Oh how the surprises keep coming. There was a time when I wouldn’t take the time to watch a single episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, or its spin-off “Angel.” These shows were way too popular and ‘hip’ so there couldn’t be anything I’d find interesting in either show. But part of the way into the first show’s 4th season, I was talked into watching an episode by, of all people, my Mom. So my wife and I took her advice and watched just one episode. To say my life changed afterwards would be seriously overstating my response, but it is fair to say it changed by TV viewing habits. I was so floored that I became instantly hooked, so when repeats started airing on FX (in order) I was there from the very first episode.

Then when the DVD sets started coming out, my wife and I couldn’t get our hands on them fast enough. We both agreed that “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was one of TV’s best written shows.

Now, this doesn’t have anything directly to do with another similarly themed show, “Charmed,” but indirectly it does by giving you an idea of my mindset. Where I was finally convinced to give “Buffy” a try, there was no way anyone was going to get me to watch an episode of “Charmed.” Despite the fact that it was a show revolving around the supernatural (and so by default linked by subject) it starred Shannon Doherty, which to me marked the death knell for any series. It didn’t even matter that the show was going into its 8th season, growing more popular every year, and Doherty had left the series, it still wasn’t enough. It had already been tainted.

Doherty has the reputation of being ‘difficult”, but that doesn’t really make much difference to me. It was more the fact that I found her more annoying to watch than anything. Her acting skills have always been minimal, and her characters always seem to carry the same air of arrogance that she gives the impression of having in public. So while it may not be fair to pre-judge a series by the actors, we all do it.

The year before last Paramount released the full 1st season of “Charmed” on DVD and I wrestled with whether or not I was going to review it. I really considered passing it along to another writer. But it was my wife who convinced me to give it a try. She was curious and pointed out that it couldn’t be that bad. Well, bless my wife for talking me into it. We ended up watching the entire first season in less than a week. This is not to say the show was that good, as it certainly couldn’t hold a candle to “Buffy”, BUT it was highly entertaining.

Doherty still wasn’t that much of an actress, and I considered her to be the weak link of the three stars, but it was saved by Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs. They pretty much carried the 1st season by being the two most ‘charming’ of the trio. The series was fairly simply written as far as plots went, but they were much better than I expected. There was a general cheesiness to the series in its beginnings, both in terms of special effects and plotting, but as the season moved on, they vastly improved. In the season finale, there was even a death of a major character that didn’t so much catch me by surprise… but it did shock me.

Surprising even to me, was that I was enjoying the series so much, that when we finished the set, I was actually bummed that we were going to have to wait for the 2nd season release. Fortunately, Paramount followed through with the 2nd season pretty quick and when received our review set, we honestly couldn’t get it unwrapped and into the player fast enough. As we began to watch the further adventures of the Halliwell sisters, we were struck by just how much improvement there between the two seasons. It took us three days of marathon watching, but we got through the entire set, which only set us up to greedily await season 3.

One of the major improvements was Doherty’s acting. She wasn’t going to win an Emmy, but she finally showed what appeared to be real emotion, especially during the first several episodes where she still mourned the death of the character from season 1.

If by chance you’re not aware of the series, or just don’t know too much about it. The nutshell of it surrounds the three Halliwell sisters, Piper (Combs), Pru (Doherty) and Phoebe (Milano). After discovering that they have magical powers, they also learn that they are known in the other worlds as ‘The Charmed Ones.” It is their destiny to use the power to vanquish evil in the world. Piper can freeze time, Pru can move objects and Phoebe has precognitive visions.

During the first season, the three sisters came across as novices (and rightfully so), prone to panicking. During the 2nd season, you could see a growth beginning to appear in all the girl’s characters. They learned to work together (“The Power of Three will set you free…”) and turned battles into a team effort. Some of the show’s cheesiness still bled through, but it was vastly improved. And being that “Charmed” can be considered a ‘woman’s show’, the three sisters were still constantly on the lookout to improve their love lives. It is never graphic, but often gives a fairly good look at how relationships work… and don’t work. Piper especially has to deal with being in love with two men. One is a fallen ‘White Lighter’, Leo (Brian Krause), who gave up his powers since their rules did not allow a relationship with a witch, the other is the girls’ new next door neighbor, Dan (Greg Vaughan). It is an extremely heart-breaking scenario as both guys are terrific for her, but she eventually has to choose one over the other.

