 Upon the discovery that they are descendants
of a long line of witches, three sisters find themselves battling
demons and warlocks – and occasionally each other. When
the beautiful Halliwell Sisters inherit a house from their
grandmother and discover a secret Book of Shadows, they learn
that they each have a unique power. The strong-willed Prue
(Shannen Dorerty) can move objects, reserved Piper (Holly
Marie Combs) is able to freeze time, and the uninhibited Phoebe
(Alyssa Milano) sees the future. Individually, each is strong,
but it is only by putting aside their differences and banding
together as the "Power of Three" that they will
be able to protect the innocent and vanquish evil. As the
foretold “Charmed Ones,” they are destined save
the innocent and defeat the forces of darkness.
Being
that this is the first season of the show, it faces the same
problems as most new shows -- character introduction, establishing
a history or mythology and basically finding itself. Charmed succeeds where countless others have failed in that it does
this fairly quickly and very well. That’s not to say
there aren’t a few weak episodes, because there are,
but as a whole this is a very strong season. The main characters
are likable and the three actresses who play them have a nice
chemistry; particularly Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs,
whom you could almost believe are sisters. The supporting
cast is above average and the revolving door of guest-stars
keeps the show from becoming stale. There were also a few
characters introduced that are clearly going to be popping
up again and again.
The show has a basic formula -- each episode features a different
threat, usually a demon or warlock, that they must defeat
to survive. There are, however, a few continuous story threads
that weave themselves through each episode; some resolving
themselves as they go, while others continue on into the next
season. The writing is pretty good but a bit simplistic at
times, yet the dialogue never really becomes absurd. From
the beginning, I think it was pretty clear Aaron Spelling
had another hit on his hands.
 All
twenty-two episodes of the first season are presented here
in this set and they all look and sound great with clean transfers
and crisp audio. Packaged in six slim cases, each containing
a single disc, Charmed: Season One takes
up a bit of space on the shelf. I would have preferred them
doubling up the number of discs per case and cutting the box
size in half. The back of each slim case displays an episode
listing and a synopsis for each episode.
 When Charmed first debuted on television, I caught
the first 4 or 5 episodes and I really liked what I saw. However,
like I usually do, I missed a few episodes here and there.
Finally, I gave up on trying to keep pace with the show. I
still catch a few episodes to this day but I’m kinda
lost on the continuity of the show. As the phenomenal success
of TV on DVD unfolded, I hoped that this show would be released
on DVD someday and I would finally get my chance to see all
of it. Based upon the polls from websites that track such
things, this was one of the most wanted TV sets yet to be
released. Now, here it is! Paramount has granted our wish
and in true Paramount fashion they have done so without a
single extra… not a damn one. Don’t let the lack
of extras dissuade you though, this is a really fun show and
I can’t recommend it highly enough.
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