CHARMED was a strange one for me.
My best friend sent me an episode from season 1 because it guest-starred Danielle Harris. Sometime later, I happened to turn on a random episode in season 6. Later still, I tuned in the middle of season 7. What a place to come in. I got hooked, and continued on thru season 8.
Now, at the time, TNT was running 4 episodes a day, with 2 separate runs. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. When I came in, they were 2 weeks apart. But when the run I started with got to the end of season 8, it then jumped to the beginning of season 4. 2 weeks later, the other run (which was 2 weeks behind), jumped to season 1. So from then on, I was watching 2 different seasons, 3 years apart, AT THE SAME TIME.
This had the extra bizarre effect, of several times, I'd watch a story in the morning, and see its sequel from 3 years later, the SAME DAY.
Somehow I never got confused. I took that as good storytelling.
But at some point, I read about how the show was created, and what went on behind-the-scenes. There was a group of 6 or 8 producers running things (quite common nowadays, I see), but one of them decided HE was "in charge" of everyone else. And he decided, all on his own, to do a season-long story for season 3 that nobody else really wanted to do, to the point where the woman who was "officially" listed as "creator", virtually WALKED off the show, as she didn't need the headaches this guy was causing her every single day at work.
Depending on your view, that story either worked... or derailed the show. It didn't bother me the first time I watched it. But the 2nd time... I could see why fans online were complaining.
Funny thing. That season-long story dragged on for TWO-AND-A-HALF years. And when it finally ended... the guy who initialted it apparenlty had NO more ideas... and I believe, HE left the show!
That said, I was completely absorbed by the series for more than a year, and at some point, would love to get the whole series on DVD. That way, I could watch it at MY schedule, not anyone else's-- and, without commercial breaks.
The final season was another season-long story that involved long-term brainwashing. All I'll say is, I thought it was FAR better-written than STAR WARS Episodes 1-3!
