released into public, giving rise to much speculation and debates among fans. Some of the changes are frequent topics of argument in almost every Charmed internet forum even today, most notably the Kern-Burge and the Milano-Doherty dispute.

Initial changes

  • The original cast of Charmed included actress Lori Rom in the role of Phoebe, who left the production, because of which some parts of the first episode were reshot to include Alyssa Milano.
  • Charmed was picked up for a full season after the ratings success of the first two episodes, according to the documentary The Women of Charmed produced in 1999. By then, the first few (most probably six) episodes had completed production. Some of the crew was then replaced, including the series' composer (thus discontinuing the use of the many chime instruments characteristic of the opening episodes).
  • Some basic story elements of Charmed's world laid down in these episodes were later changed. Notable examples are the Book of Shadows later established as untouchable by evil; Grams' husband and grandfather of the Charmed Ones, whose name and timeframe were changed; and the sisters' father Victor Bennet (then Halliwell), whose name, character and portraying actor were changed in later appearances.

Changes in story structure

Between the second and the third season, creator and executive producer Constance M. Burge had left the crew of the show, leaving her former position to executive producer Brad Kern. Burge continued to produce other shows, but remained as Charmed's creative consultant until season four. [3] Burge's departure resulted in changes in the story structure of the show, from a "demon of the week" system to using third or half season-long story arcs. Also, more importance was given to the protagonists' personal lives.

The serial connection of episodes culminated in the second half of season four. Despite the ratings actually raising during season four's final story arch from 4.19 to 4.21, the WB asked Brad Kern to abandon the serial system in the future. This led to the largely episodic structure of season five, and resulted in the two systems being balanced from the sixth season. The departure of Constance M. Burge has been often debated in Charmed fandom. While reasons were never made public, unsupported claims (such as Burge leaving because she did not agree to the introduction of the character Cole or because of the story arc-episodic structure debate) still circulate among fans debating over whether Kern or Burge would be a better producer.

Departure of Shannen Doherty

File:PrueHalliwell.jpg
Actress Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell

At the end of the third season, Shannen Doherty left the show, resulting in her character's death, and in the introduction of Rose McGowan's character Paige. While in episode 3.16 the Angel of Death foreshadowed Prue's death, episode 3.22 remained as a cliffhanger, and Prue's death was only established in the season four premiere episode. Fan speculation about continues to this day, some pointing to rumours of on-set issues with Doherty regarding punctual appearance at work and tension with co-workers, others putting blame on Alyssa Milano for reasons such as her supposedly asking the show's producers to let Doherty go. These rumours even today lead to harsh debates and flame wars over whether it was Doherty's, Milano's or someone else's "fault" that Doherty left.

Doherty's departure is the most known change in Charmed, and while there is debate over whether the show got better or worse after Prue's death, it is most often agreed that after season three the characters' dynamics have changed, and the individual sisters' storylines became more balanced.

Timeslot changes

The show witnessed multiple changes in its timeslot. From its initial Wednesday night, Charmed moved to Thursday nights in Season 2, and during Season 4 it moved again, this time to Sunday nights, becoming part of The WB's "Big Sunday" event. The change in broadcast day played a central role in the show's change of ratings, as from the moment Charmed moved to Sunday, its episodes had to continually compete with many other strong-rated shows, as well as events such as the Golden Globes.

Changes in the Charmed universe

In the first three seasons, Charmed's magical world introduced original concepts such as the spiritual nexus or the workings of the show's witchcraft, and involved creatures such as Whitelighters and Darklighters, and also a number of mythological creatures not frequently adapted to television, such as the Woogyman, the Wendigo or the Banshee. This is probably attributable to Constance M. Burge as well as story editor Robert Masello, introduced as the show's mythology expert (as seen in the 1999 documentary Women of Charmed).

Gradually from the fourth season, beside keeping the dominance of creatures with attributes explicitly created to conform to the storylines, Charmed started to rely more heavily on using creatures from classical (ie. Greek and Roman) mythology as well as from miscellaneous folklore items well-known in contemporary culture.

Budget cuts

Budget cuts in the last few seasons have led to many minor, and a few major changes in the show.

