Charmed

[finnx202]

There's not a discussion thread for Charmed, so I figured I should make one. Well, here's the little things about Charmed that I like, and dislike.

Favorite Season: Season 3
Favorite Character: Phoebe, Billie or Leo
Least Favorite Character: Cole
Favorite Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose

[daytrigg]

favorite season 6
favourite character phoebe paige or chris
lestest favourite character cole
favouriet episode love hurts

[Daniel]

Favourite Season: 3
Least Favourite Season: 5 or 8.
Favourite Character(s): Phoebe, Prue & Cole.
Lest Favourite Character(s): Billie, Chris or Jenny.
Favourite Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose
Least Favourite Episode: Hulkus Pocus or Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun.

Charmed is my guilty pleasure, its my trash television and I love it. But while being a diehard fan, I know how bad Charmed became and I understand why it receives such negative press.

From S5 onwards, the show fell down a slippery slope of no return and while there were glimmers of hope (Chris Crossed/Zankou/Drake), the bottom line is Charmed had been suffering a steady decline since Shannen Doherty's exit at the end of Season Three. Season Four managed to keep that peak going through the freshness of Paige, the loss of Prue and it's effect on the family dynamic and also the Cole/Source arc which dominated the end of the season.

Come Season Five however, Brad Kern royally screwed up. Not only by bringing Cole back but making mistake after mistake after mistake. He ruined not only Cole's character but also that of Phoebe's. He later hired Drew Fuller, who has less talent than my right hand, Kaley Cuoco who simply wasn't cut out for the "drama" side of the show and Kerr Smith who is about interesting as a drying wall of paint. And I won't comment on the talents of Miss McGowan, cause it ain't pretty!

Kern ruined Charmed as we know it and while a number of fans still love the later seasons, they weren't the ones who had been following the show since 1998 - most watched Holly, Alyssa and Rose before watching the first two alongside Shannen. I'm not saying I hated Paige, I may not have always liked her but the comic side of character I enjoyed and they had the right idea...but managed to some how get it all wrong!

Despite it all, I still love Charmed. Just not for the reasons many of it's other fans do.

[H. Jordan Fisher]

i loved the earlier years of the show. when prue died...i kind of hated it.

[finnx202]

Feb 13, 2011 16:12:58 GMT -6 H. Jordan Fisher said:

i loved the earlier years of the show. when prue died...i kind of hated it.

That's kinda what most other people thought. The show wasn't really the same without Prue.

[Jamison]

Favorite Season: 3
Least Favorite Season: 5 or 6
Favorite Character(s): Piper and Prue
Least Favorite Character(s): Leo or Cole
Favorite Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose

[Amin]

Favorite Season: 3
Least Favorite Season: 6
Favorite Character(s): Prue Halliwell or Cole Turner
Lest Favorite Character(s): Phoebe Halliwell (I don't hate her, she's just not on my favorite list)
Favorite Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose (That episode was INTENSE!)

[H. Jordan Fisher]

Favorite Season: 3
Least Favorite Season: 6
Favorite Character(s): Prue Halliwell, Piper Halliwell and Cole Turner
Least Favorite Character(s): Chris and Billie
Favorite Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose (Definitely the BEST Episode of Charmed ever)

[Daniel]

Feb 20, 2011 22:36:34 GMT -6 @finnx202 said:

Feb 13, 2011 16:12:58 GMT -6 H. Jordan Fisher said:

i loved the earlier years of the show. when prue died...i kind of hated it.

That's kinda what most other people thought. The show wasn't really the same without Prue.

I think the primary issue was, is that Kern forgot what the show was about, he forgot what sold the show in the first place and after Season Four, it kind of went off on this crazy tangent! S5 onwards was like a bad spin-off.

[David]

I think that if Lori Rom, original Phoebe, wouldn't have dropped out, Prue would have to die. Although, I did like Alyssa Milano as Phoebe

[Deleted]

My favorite episode is Pardon My Past.

[Alex Matthews]

Charmed was there for me during a time in my life where I was going through hell with my parents and life choices, and for a while, it became a crutch, but when I was able to stand on my own again, I still found a fondness for this show, and some of the early symbolism.
I'm gonna go to bat here and say I LOVED PAIGE! Don't get me wrong, I loved Prue too, but S3 for me, felt like the "Super-Prue" season - Seasons 1 and 2 were all about the sister bond, and growing as women, not just witches, but S3, suddenly Prue can seem to do no wrong! She's suddenly better at martial arts then Phoebe, hell she could even gunsling?!
S4 gave the show a new breath, as once again the sisters dealt with loss, but instead of it being a parent or guardian, it was a sibling - i always felt thought though it could have explored more of the fact that Paige lost out on never knowing Prue, and how that affected her, or how Victor felt about another sister and his reaction to Paige, which was completely glossed over. I loved the overall 'darker' nature of S4 once the initial introductions to Paige were complete, but apparently, the producers liked the whole 'comedy' thing, since they seemed to keep that in every season after for the first 4 or 5 episodes.
I do agree though that after S4, the show plateaued, and the sisters were never really properly developed beyond the initial idea: Piper, the neurotic, Phoebe, looking for love, and Paige, looking for life direction. There are SO MANY ways the show could have done better, but they didn't want to push the envelope anymore.
Coincidentally, Paige was introduced at a time when I was asserting my individuality from the constraints of family - I changed my birthname, and my last name Matthews, was inspired by Paige herself. Ironically, though, I always loved the fact that throughout her time on her show, she NEVER went by Halliwell, she was paying tribute to the mother and father that raised her.

[Daniel]

Feb 18, 2013 17:38:11 GMT -6 Alex Matthews said:

Charmed was there for me during a time in my life where I was going through hell with my parents and life choices, and for a while, it became a crutch, but when I was able to stand on my own again, I still found a fondness for this show, and some of the early symbolism.

I think lots of fans found similar support with Charmed which helped them through difficult times. It's something I never stop hearing. It may have had it's difficulties as a show, it was never perfect but it meant a lot to a lot of people and I feel proud to be one of those.

[Jamison]

Charmed was one of the three shows that inspired me to not only become a scriptwriter, but actually pursue a career in television production. Safe to say that it played a huge role in who I am today, like it has in so many people. Makes me want to go back and re-watch the series from the beginning!

[nathanj]

Favorite Season: 1/4/6/7
Least Favorite Season: 5
Favorite Character(s): Piper, Leo, Phoebe
Least Favorite Character(s): Chris
Favorite Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose.

Charmed was/is one of my favorite shows, I have all the DVD's and still watch it to this day on television, why? I don't know. I think it's an amazing show and broke ground for many women out there and gave them a voice just like Buffy did. I do think it could have ran better behind the scenes, particularly with Brad Kern, I feel he kind of ruined the point of the show that Constance M. Burge had set. But overall I think it was still an amazing show and still is to this day! Thumbs up for re-runs on E4 (English channel)

[Amanda Cress]

Favorite Season: Season 3
Least Favorite Season: Season 6
Favorite Character(s): Phoebe, Prue and Leo.
Lest Favorite Character(s): Christy.
Favorite Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose
Least Favorite Episode: Sword in the Stone