Charmed Turned Into Fluff?

[The Matriarch]

This has been a good discussion between fans from all around so I thought I'd add this here for us to discuss as well.

As we all know Charmed centered around three sister witches who battled the forces of evil. From season 1 to 4 we saw some dark episodes with some great Wiccan elements but when season 5 hit we were bombarded by fairy tales, mermaids, trolls, fairies & leprechauns. Basically Charmed turned into a fluffy little supernatural show that many people didn't take seriously. Many missed the true magic the show once had. Brad Kern tried to fix this mistake by trying to make season 6 & 7 a little more dark but didn't do such a great job.

Now don't get me wrong, I have my favourite episodes in all seasons but sometimes I look back at some of the episodes & just cringe. But didn't it feel like as we got older the show got "younger" with the silly storylines? Meaning everything was kind of childish?

Could you seriously see Shannen getting dressed in super hero leather costumes & helping leprechauns? I know everyone said with the addition of Rose, it made everything a little lighter, storyline wise, but did they really need to make it fluff?

Now here's the question, what are your opinions on this subject. What have to have changed to make sure that the show stayed true to it's original premise?

Discuss your opinions below & let's keep it friendly.

[Dark Witch.]

I totally agree. To be honest, S5 is one of the season I like least, and try not to watch it very often. It is true as you said that Rose made it that much more lighter and more comedic, but the show was not meant to be that comedic, it was meant to be more dark and wiccan like. I must admit that S7 was by far the darkest season apart from Season4 with Rose in it. I think the show would have been that much more enjoyable if the Magical Community weren't brought in. Or if they needed to be, in a different approach. Cause once the leprachauns were introduced...they just appeared all the time.

But, as we know, the show took a dramatic turn with Shannen's departure, and Paige's character was meant to be the fluffy one, thus bringing the fluffiness of the show.

[Criminally Vulgar]

May 17, 2009 15:48:23 GMT Dark Witch. said:

It is true as you said that Rose made it that much more lighter and more comedic, but the show was not meant to be that comedic, it was meant to be more dark and wiccan like.

I hate to disagree, especially with someone I don't even know, but this is wrong. The show was meant to be what we saw in the first two seasons- a cute show about sisters who happen to be witches. That's what Connie wanted. It wasn't until Brad Kern stepped in during season three and darkened the series that we got what we all love most.

May 17, 2009 15:38:00 GMT The Matriarch said:

I know everyone said with the addition of Rose, it made everything a little lighter, storyline wise, but did they really need to make it fluff?

This is also wrong. It wasn't Rose's fault at all, it was actually Alyssa's. Alyssa wanted comedy, she wanted funny and she wanted silliness, which is how we got all those silly situations with the outfits and "the wig". "I love making people laugh" she says in one of the extras on the BOS Complete Series set. Being an Executive Producer, she has control over some of the things that go on in the series (whether it be general stuff like giving the OK to make Coop fall in love with Phoebe, or a more specific last-minute rewrite), as well as most of the things she wants her character to do (such as prancing around in lingerie thinking she's a French spy (even though she's supposed to be Dutch).

Anyway, as crazy as it sounds, I don't really blame the "fluffiness" on the mythical creatures, I blame it on the network. More than half of the episodes of the later half of the series were written only because it was what the WB wanted. As Ian mentioned a couple of times, the network demanded "promotable hunks" which forced unlikeable characters like Leslie and Dex into the show. There's also the sex-appeal teaser trailers, such as this lovely example which includes clips that were not featured in this episode, or this beauty which manages to completely change what the episode was about.

Taking all that into consideration (and then some), it's no wonder that no one took this show seriously!

[David]

I've always had a slightly different view to a lot of other fans when this topic is up for debate because the thing about Charmed, even pre-Rose it was never meant to be a hard hitting, dark show from the beginning and as Alex pointed out...

I hate to disagree, especially with someone I don't even know, but this is wrong. The show was meant to be what we saw in the first two seasons- a cute show about sisters who happen to be witches.

...and if anything during late season three and into the end of season four, Charmed went down a temporarily dark route because before and after those seasons although serious subjects were addressed, the theme of the show was never as dark as it was then.

I always find it a ridiculous argument when people say that Shannen's seasons were the darkest because they weren't. Season one wasn't dark, yes it had some dark elements because the sisters were trying to come to terms with their powers, but once that was out of the way the show really, until Cole turned up was about Prue's love and work life mainly, with a few demons and sub-plots for Piper and Phoebe thrown in for good measure.

Now, I'm not a huge season five fan, although I do love the mermaid two parter and some of the other episodes but I don't consider it to be a fluffy season - if anything Charmed just got a little more fun and campy, I don't think it ever got lighter than it had ever been, especially back in season two. Maybe in some of the comedy episodes, but by the time season six was underway, I think they had found a nice balance of the light comedy elements and the darker elements which is why season seven (and to an extent season eight) are my favourite seasons.

Personally, although they do have some gripping episodes, with great mythology and storytelling, I'm not a huge fan of seasons three and four, three especially, just because I find it hard to watch those seasons if I don't start form the first episode, not because it's so serialised, because it's not, just because I need to be fully emerged in the story they are telling. I also think a huge reason I'm not a big fan of those seasons is because I hate, with a burning passion Cole. I'm not going to get onto that now, because this isn't the place, but I think that he changed the show too much, and once he was gone or at least out of the way, Charmed got back to it's usual self.

So in short, no I don't think Charmed turned into fluff, because in essence it started off that way. I don't take the show as seriously as I take other shows and I never will, and if anything Charmed made a temporary u-turn into dark storytelling, which in my view, doesn't fit Charmed's nature as a fun, adventurous, slightly silly, light drama series.

[zell701]

Season three and season four were by far the best seasons. They had the perfect balance of dark and supernatural with drama and comedy. They're my favorite seasons to watch and had the best plot lines. I think writers just got lazy and didn't want to keep coming up with new demons so they went for a lighter approach. I think "Charmed" would be amazing if it had the supernatural element "Supernatural" has.

I started watching "Charmed" because of the supernatural, dark, horror element, but I continued watching it because of their personalities, their emotions, and their sisterhood.