  • Budget cuts have caused demons to gradually become entirely human-like from the monsters with rich costumes and make-up witnessed in the first seasons.
  • One of the most notable budget-related changes was the WB's decision not to include Brian Krause and Dorian Gregory in season eight. As Brad Kern said in a number of interviews, he had to restructure the budget to include Krause in as much as ten episodes, to avoid abruptly ending his storyline. It was just confirmed in recent articles from TVGuide that Brian Krause will appear in the final two episodes of the series
  • In Charmed Magazine Issue 8, an interview with Brad Kern reveals that in season eight Kern, executive producers Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent and a number of crew members opted to reduce their own salaries in order to maintain the show's quality.
  • It is speculated that many of the powers used in the show (especially Phoebe's levitation) were cut mainly because of the budget. This also explains why Phoebe received empathy (a power that requires no special effects)

The Finale: Forever Charmed

Template:Spoiler The series will come to an end on May 21 2006. Shannen Doherty has stated that she won't be returning for the finale, but recently met with Rose McGowan in New York, and told her that she does a great job on the show. Brad Kern has said: "Prue's memory will be kept alive and be honored, but we didn't ask Shannen to come back. The show is more about the sisters who are here, not the one who's not." Kern said during the set visit that many of the fans' favorite characters from the past will be returning. The three sisters' grandmother and mom (Penny and Patty), the 'Future Chris', 'Future Wyatt' and others will be joining the end of the show for the wedding of Phoebe. "In one scene we will have 12 characters," Kern said. "It will include family from the past and also future generations to show that the life of Charmed will go on, even if it's not on TV."

The actors wrapped up production on April 12, 2006. Template:Endspoiler

Syndication

The series, which has been running since 1998, is shown on the WB television network in the United States and on CTV in Canada. The show has been licensed to other networks, such as the Turner Network Television channel, to show reruns.

  • Australia: Channel 10 (free-to-air channel) finished airing Season 7. They have acquired the rights to the 8th Season, and plan to show them later in the year. Meanwhile, TV1 (on Austar and Foxtel) shows seasons 1-4.
  • Belgium: Charmed reruns and new seasons always air on Kanaal Twee.
  • Bosnia and Serbia: Charmed is aired on Pink {Pink BIH} channel everyday.
  • Denmark: Charmed is shown on Tv3 (Danmark), and they are showing season 8. It is named "Heksene fra Warren Manor" (Danish), which translated means "The witches from Warren Manor".
  • Finland: Charmed is aired on Nelonen (Channel 4). Its Finnish name is "Siskoni on noita", which when translated back to English is "My Sister is a Witch". This can be seen as a reference to the Finnish name of Bewitched ("Vaimoni on noita"), which when translated in English is "My Wife is a Witch". They are currently sending season 7.
  • France: Charmed is aired on M6. Season 8 will be on M6 in September.
  • Germany: seasons 1 through 7 have been aired on Pro 7 under the title "Charmed - Zauberhafte Hexen", the latter phrase meaning "Magical Witches" (or, ambiguously, "Enchanting Witches"). The German dub was also bought by Austrian ORF1.In Switzerland starts the first season on SF 1.
  • Greece: "Star Channel" TV channel is currently showing (2005-06) season 7 every Sunday at 16:30.
  • Hungary: bought the show in 2003 and has broadcasted the series up to season 8 on TV2, with Season 8 most probably to be translated and aired in 2006. The show's title in Hungarian is Bűbájos boszorkák, roughly meaning "Charming witches".
  • India: it is shown on Star World.
  • Italy: Charmed (in Italian "Streghe") is primarily shown on Rai Due which shows the newest episodes, but it is on rerun on FOX and La 7.
  • Lebanon: the show airs on Star World, Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. It also airs on TV Land (Season 5 till now) and on MBC 4 (season 3 till now).
  • Macedonia: "Волшебнички" which in English means CHARMED airs on A1 TV, everynight at 23:00, and it's currently airing the 3rd season.
  • Malaysia: new seasons are aired by Star World and older seasons are currently showned on Ntv7.
  • Netherlands: Season 8 was being aired Friday nights at 8.30pm on NET 5, the last 8 episodes will be aired in May/June of 2006.
  • New Zealand: Charmed is shown on both TV3 and Sky1. TV3 is showing Season 8 on Tuesdays, and currently repeating season 6. While Sky1 is showing older repeats of the show, (season 5) on Sunday afternoon, repeating on Monday afternoon.
  • Norway: TV3 Norway is showing season 8 every Sunday.
  • Poland: Polsat is showing season 1 every Saturday.
  • Portugal: TVI is showing season 7 every night subtitled, season 8 will be shown later on this year.
  • Philippines: it airs on Studio 23 every Monday since March 1999, all year long with a complete repeat of the current season every year until the new season airs, which is usually end of March or early April. Season 8 on Studio 23 will finally air on March 6, at 8:20 p.m., and is advertised as "the final season of Charmed". Season 8 also currently airs every Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on Star World, an Australasia-wide cable channel.
  • Spain: new seasons are aired by Telecinco and older seasons are currently repeated by cable channel Cosmopolitan.
  • Sweden: Tv3 is showing season 8 at Sundays. In Sweden charmed is called 'förhäxad' which can be translated to 'bewitched'. Sweden is just a little bit lat from sendings in USA.
  • Turkey: Charmed is aired on Dizimax channel. Season 1-7 is broadcasted everyday.
  • Singapore: Charmed can be viewed on Mediacorp TV Channel 5 weekly at Wednesday night at 10:00pm. Currently there is no airing of the show, for Mediacorp TV Channel 5, as the timeslot is structured to fit American Idol. But, Charmed can be viewed at Star World Tuesday nights, 8:00pm.
  • United Kingdom and Ireland: Charmed can also be seen on satellite and cable channel Living TV and seasons 1-7 can be aired terrestrial channel Five as, according to this article, Channel 4 have bought the rights for season 8 on normal British terrestrial television in the United Kingdom and on TV3 in Ireland.
  • Malta: Charmed can be view on Thursdays at 9pm or Saturday at 10pm on LivingTv.

