Charmed: one thing remains the same.
Dec. 19th, 2023 05:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impySooooooo if you're new around here, you might not know but the og Charmed is my fandom. It's not necessarily the fandom I know the most about but that's only because SVH has a much smaller pool of information, honestly. Back in ye olden days I knew a shit ton about the show; far more than was strictly necessary and probably have forgotten more than some people who are rabid fans actually know. That kind of fandom. I remember the board wars and how you could get banned just for being a member of another board because of course you could.
I will admit that once my main boards died, I mostly kept the show in my heart but no longer actively participated in fan stuff. Probably because for awhile I was burned out and partly because there wasn't a ton going on in the fan space anyway. I think that's pretty standard when a relatively long running show ends, especially when the last couple of seasons are a slog for whatever reason(s)... there's a moment in time when the fans take a collective step back after the initial buzz of the show ending wears off and you're just like "well, what do we do now?" Once my usual haunts went under, I didn't have anywhere to go and my desire to rehash the same shit over and over was pretty low.
That said, it's also been the one fandom that if I notice other people talking about it, I will at least stop and listen/read.
Over the years there's been enough BTS chatter to make it clear that while the fans loved the show, the actresses didn't necessarily love making the show. Some was known as the show was being done (their criticisms of the costumes? Well documented back in the day) or at least guessed, and some not so much. The behind the scenes drama of the show has always loomed as large as the actual show for anyone who dared dip their toe in the fandom, though, and right at the center was WTF happened between the end of Season 3 and the start of Season 4 when Shannen was fired.
I cannot stress to you how quickly I ran to listen to Shannen's new podcast. I don't even DO podcasts as a general rule but for this I made an exception. She's had Holly as a guest for the last two episodes and they've been breaking down their friendship and Charmed and it's wild to hear.
The biggest shock was that anyone who was paying attention thought that Shannen left of her own free will. I know it was floated at the time and nearly everyone immediately shot it down because no fucking way did she go from directing the finale to choosing not to come back, at least long enough to give Prue a proper send off. And so, at least while I was in the fandom and as I've continued to hear it when others discuss it, the assumption was always: Alyssa and Shannen didn't get along for whatever reason. Earlier in the season, Shannen requested out and was told "lol, no" and Alyssa went to the higher ups and said hey, her or me, and the network looked at 90210 surviving without Shannen and chose Alyssa, firing Shannen while the show was on break. A big part of this was because of interviews the remaining cast did, including Holly in TV Guide (pretty sure on that one).
So imagine the surprise I got hearing the podcast and hearing them talk about their version of events being just different enough to make you go wait what? Turns out Shannen's contract had some fun perks, like her being paid more because the show was basically shopped around as the show where she and Spelling reunited and thus the show was sold on HER name. Which, y'know, accurate. That's literally what one of the first articles about the show says and I have that one up in my room somewhere. There are trailers for the show that lean hard into that. Anyway, Alyssa finds out and doesn't like it, tries to get the network to renegotiate things and Shannen's lawyers/agent step in like "yeah, you can pay her more than she's making but not more than Shannen" annnnnnnnnd things go about as well as you'd expect. The rest plays out pretty similarly to what fandom operated on for years.
But there are a couple of things that do stick out.
One: Shannen says that she wanted to sue but was told by her people that her career couldn't survive being fired from two Spelling shows, basically back to back. Holly chimes in with part of the deal she made to not walk away (we'll get to the wtf of that in a sec) was that Shannen could chose to spin the story how she/her team wanted.
Holly, who has definitely interacted with a ton of fans over the years, seems to be under the impression that people bought the "Shannen decided to leave" story. Who? When? I am so confused as to who these people are. Are they newer fans? Because fandom at the time was very much divided on a LOT of things but only the most ardent Alyssa followers ever bought the Shannen walked story. And I'm not really sure how much they believed it so much as they just didn't believe Alyssa played a part in Shannen being fired.
Two: Holly, at the time, made a comment about not wanting to go on without Shannen, but obviously did. Turns out it's because they threatened to financially ruin her if she left. The show couldn't withstand her leaving too, but she was in this weird no-man's land of being too important to let go but not important enough to keep happy. Hearing how upset she still is over that situation is painful. :/ It has got to suck to carry a big chunk of a show on your back, even if you chose to take up some of that burden, and not be compensated for it and not have your voice heard and respected... hell, to be threatened by the same people who didn't even want you there to begin with? What the actual fuck. I will fight anyone who says Piper didn't carry the last few seasons because she absolutely did. Buffy fandom liked to say that Alyson's crying was Joss's 'secret weapon' in getting the audience to care about things but Charmed had that in Holly/Piper. I also really fucking hope I was misunderstanding because it sounded like she was paid the least of the three sisters each season and that's just beyond fucked up.
