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Post by Tim on Sept 12, 2016 23:18:33 GMT -5
They were stuck on the Paramount lot for all of S8. So driving scenes were out of the question (you couldn't even have them arriving or leaving the Manor via car, as that would require location shooting). And you could only get away with so much with stock footage.
Notice that, in all of S8, you never see the sisters arriving or leaving the Manor from the outside. You saw them coming in or going out the door, but that was it (because the interior of the Manor was on the Paramount lot, of course).
Luckily, they had Paige, their magical taxi.
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Post by BettyNewbie on Sept 13, 2016 1:44:37 GMT -5
Yup, and because they were stuck on the Paramount lot, they only had a few sets available to them:
- The Manor
- The Bay Mirror/Police Station
- Magic School
- P3 (later torn down for Phoebe's Loft)
- Generic back alley
Suffice to say, this probably put a crimp on Season 8's storytelling more than anything else. How could anyone tell a decent story when they had a minuscule budget and only a few sets to work with?
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Post by Tim on Sept 13, 2016 11:20:50 GMT -5
The 2005 Budget Nuke really hurt them. I mean an episode like All Halliwell's Eve, which had a lot of location shooting (for the scenes in the 1600's) would not have been possible in S8. One wonders how many scripts they had to reject because their butchered budget could not manage it.
The WB really should have thought this through. A Sci-Fi/Fantasy show required a bigger budget than a sitcom or cop show would. If they weren't prepared to give Charmed a decent budget, then they should have just cancelled it.
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Post by BettyNewbie on Sept 13, 2016 12:30:24 GMT -5
What made it even more frustrating was that Charmed was the WB's 2nd oldest show left at the time, behind only 7th Heaven. Didn't a veteran show deserve a decent budget for what was likely its final season?
Even the most amazing and talented writers and producers wouldn't have been able to salvage the season with such a gutted budget. Just try writing a Charmed episode where you're limited to only 3 sets (Manor, Magic School, Bay Mirror) and see how far you get.
And, the budget issues didn't even start with S8. The reason why Phoebe had her powers stripped midway through S6 was because the show could no longer afford her levitation ability (due to the cost of insurance), and it's also been said that Magic School was not only introduced to cash in on Harry Potter, but to also provide a large, readily-available set that could be used for a variety of purposes (thus alleviating the need to build new sets). Other things like Patty/Grams appearing corporeal more often, the sisters relying more on Paige's orbing to get around, and villains appearing more often as generic guys dressed in black leather were likely also done out of budget reasons.
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Post by adzpower on Sept 13, 2016 12:55:02 GMT -5
Eurgh, the budget cuts were the worst thing that could have happened to an already ailing show. How one earth were they supposed to tell a good story with such a miniscule budget? It's a fantasy show, it NEEDS a large budget, if you're goign to bring it back for one more year at least give it the tools it requires to go out with a bang. I'd rather they'd just have cancelled it and called season 7 the finale. That was as good an ending as any and certainly better than season 8.
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Post by BettyNewbie on Sept 13, 2016 17:43:18 GMT -5
Eurgh, the budget cuts were the worst thing that could have happened to an already ailing show. How one earth were they supposed to tell a good story with such a miniscule budget? It's a fantasy show, it NEEDS a large budget, if you're goign to bring it back for one more year at least give it the tools it requires to go out with a bang. I'd rather they'd just have cancelled it and called season 7 the finale. That was as good an ending as any and certainly better than season 8. Tell me about it.  First the network renews the show at the 11th hour, after a series finale had already been written, and then they nuke the budget so the show can hardly even put together another season. Charmed's last season needed to be a return to form, which S7 was very close to being (7x01-7x13 stunk, but 7x14-7x22 were great). The slashed budget ensured that S8 never even had a chance to be good. In the past, I've blamed Brad Kern for a lot of the woes that overcame Charmed as the series progressed. However, it's quite clear that the WB was the real villain of the piece. They under promoted Charmed, constantly meddled in its production, and, cut the budget every chance they got. It was almost if they were ashamed of it. Why? This was one of their strongest shows, you would think that they would have treated it much better. Not I'm not saying that Kern is off the hook here, he isn't. What I blame him for, in this matter, is that he didn't fight for the show. When the WB said "Jump", Kern always said "How high?" Kern should have demanded a better budget for the final season. I read an interview with him, years ago, in which he said that, when he first saw the projected budget for S8, he seriously considered saying no to the season. Well, I wish he had. At least Charmed would have ending on a good note with fans. Kern was the Executive Producer of Charmed, it was all on him. He should have dug in his heels and said 'No way, we cannot work with his budget. Either give us a decent budget, or we walk." I think the WB would have caved. What else could they have done, they needed to fill that time slot, after all (which is the only reason S8 even existed). I mean can you see Joss Whedon just rolling over to every demand the WB made of him. I can't. In fact, that's one of the reasons he walked out on them, taking Buffy with him, in 2001. If the WB was not willing to give Charmed a decent budget, Kern should have done the same. Charmed would have either ended with S7, or perhaps another network, such as the then still respectable Sci-Fi Channel, might have picked it up. Alas, we'll never know. Yeah, that was really Kern's biggest problem as a showrunner. He had no investment in the series beyond his paycheck, so he just sat back and let the WB meddle with and destroy the show right in front of him. Charmed needed a showrunner who actually gave a damn about the show's quality and had a creative investment in the series. |
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Post by Tim on Aug 25, 2018 18:06:50 GMT -5
I hated the way they ended the storyline for the Jenkins sisters. Christy had been kidnapped by demons and held for 15 years by them. They had her so turned around that, if they'd told her that 2+2=5, she would have believed them. She was not evil by her own choice, she had been brainwashed. She deserved a better ending than she got.