DVDs

DVD's of Charmed were released no earlier than 2005 mostly due to licensing issues with the commercial songs in the individual episodes.

The first seven Charmed DVD sets contain no special features whatsoever, in accordance with Paramount's "no extras" policy [4], and much to the chagrin of both the fans and of Charmed executive producer, Brad Kern, who has stated many times that his continuing efforts to persuade Paramount to include any extras were unsuccessful. [5]

In 2006, Paramount's television DVD department was taken over by CBS, resulting in a promise that the last Charmed DVD box set (Season 8, to be released in the UK by the end of 2006) will contain extras. [6]

Release dates

The first season was released initially in the United States. Australia, The United Kingdom, New Zealand and The Netherlands are in the lead in terms of DVD release dates.

Season Release Date
Australia Canada/US The Netherlands Norway/Sweden/Denmark UK New Zealand
1 May 18, 2005 February 1, 2005 April 4, 2005 April 27, 2005 June 6, 2005 June 23, 2005
2 July 21, 2005 September 6, 2005 June 16, 2005 August 31, 2005 August 1, 2005 August 24, 2005
3 September 6, 2005 November 15, 2005 September 22, 2005 October 26, 2005 October 3, 2005 September 22, 2005
4 November 3, 2005 February 28, 2006 November 24, 2005 January 11, 2006 November 21, 2005 November 17, 2005
5 February 16, 2006 June 6, 2006 February 23, 2006 March 22, 2006 March 6, 2006 March 23, 2006
6 April 6, 2006 2006 April 20, 2006 May 25, 2006 April 3, 2006 May 11, 2006
7 June 8, 2006 2006 June 22, 2006 July 5, 2006 June 5, 2006 2006
8 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006

Cover art

Cover art for most seasons is the same for Regions 1, 2 and 4. Currently, only the covers for seasons 3 and 5 have been changed for their Region 1 releases. As seasons 6 and 7 release information for Region 1 has yet to be announced, it is unknown whether or not the Region 2 and 4 covers will be used for the Region 1 releases.

Season
1
2
3
4
Region 1
Regions 2 & 4
Cover art
File:Char-s1.jpg
File:Char-s2.jpg
File:Char-s3.jpg
File:Charmed-S3cover.jpg
File:Char-s4.jpg
Season
5
6
7
8
Region 1
Regions 2 & 4
Cover art
File:Charmeds5dvdcover.jpg
File:Charmed-S5dvd.jpg
File:Char-s6.jpg
File:TheCharmed s7.jpg
TBA
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