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Charmed was a long-running supernatural dramedy television series on the WB Television Network taking place in a fantasy-version of modern San Francisco, California. This page contains some of the most notable trivia about the show and the making of the show, as well as references to Charmed in popular culture.
[edit] Notable Charmed trivia
[edit] In-story
- As a trademark concept, the very last shot of every season finale, except for season six, shows the front doors of the house closed by one of the characters. In seasons one and two, Prue did this with her powers. In season three, the demon Shax closes the doors. In season four, the Angel of Destiny closes the doors. In season five, Chris closes the doors. Season six ends in a hospital recovery room, with its doors closing at the end of the finale. In season seven, the doors of the then empty house are closed by an unseen force, with the sound effect of Prue's telekinesis power, implying that it was Prue who closed the doors. In the series finale at the end of season eight the doors are closed by Piper and Leo's granddaughter.
- The 18th episode of season five, "Cat House," was the only episode ever to feature all four of the Charmed Ones (although Prue's face is never shown) and their family. The family included Patty, Victor, Penny, Leo, Wyatt, and Kit, the Charmed Ones' cat**. One could also count Cole as family, seeing how he was married to Phoebe at one point. The only family member not featured was Chris.
- **We found out in this episode that Kit was really the Charmed Ones' familiar, Katrina. After completing her duties by assuring the reconstitution of the Charmed Ones' by guiding Paige, she was made human by the Elders as a reward for her exceptional work.
- In the episode following Prue's death, Penny told the sisters that they would have to wait a while before they could summon Prue. However, they never tried to summon her for the rest of the series.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- Many of the show's actors initially auditioned for other roles than they got in the end. Holly Marie Combs (Piper) originally auditioned for the role of Prue, and Shannen Doherty (Prue) auditioned for the role of Piper. Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt), Julian McMahon (Cole Turner) and Kerr Smith (Agent Kyle Brody) have all previously auditioned for the role of Inspector Andy Trudeau in season one.
- Many actors who made guest appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel went on to make guests appereances on Charmed, most famously Charisma Carpenter.
- Holly Marie Combs married an ex-Charmed key grip, David Donoho. They met on the set. Her pregnancy in season six forced the writers and producers to change the story arc of the show.
- Beside Rose McGowan, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Brown, Tiffani Thiessen, Soleil Moon Frye, Susan Ward and Eliza Dushku were considered for the role of Paige.
- Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano are the only main cast members that have appeared in every episode of the series. However, considering that Alyssa Milano did not appear as Phoebe in the unaired pilot, that makes Holly the only actor to appear in every episode, aired and unaired.
[edit] Miscellaneous trivia
- According to Aaron Spelling, the show was renewed for a full season of twenty-two episodes after only two episodes had aired.
- The opening theme, How Soon Is Now, is a cover by Love Spit Love of a song by '80s British band The Smiths. It originally appeared in The Craft (1996), also about witches.
- The first line of the opening theme is "I am the son and the heir," which is often misquoted as "I am the sun and the air." Arguably, the misquote fits better with the elemental themes of the show. Curiously, closed captioning for broadcast repeat episodes (most often on Turner Network Television) sometimes has the line as one and sometimes as the other.
- The house used for the exterior shots of the "Manor" is located at 1329 Carroll Ave in the Echo Park Section of Los Angeles.
- According to the show, Grams was born on June 23, 1932 or 1937. Her daughter Patty was born on April 5, 1950. This means means that Grams was not quite thirteen years old when she gave birth to Patty if she was born in 1937. Almost 18 if she was born in 1932.
- The Book of Shadows weighs 9 pounds, 6 ounces, is almost entirely hand-painted, and is the most valuable thing on set.
- Until the appearance of Chris in the fifth season finale episode "Oh My Goddess," the only male witches shown on the series have all been children.
- The make-up design for the demon Belthazor was based on the same make-up style used for the character of Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
- Beginning with season seven, the Charmed set moved from its previously smaller Canoga Park, California studio lot to the more grand scale Paramount Studios lot.
- The season seven villain "Zankou" is named after a small chain of middle eastern takeout restaurants near the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California called Zankou Chicken. (Hence Phoebe's Spaceballs-inspired quip "What's the matter, Zankou... Chicken?")
- In the episode All Halliwell's Eve, while Phoebe is in the past, a merchant offers to tell the first letter of her true love and the letter "C" comes up. At the time Cole was represented as being her true love, even after Julian McMahon left the series in season five. In season eight, however, Phoebe met, fell in love with and eventually married Coop, whose name of course also begins with the letter "C."
[edit] References to Charmed in popular culture
- In the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, there is something called "Burning Circle Notorious Monster" (often just abbreviated "BCNM"), an arena you can enter in order to fight specific creatures. One of these BCNMs is called "Charming Trio" and puts you in fight with three monsters: Prune, Pepper and Phoedme.
- In Australian soap opera Neighbours, constant references have been made to the show. On her first day at school Serena Bishop (Lara Sacher) hit it off with popular girl Erin with a conversation about whether they prefer Paige or Prue. They both liked Paige but didn't know what she saw in Marilyn Manson. In a later episode when Summer Hoyland was using a spell book, her brother Boyd (Kyal Marsh) claimed she was lame. Upon the comment that Alyssa Milano uses magic, Boyd replies "Yeah, but she's hot!" More recently in 2005, Bree Timmins and the rather out-of-touch Rachel Kinski were discussing television. Rachel, not knowing what Bree was talking about asked her what "The O.C." was, only to get the reply "It's only the best show since Charmed!"
- Author Meg Cabot refers to Charmed in three of her young adult book series; The Princess Diaries, All-American Girl and Teen Idol.
- The Final Destination novel 'Death Of The Senses' features several minor characters named after actors and characters from Charmed, and one character's address is given as 1329 Prescott, the address of Halliwell Manor.
- In the movie "Big Fat Liar," Amanda Bynes' character refers to Charmed when trying to distract someone on the phone by telling them "how hot Phoebe's demon boyfriend is."
- One relatively obscure version of the gay metaphor "the closet," is the phrase "the broom closet," which refers to people who hide the fact that they are Wiccans. It may have been coined by Charmed[citation needed].