Well, at least I stepped up with my R&H story, The Troubled Spirit. I felt I needed to properly wrap up Christy's story, since Kernus had dropped the ball. |
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Post by BettyNewbie on Aug 25, 2018 19:59:35 GMT -5
Yeah, that was really Kern's biggest problem as a showrunner. He had no investment in the series beyond his paycheck, so he just sat back and let the WB meddle with and destroy the show right in front of him. Charmed needed a showrunner who actually gave a damn about the show's quality and had a creative investment in the series. My, was I far too nice to Kernus here. ---------- If the WB really just had to renew Charmed for a Season 8, I wish they had given the show a shortened 13 episode season instead of nuking the budget. That would've still left plenty of room to wrap the show up, yet allowed the show to go out with a decent budget. Ideally, I would've also scrapped Dex and Coop (ie. Phoebe's Cardboard Hunks) in favor of keeping Leo and Darryl. I get why we had to have Billie and Christy (the Frog Network wanted a spin-off), and it was also nice to see Paige finally find a decent guy in Henry, but Phoebe's latest slampieces were nothing more than a waste of time and money. Let her actually grow up and end the show single and childless, learning that she doesn't need a man glued to her side to be happy. Let her finally move on from Cole instead of handing her a bland substitute with Cupid powers. As for the finale, no Penny/Patty/Chris/Wyatt (use that money to bring Prue back instead), no time travel, and no flash-forwards. |
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Post by Tim on Aug 25, 2018 23:15:05 GMT -5
We didn't know then what we know now about him, of course.
Exactly. That way they wouldn't had to spend so much of what little money they had on pointless filler stuff.
Amen to that. How much money would they have saved had they not hired guest stars for Dex and Mr. Cardboard.
I too would keep Henry though. He actually had a personality and chemistry with Paige.
The four sisters together for the finale. Now THAT would have rocked!
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Aug 26, 2018 4:12:25 GMT -5
The real villains that year were the sisters themselves which Christy correctly pointed out more Piper and Phoebe than Paige herself because at least she still cared about innocents even though she'd done questionable things like the others had in the past.
I know Phoebe tried to reason with Billie and Christy and not have the latter killed right away but that'd need to have happened more than one episode for me to like her and by the end, she wanted Christy dead anyway so enough said.
Christy was the ultimate innocent and not the greatest battle which the sisters should've realized once they'd fought her instead of concentrating on getting Leo back.
What she needed was help, guidance, love, and support, not people trying to kill her because she was considered evil before understanding what had happened to her.
Had the girls done that then the ultimate battle may not have happened which the writers weren't smart enough to come up with obviously.
The final thing that bugged me that year was Piper, Paige, and Phoebe faking their deaths which were a total cop-out for me. Had the sisters made the ultimate sacrifice destroying Zankou, the Shadow and themselves using another way to astral project and not just learn it from Leo who got it from Prue before she died. (Sorry I don't believe in that) after getting rid of one of the 5 elements on the pentagram we saw on the map season 1 to weaken the Shadow and make sure no more evil could tap into that but they were resurrected somehow because of the big looming battle ahead and given new identities which they used like witness protection meaning no living in the manor, working the same job or driving the same car, wearing the same jewellery and clothes and not acting like themselves so anyone suspected them alive then I would've accepted the fake persona's at the start of the season but then season 7's end was a good way to end Charmed so I've always considered that the true finale and not the flash forward a year later of course.
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Post by adzpower on Aug 26, 2018 6:12:09 GMT -5
I love all these ideas. Now, for me, years ago I had written a very small fanfic (never published) where before Zankou goes to the manor to face the sisters for the final time he goes to the underworld and uses the nexus power to bring Prue back to life, she's scared, alone, disoriented, and he convinces her that her sisters are the reason she died, disillusioned by him, she wants to stop them, essentially, she assumes the role of Billie/Christy, in that she sees how selfish her sisters have gotten and because the nexus can be swayed either good or evil, and it was being used by evil when she was resurrected, Prue now has a dark side and wants to take her sisters down. Prue becomes the final villain of the series, but is obviously bought back to the side of good by the end, getting to continue her life and reunite with her family.
The series ends with all four sisters, Phoebe doesn't need a man, Paige and Henry are dating and Piper has Leo. Prue just wants to make up for lost time, and the show ends with her shutting the manor door one last time with a wave of the hand.
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Post by Tim on Aug 26, 2018 11:26:58 GMT -5
That's exactly right, Katherine. By planning to kill Christy, they were, in fact, planning the murder of a human being. And Christy WAS human.
It's not like the Charmed Ones haven't dealt with evil witches before, without killing them. The Stillman sisters were dealt with by just knocking them out and binding their powers. Well, they could have done the same to Christy.
What SHOULD have happened is that, after realizing the truth, Christy turns against Dumain and the Triad and helps to vanquish them. And, if I had written it, that is exactly what would have happened.
Do you still have that story, Adam. If you do, please post it here (and at your FF.net account).
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Aug 26, 2018 15:11:27 GMT -5
That's what I would've done when Christy fought out the truth about the Triad and Dumain and then had Leo returned after the four were vanquished.
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Post by adzpower on Aug 26, 2018 17:05:50 GMT -5
Aaah sadly I don't have it anymore, a couple years ago the hard drive I had it saved on got corrupted and nothing on it could be salvaged, I remember the gist of it though so who knows? Maybe I will sit down one day and re-do it.
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Post by Tim on Aug 26, 2018 17:50:05 GMT -5
This is a great idea. Too bad it was beyond Kernus's abilities to write.
That's why all my stuff is backed up on not one, but two, flash drives, just in case of such a catastrophe.
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First the network renews the show at the 11th hour, after a series finale had already been written, and then they nuke the budget so the show can hardly even put together another season.