The release of the 3rd season followed, and both my wife and I were thrilled to see the addition of Julian McMahon to the cast as Phoebe's new love interest, Cole Turner. McMahon is a very charismatic actor, whom we enjoyed for four seasons of "Profiler", and has more recently starred in the ever controversial “Nip/Tuck.” His role in “Charmed” turned out to be an excellent one. As is the case with most of the characters that come through the series (at least so far), there was more than met the eye with Cole. He flipped back and forth between evil and good with ease, and almost single-handedly made the season as good as it was. We were also introduced to a brand new ‘Big Bad’, in the form of Balthazar (Michael Bailey Smith), and the evil Triad, who were out to destroy the Halliwells once and for all.

The 3rd season turned out to be the final one for Shannon Doherty. She left during the season finale, and admittedly I wish I knew more about the reasons for her leaving the series. There is always more to the story, but it had to have been on some sort of good terms as she actually directed this final episode as well. Of course, new fans were worried about how the “Power of Three” was going to be carried forward, but I was already aware that Rose McGowan joined up in the 4th season. I was curious to see how well this worked, because I have the same reservations for McGowan that I had originally for Doherty. But where Doherty really began to grow on me during the 2nd season, I really abhor Rose McGowan as an actress. I sincerely doubted she was going to win me over.

The 4th season found the remaining Halliwell sisters dealing with the loss of Pru and wondering how they would continue their battle against evil. That is, until they discover the existence of a half-sister, Paige (McGowan). If anything, that season turned out to be even darker than the ones that had preceded it. It was still a bit on the cheesy side, but the stories were still well-written enough and the soap opera love lives frustrating enough to keep our interest. However, McGowan… almost made the season unwatchable. She simply cannot act her way out of a paper bag. As was the case with Doherty, I saw a little improvement towards the end of the season, but still not enough for me to completely accept her as a replacement.

Looking forward to the imminent release of the 5th season, we were really hoping that she was going to continue to get better (or have less lines of dialogue). After all we really enjoy the series and didn’t want to let her totally ruin it for us. My wife and I wasted no time in watching the 5th season episodes and we noticed more changes in the overall feel of the series. McGowan really didn’t get any better, the storylines were still interesting, but they felt as though they were becoming even campier than they were before. The first couple of seasons had some really intense moments of darkness, but this season was very light as if the writers were trying to appeal to a younger audience.

Throughout the season, the sisters went through a lot of metamorphoses, including spandex wearing super heroines, mermaids and goddesses. And while many of these episodes kept up this light and frothy feel, there were still a handful of standout episodes to be found.

The new 5th season DVD set has all 23 episodes spread out across six discs, which are held in 3 super slim cases. These are in turn held in a nice looking slipcover. Each case has the episode titles, air dates and brief descriptions. That’s about all you get in the set. Though Paramount has been improving in the extra features department, there are still none here.

While I could forgive the subtle air of cheesiness that “Charmed”, I find that the quality of the series seems to be in a steady decline. Now that the show has taken a bow, I can only hope that the next few sets that are due will show a return to what the made the series so much fun in the beginning.

Episodes:
A Witch's Tail, Parts 1 & 2
Happily Ever After
Siren Song
Witches in Tights
The Eyes Have It
Sympathy for the Demon
A Witch in Time
Sam, I Am
Y Tu Mummy Tambien
The Importance of Being Phoebe
Centennial Charmed
House Call
San Francisco Dreamin'
The Day the Magic Died
Baby's First Demon
Lucky Charmed
Cat House
Nymphs Just Want to Have Fun
Sense and Sense Ability
Necromancing the Stone
Oh My Goddess! Parts 1 & 2

Starring: Holly Marie Combs, Rose McGowan, Alyssa Milano, Brian Krause, Julian McMahon
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 6/13/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Charmed: Season 5 a B.