Also, it drives me absolutely bonkers when people talk about Shannen and spell her name with an O. Like it's right there, a billion times in a post/article/online/whatever. Still choosing to misspell it is annoying as fuck.
I will admit that once my main boards died, I mostly kept the show in my heart but no longer actively participated in fan stuff. Probably because for awhile I was burned out and partly because there wasn't a ton going on in the fan space anyway. I think that's pretty standard when a relatively long running show ends, especially when the last couple of seasons are a slog for whatever reason(s)... there's a moment in time when the fans take a collective step back after the initial buzz of the show ending wears off and you're just like "well, what do we do now?" Once my usual haunts went under, I didn't have anywhere to go and my desire to rehash the same shit over and over was pretty low.
That said, it's also been the one fandom that if I notice other people talking about it, I will at least stop and listen/read.
Over the years there's been enough BTS chatter to make it clear that while the fans loved the show, the actresses didn't necessarily love making the show. Some was known as the show was being done (their criticisms of the costumes? Well documented back in the day) or at least guessed, and some not so much. The behind the scenes drama of the show has always loomed as large as the actual show for anyone who dared dip their toe in the fandom, though, and right at the center was WTF happened between the end of Season 3 and the start of Season 4 when Shannen was fired.
I cannot stress to you how quickly I ran to listen to Shannen's new podcast. I don't even DO podcasts as a general rule but for this I made an exception. She's had Holly as a guest for the last two episodes and they've been breaking down their friendship and Charmed and it's wild to hear.
The biggest shock was that anyone who was paying attention thought that Shannen left of her own free will. I know it was floated at the time and nearly everyone immediately shot it down because no fucking way did she go from directing the finale to choosing not to come back, at least long enough to give Prue a proper send off. And so, at least while I was in the fandom and as I've continued to hear it when others discuss it, the assumption was always: Alyssa and Shannen didn't get along for whatever reason. Earlier in the season, Shannen requested out and was told "lol, no" and Alyssa went to the higher ups and said hey, her or me, and the network looked at 90210 surviving without Shannen and chose Alyssa, firing Shannen while the show was on break. A big part of this was because of interviews the remaining cast did, including Holly in TV Guide (pretty sure on that one).
So imagine the surprise I got hearing the podcast and hearing them talk about their version of events being just different enough to make you go wait what? Turns out Shannen's contract had some fun perks, like her being paid more because the show was basically shopped around as the show where she and Spelling reunited and thus the show was sold on HER name. Which, y'know, accurate. That's literally what one of the first articles about the show says and I have that one up in my room somewhere. There are trailers for the show that lean hard into that. Anyway, Alyssa finds out and doesn't like it, tries to get the network to renegotiate things and Shannen's lawyers/agent step in like "yeah, you can pay her more than she's making but not more than Shannen" annnnnnnnnd things go about as well as you'd expect. The rest plays out pretty similarly to what fandom operated on for years.
But there are a couple of things that do stick out.
One: Shannen says that she wanted to sue but was told by her people that her career couldn't survive being fired from two Spelling shows, basically back to back. Holly chimes in with part of the deal she made to not walk away (we'll get to the wtf of that in a sec) was that Shannen could chose to spin the story how she/her team wanted.
Holly, who has definitely interacted with a ton of fans over the years, seems to be under the impression that people bought the "Shannen decided to leave" story. Who? When? I am so confused as to who these people are. Are they newer fans? Because fandom at the time was very much divided on a LOT of things but only the most ardent Alyssa followers ever bought the Shannen walked story. And I'm not really sure how much they believed it so much as they just didn't believe Alyssa played a part in Shannen being fired.
Two: Holly, at the time, made a comment about not wanting to go on without Shannen, but obviously did. Turns out it's because they threatened to financially ruin her if she left. The show couldn't withstand her leaving too, but she was in this weird no-man's land of being too important to let go but not important enough to keep happy. Hearing how upset she still is over that situation is painful. :/ It has got to suck to carry a big chunk of a show on your back, even if you chose to take up some of that burden, and not be compensated for it and not have your voice heard and respected... hell, to be threatened by the same people who didn't even want you there to begin with? What the actual fuck. I will fight anyone who says Piper didn't carry the last few seasons because she absolutely did. Buffy fandom liked to say that Alyson's crying was Joss's 'secret weapon' in getting the audience to care about things but Charmed had that in Holly/Piper. I also really fucking hope I was misunderstanding because it sounded like she was paid the least of the three sisters each season and that's just beyond fucked up.
Also, it drives me absolutely bonkers when people talk about Shannen and spell her name with an O. Like it's right there, a billion times in a post/article/online/whatever. Still choosing to misspell it is annoying as fuck.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-21 09:00 pm (UTC)It's always interesting to hear what the players in the drama have to say for themselves. If what Holly is saying is true about being the least respected/paid and yet her character basically carried the show after Shannen left, then WOW. I'm not surprised, unfortunately, but still. The audacity!