The 1990s were the heyday of witches in popular culture. From kid-friendly films like Hocus Pocus and Kiki's Delivery Service to horror fare like The Craft and The Blair Witch Project, magical women ruled the decade. One of the most enduring pop culture phenomenon that spawned from this trend was The WB's long-running drama series Charmed. It was popular enough to last long after the craze had ended.
Focusing on the misadventures of the Halliwell sisters, Piper (Holly Marie Combs), Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), and Prue (Shannen Doherty), the latter eventually replaced by Paige (Rose McGowan), the show lasted for an impressive eight seasons and 178 episodes. Rather than play into stereotypes of witches as green-skinned villains, series creator Constance M. Burge took inspiration from her study of Wicca to portray the Halliwells as decent women who looked and acted like actual people with differing magical abilities.
Expanding on her concept, producer E. Duke Vincent decided that the show should be about "three sisters who happen to be witches, not three witches who happen to be sisters." Fans across the globe fell in love with its world building, empowered female characters, and its occasional campiness. Given that the show lasted for years, was scripted by numerous writers, and dealt with sticky subjects like time travel, the show occasionally got a little inconsistent in how it portrayed its fictional universe.
From unrealistically ive villains to children who don't quite look right, we are counting down 20 Things That Make No Sense About The Original Charmed.
20. Paige's Age
In the series' hundredth episode, Paige uses her magical powers to see an alternate scenario where she loses her life and her tombstone says that she was born in 1977. However, the show already depicted Paige being a few years old in 1977, when her sister Phoebe was born.
These sorts of continuity errors are usually avoided when the creators of television shows pen a "series Bible"-- a reference book used to tell writers new to the series everything they could ever want to know about the show. Perhaps in this case it would be better to create a series Book of Shadows.
18. Prue's Permanent Disappearance
The beloved character of Prue Halliwell lost her life in the finale of the show's third season. She never again appeared on the show, in any form. If something like this happened in Grey's Anatomy, it would be understandable, but the Halliwell sisters communicate with the deceased on a regular basis and often travel through time. You'd expect the remaining Halliwells to try to reach their departed sister at least once.
Fans of the series know that the creative decision to remove Prue from the remainder of the show was rooted in the fact that the actress who played Prue, Shannen Doherty, left the series was unwilling to return to the series under any circumstances.
17. The Sisters' Inconsistent Powers
Even scientists and physicists who believe that travel between universes could be on the horizon have wildly differing opinions on how exactly it would work. Until someone actually builds a functioning dimensional portal, it's up to writers of fiction to determine how inter-dimensional travel will work in the worlds that they create. However, that does not mean that the writers of Charmed couldn't have gone the extra mile to make their inter-dimensional travel rules consistent.
Usually, when the Halliwells venture into another reality, they adopt the powers that they have in their parallel universes. Yet, when Paige enters a reality where she never became a witch, she lacks her Whitelighter powers although she's still a Whitelighter - the show's version of a guardian angel.
19. Paige Could Have Gotten Out Of Prison
One episode of the series revolves around Paige being imprisoned. That's a fine idea for an episode of another series or about another character, but Paige Halliwell has the ability to create spells to help herself out of sticky situations. Why didn't she just bust herself out of prison?
Some fans have speculated that Paige was unable to get herself out of jail because the cell she was in was enchanted in some way to prevent her from leaving. If that was the case, the show's writers could have made that clear, lest they drive legions of fans to go to forums to complain. For all we know, Paige was just feeling lazy that day.
16. Villains Turn Down Opportunities To Destroy The Heroes
If fictional characters always acted rationally and intelligently, there would be no such thing as drama. Some internet film and television critics decry every misstep taken by a fictional characters as a plot hole, and that's just silly. At the same time, writers shouldn't allow their characters to act unbelievably stupid; that's just uninspired writing.
Case in point: the Underworld could have eliminated the Halliwells, but didn't. The denizens of the Underworld have the ability to teleport, but for some unexplained reason they never bother to just enter the Charmed One's house and put an end to them. If only they had watched the second Austin Powers movie, they would've known that the best thing a villain can do when they have access to time travel is to go back in time and defeat your enemy while they're still in diapers.
15. The Source's Backstory
The Underworld is ruled by a figure known as The Source of All Evil, which has to be the most ominous, ridiculous, and ridiculously ominous job title imaginable. How exactly does one become The Source of All Evil? Surely, there are thousands, if not millions, of Goth and emo teenagers who would love to apply for that job.
Sadly, the show doesn't provide us with any consistent rules about how one becomes The Source. In season four, characters say that one must touch the magical book known as the Grimoire to become The Source, but later Barbas claims that he can become the Source simply by using his powers.
14. The Sisters Use Their Magic For Personal Gain Without Consequences
The show establishes that good witches do not use their magic for selfish purposes, and if they do, they will face supernatural repercussions. Of course, such a rule puts limits on what the show's writers can and cannot do with their characters, so they seemingly ignored their rule when it became inconvenient.
In a humorous moment, Phoebe transforms a rival advice columnist into a turkey, recalling a running gag from an earlier television show about the trials and tribulations of being a witch - Bewitched. While the joke worked as a cheap visual gag, Phoebe never faced any magical repercussions for her misdeed. Perhaps the universe just wasn't paying close attention that day.
13. Multiple Pipers
While the show's supernatural elements recall the movie Practical Magic, the show's time travel episodes seemed derived from the Back to the Future trilogy. More specifically, the show seemingly borrowed the idea that if someone changes a timeline, it might lead people to fade into oblivion.
In the show's fourth season, Pier travels through time to prevent Phoebe from saving Miles. Once her mission is accomplished, the other version of herself that Piper's time travel shenanigans created just fades away. Somehow, in season eight, when time travel creates two Pipers they combine into one being. Why? Who knows? After dozens and dozens of episodes, the show's fan base had learned to roll with these inconsistencies.
12. Possession
As it's a long running show involving demons, Charmed was inevitably going to use demonic possession as a plot point; it's kind of what demons are most known for. However, when one of the Halliwell sisters gets possessed, it often takes a ridiculous amount of time to notice that something is amiss, mostly to keep an episode's plot moving forward.
The sisters are supposed to know each other very well, and they also know that demons exist and can possess people. When a sibling starts acting out of character, the other two should start suspecting demonic activity, but they often don't. This just goes to show that just because they are the most powerful witches of all time, doesn't mean they have common sense.
11. The Halliwell Men
When Wyatt is born, Grams becomes upset, as she believes that "men can't be trusted with magic." She also says that no male has been born into the Halliwell line for eons and treats her great grandson as if he has the Bubonic plague.
This makes no sense as Wyatt isn't the first male Halliwell in a ridiculously long amount of time - family records show that Grams had a brother. Also, if she grew up around her (presumably) magical brother, why on earth would she be so upset by the existence of another male Halliwell? Maybe Grams forgot to take her medication that morning.
