Hola, kids! Did you think I'd forgotten about you? Far from it. I'm just a little exhausted - haven't been sleeping well, as I'm sure you've noticed from the voluminous posting I've been doing of late. Not to mention that Blogger has been slowed to a C-R-A-W-L since early this morning (last night). Anyway, let's get into it:
I think I've posted on this about Charmed before: I used to think of it as primarily a "girly" show. It came out when the whole "witchcraft-as-Goddess-Hear-Me-Roar" thing was going on back in the '90s and I didn't get the WB back then, so I didn't rush right out to see it. Plus, whenever Shannen Doherty left, I assumed it was on the chopping block, so that provided a convenient excuse not to seek it out. I got into it last year in reruns and really took to it. But the big thing I discovered is that, while it deals with a lot of "girly" issues, it's not really a "girly" show. In fact, a lot of girls don't seem to like it as much as I thought they would.
One friend, in particular, slammed it for its dialogue (which I actually think fun), and she pointed-out how they always dressed "slutty." I think the exact quote was "fighting demons in Victoria's Secret underwear" or something. But Charmed is nowhere near Hex on the "hotness" level, as far as actual sex goes. It's nowhere near Hex as far as, like, the Occult, Witchcraft, daemonology, history, nor anything else along those lines.
It's not so much that Charmed is "watered-down" or anything, just that after Doherty's departure, it really took a more comedic turn, possibly because of Milano's executive producer role and sit-com chops, but it was a good change. Hex' humor is far drier and... I guess "base" (in a good way) is an appropriate term here - much like this blog's, in fact - whereas Charmed's is more congenial and lighthearted and largely family-oriented (in both the sense that it relates to familial situations - the Halliwells' - and that it's more family-appropriate).
Hex focuses on the individual characters and personalities and plays them off of one another, where Charmed focuses on the ensemble cast. There's also a "cuteness" factor in Charmed that is completely absent in Hex; Hex is intentionally darker, grittier, and more "YA" (Young Adult) -targeted. Charmed started off in this vein but, like I say, it took a different approach after Doherty's departure.
Further, Charmed's SFX and overall production also value suffered after Doherty left, but since Hex was only on for 2 seasons, it's hard to say whether or not it could have kept up its phenomenal level of production. I mean, when it comes to special effects, there is absolutely nothing on TV like our favorite witchy show - shit, few movies' SFX rival those in Hex. Plus, both series were filmed in 16 or 32 mm for the the first seasons, then Charmed switched to video once Doherty left, and you can definitely see the difference when you watch the seasons change, so to speak.
So, which wins? I'll let you decide, if you're so inclined, but the two shows have their own strengths; the only difference between them is that Hex has no weaknesses.
But don't make me choose between Ella and Phoebe or Cassie and Piper - that's... that's a fight that doesn't need to happen (but I'll definitely buy it on DVD, if it should!).
A rambling melange of pop-culture.
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I also wanted to mention - but posting to Blogger has been like "type a sentence, wait five minutes for the text to catch-up" since yesterday, so I lost my train of thought maybe 50 times trying to write this - that Charmed really, really created its own mythology and backdrop that is absolutely unique to the show. It draws from all sorts of sources, including mythological witchcraft, historical references (barely), Chinese Zodiac and mythology, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Middle Eastern - in 8 or 9 seasons, Charmed did a really good job of touching on just about every aspect of their universe, but definitely kept it in a superhero-type vein. Kind of over-the-top, played for laughs as often as for anything else.
Still, I hate that Charmed cashed it in the very year I finally got the WB, because the last 2-3 seasons really kicked ass! The last 2-3 seasons were as good, if not better, as/than the first 3 (plus, it was really a kind of nebulous, Sopranos-type non-ending, so I really hope they revive it in a film or special or something).
Comparatively, Hex draws almost solely on European witchcraft and Occult, in a very historical way. In fact, Ella's dad was John Dee, one-half of the infamous team which discovered the Enochian Language, and worked for the Queen, herself. John Dee was very real, as was his work (though, of course, its veracity remains in question).
Further, if you know much about these things from any perspective, you know that Hex is sometimes startlingly accurate to the source material, whether or not you consider that material to be "real" or not; Charmed extrapolates - usually very wildly and loosely - on some of these things, but stays far enough away from actual Witchcraft to be socially acceptable by American TV-viewing audiences and still get played in basically every market across the country.
Luckily, Hex doesn't rightly give a shit and just lets it all hang out. I wouldn't be surprised if Crowley himself somehow played a part in the larger tapestry of things, and it most certainly wouldn't be out of place.
I'm sorry, I love Charmed, I really do, but it's Hex for me, all the way down the line (to use a Chandlerism and kind of mix me up some sources, myself).
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