Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on
The WB Television Network.
The series was created in 1998 by writer
Constance M. Burge and was produced by
Aaron Spelling and his
Spelling Television company, with the
show runner being writer-director
Brad Kern.
The
series narrative follows the four Halliwell sisters,
Prue,
Piper,
Phoebe and, later,
Paige, the culmination of the long
Warren line of powerful, good witches. The sisters, despite being perceived as normal by the non-
supernatural community, are known as The Charmed Ones in the magical community, whose prophesied
destiny is to battle against evil beings, such as demons and
warlocks, in order to protect innocent lives from being endangered. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to hold normal working lives in
San Francisco. Keeping their paranormal identities separate and secret from their ordinary lives forms part of the series' tension and challenges, with the exposure of magic having far-reaching consequences on relationships, and having resulted in a number of police and
FBI investigations throughout the series.
The first episode, "
Something Wicca This Way Comes", garnered 7.70 million viewers, breaking the record for the highest rated debut for the Warner Brothers Network.
[www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9810/23/charmed/index.html] In January 2006, producer
Brad Kern declared that
Charmed was the longest running hour-long series featuring all female leads (
Murder She Wrote having only a singular lead, and
The Facts of Life being a 30 minute sitcom).
The series finale, "
Forever Charmed", ended with a season high of 4.49 million viewers.
[www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15634905_ITM]