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 "Buffy'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 originally 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 that 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 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 once it was released 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 the 5th 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 good episodes to be found.

The 6th season offered a bit of an improvement. The episodes were still a little bit hit and miss in terms of quality, but there were more good episodes counteract the… not so good ones. Seeing the Charmed Ones dressed as Valkyries and battling warrior maidens was a bit much, but was made up for by an episode that pitted them against a Headless Horseman. The only thing that didn’t improve was McGowan's acting. She was still awful and actually made me wish for Doherty's return.

The 7th season was about on par with the 6th in that there were a few more good episodes than bad, but there were a lot of changes that went on. There was a chance that this was going to be the last season, so some of the storylines were written to prepare for the inevitable… but the series went on for one additional season. The biggest change comes with the character of Leo (Brian Krause). Having given up his powers once because oh his love for Piper, he is finally made mortal. As the season progressed, he just seemed to be left out of more and more of the storylines. This was shame because he had long been one of the show's more interesting characters.

Now here we are, coming full circle. The 8th and final season is getting the DVD treatment. All 22 episodes are being released this month to complete every "Charmed" fan's collection. I was prepared for this season to hit us full swing and pull out all the stops to go out with a bang. Unfortunately, it didn't quite do that. There were some decent episodes, but for the most part they really seemed uninspired and the girls (women?) appeared equally so. Several of the episodes dealt with the sisters having turned their back on magic, while others just kind of felt as though they were trying to wind down the series as opposed to liven it up as drew closer to the end. Still, despite its weaknesses, hardcore fans of the series will probably forgive them and celebrate the series finale. Speaking of which (witch?), the series finale was kind of flat. What I hoped would be a big magical blowout instead turned in an overused formula in order to change tragic circumstances. It was still kind of entertaining, but something more creative would have served the series better.

And again, I was REALLY hoping that Rose McGowan would improve. But by now I think that hope is kind of like the hope of winning the lottery without ever buying a ticket. The talent just isn’t there, so she will forever seem like an outsider in the show, overshadowed by the two much better actresses.

That said, the final season DVD set for "Charmed" is the best of the lot simply because it finally includes some (gasp) extra features! And I'm not just talkin' a couple of little add-ons… but a bunch of well-produced featurettes. There is a 20 minute 'Making of' featurette as well as a two-part documentary feature that runs almost 40 minutes total. You'll also find a featurette on the Halliwell sister's awesome house as well as a look at some of the show's outgoing fans. Additionally, there are 3 commentaries, though none by any of the lead actresses. I've listed these commentaries below.

While I could forgive the subtle air of cheesiness that originally came with “Charmed” territory, I found that the quality of the series ended in a wavering state decline. Now that the show has taken a bow, there is no way it can ever return to what the made the series so much fun in the beginning.

Episodes:
Still Charmed and Kicking (Commentary by Kaley Cuoco, Brad Kern, and James Conway)
Malice in Wonderland
Run, Piper, Run
Desperate Housewitches
Rewitched
Kill Billie, Volume 1
The Lost Picture Show
Battle of the Hexes
Hulkus Pocus
Vaya Con Leos (Commentary by Brad Kern, Cameron Litvack, and Brian Krause)
Mr. and Mrs. Witch
Payback's a Witch
Repo Manor
12 Angry Zen
The Last Temptation of Christy
Engaged and Confused
Generation Hex
The Torn Identity
The Jung and the Restless
Gone with the Witches
Kill Billie, Volume 2
Forever Charmed (Commentary by Brad Kern and James Conway)

Starring: Holly Marie Combs, Rose McGowan, Alyssa Milano, Brian Krause
Extras: Commentaries on Select Episodes, The Making of Charmed, The Story of Charmed, To the Manor Born, Forever Charmed
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital Stereo
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 9/11/2007
Region: 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Charmed: Season 8 a C+.