I did watch Charmed from the beginning, every episode as it aired each week,as I will admit (sheepishly or not) that I am a sci-fi/fantasy fan and the whole sister witches gig appealed to me.
However, where I still think Buffy is one of the most fantastic shows to ever air, actually probably *the* best show haha, Charmed just seems pretty lame. I mean the first season it had this really great concept of three sisters who happened to be witches (not three witches who happened to be sisters) and they incorporated a lot of Wicca concepts and they had their own style Add in the Dan/Piper/Leo story arc in season two and we had a show meant for success. But after Constance M Burge (The creator) left the show at the end of season two, and all story arcs and episode plans were left to Brad Kern, the show started to go down hill at a speedy rate.
And you have to note that a huge majority of storylines seem to be taken directly from Buffy. I mean I know that in fantasy and sci-fi shows that similar storylines are bound to appear, but they are usually told in the show's own way so making them different. But Charmed just seemed to be mimicing Buffy at a lesser quality. A mean Phoebe falling for Cole, a demon with a soul just reeked a little too much of the Buffy/Angel storyline. Towards the middle of season three I began watching a little less avidly.
Then when Paige came here- argh! It just blew the entire original concept and sorry Rose fans, but Rose McGowan, in my opinion, can't act. She looks great and her photoshoots always look fantastic but she cannot act. And then the stories in Charmed became lamer and lamer. I mean they had taken so much from Buffy maybe they should have taken a tip from the quote 'There are two things that I don't believe in. Coincidence. And leprechauns' when they started making *those* atrocious episodes. It fast became a show that I just had on in the background when there was nothing else on.
Season 8 hit a new copying low though as in copying from Buffy. One word: Billie. The girl is blonde and comes in doing the flips and the roundhouse kicks, supernatural kick-assyness before stabbing the demon in the heart with an athame which causes him to burst into flames and essentially turn into ash. Sound familiar? Plus, after that comparison you kinda can't ignore the similaity between the names Billie and Buffy. And then we find out that Billie's sister is the key? Dear god, Mutant Enemy should be sueing at this point.
In conclusion: Charmed, a good premiere season but it quickly lost the plot (and went on to stealing from others, namely Buffy and Angel). Leprechauns, Nymphs, Titans dressed for kids parties and Unicorns made the show seem so lame and cheesy and without credibility (as credible as fantasy shows can achieve). I mean that was their season 5 and when you compare it To season 5 of Buffy...well, you can see where the quality lies. Charmed had a lot of potential, too bad it didn't follow through.