History YMMV / Charmed

** Prue - kickass and badass feminist icon that stands up for what she believes in? Or SympatheticSue and CanonSue that is also a massive {{hypocrite}}?

* BrokenBase:
** The infamous feud between Shannon Doherty and Alyssa Milano still causes heated debates among ''Charmed'' fans to this day, despite the fact that the two actresses seem to be at peace with one another now.
** Whether Phoebe and Piper became Mary Sues after their actresses became producers is another point of contention. For what it's worth, Creator/RoseMcGowan said that she was offered a producer credit too but turned it down since her role wouldn't actually change.

* FixerSue: LovableRogue ex-demon by the name of Drake, played by Billy Zane. Retaining his powers at the cost of his life (RealLifeWritesThePlot, as the studio likely couldn't afford to keep Zane on as a regular), he breezed into the girls' lives and, with {{Kirk Summation}}s and {{Patrick Stewart Speech}}es galore, wrapped up all the problems that had plagued the entire 7th season, just in time to [[DeadStarWalking go out on a dance.]] Turns out it was [[spoiler: all a part of ex-BigBad Cole's {{plan}} to [[TheAtoner make up for past sins.]]]] Proof that TropesAreNotBad - Drake was probably the best thing to happen to Season 7.

* GodModeSue: Wyatt, who has a ridiculous amount of power ''even from the womb,'' so much that he actually uses his powers to teach his parents a lesson. His powers just keep piling up after he's born.

* MarySue: Let's see how many boxes Prue can check?
** ''Cool name:'' Prudence Halliwell.
** ''Exceptional Talent/Success?:'' Is a successful museum curator when the series starts, rises to a prominent position at Bucklands auction house very easily. After choosing to leave that job, she's almost immediately hired as a photographer for a magazine. She's also the only sister with an offensive power for ages, meaning she gets to vanquish the most demons. She's also the first sister to get a second power. Then there's the episode where she gets a power boost and super ''Matrix''-style fighting skills. Two episodes later she does those exact same skills with no power boost, even better than Phoebe who had been studying martial arts for years.
** ''Surrounded by tragedy?'': Mother died when she was six years old, father walked out on her many times. According to the other characters "had to sacrifice her own childhood to help raise us". Then the season 1 finale adds [[spoiler: TheLostLenore]] to the list.
** ''Flaws?'': She's bad tempered but rarely called out on it, and she can get away with it because she's the big sister. Any flaws that she does have are usually one-shot problems that exist for her to overcome by the end of the episode. She displays little to no psychological trauma from all the tragedy above apart from getting annoyed whenever her father is mentioned.
** ''Attractiveness?:'' Prue is somehow able to get away with dressing in very inappropriate clothing for an auction house environment. One episode has her wearing a see through blouse with just a black bra underneath. She gets a love interest off the bat from the first episode and after that has two more recurring ones. Then there's a good amount of one-episode boys. And this is only in three seasons. She was also head cheerleader and popular in school.
** ''Story Focus:'' Only in the third season is she not the focus of all the storylines. Even then Piper was made into a subplot on the episode of her own wedding day to accommodate Prue's problem-of-the-week. The first three seasons are essentially about the "greater glory of Prue" as Piper lampshades it.
** ''Other?:'' Is frequently touted as the strongest Halliwell sister and her powers are enough to vanquish an upper-level demon which should have needed the Power of Three. She's also rarely shown to be in the wrong when it comes to disputes in the trio. She's also given an almost {{Anvilicious}} number of Girl Power moments.
--> '''Billy:''' It's okay, the man is here to save the day.
--> '''Prue:''' Billy, it's the 21st century, it's the woman's job to save the day.

* SympatheticSue: Prue again. Aside from getting a little annoyed whenever their father is mentioned and not being able to say "I love you" in [[CompressedVice one episode]] - she displays little to no psychological trauma from having to "sacrifice her own childhood to help raise us".

** Aside from the ''Scream'' reference above, there's "Wrestling With Demons". Think about this: Prue and Phoebe defeated the two guys that would later win tag team championships together as part of the [[{{TNA}} Main Event Mafia]].

** Each season generally has a Scrappy ''Episode'' that is almost universally disliked:
*** Season 1 has "The Wedding From Hell" or "Dream Sorcerer". Both for their plots, villains and acting.
*** Season 2 has "Animal Pragmatism" or else "That Old Black Magic". Again, acting and plots.
*** Season 3 has "We All Scream For Ice Cream", though some fans appreciate it for the Prue and Victor bonding moments.
*** Season 4 has "Trial By Magic" which features a demon money laundering scheme of all things.
*** Season 5 has "Lucky Charmed", and the Leprechauns themselves are Scrappies in general. "Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun" is a close runner-up (Creator/RoseMcGowan dislikes it for the nymph costume she had to wear). "Y Tu Mummy Tambien" has dislike for its blatant Phoebe Fanservice.
*** Season 6 has "The Power of Three Blondes" purely because Jenny [=McCarthy=] guest stars. "Witch Wars" is despised for the reality TV theme. The two episodes featuring a sister conjuring up 'Mr Right' aren't well liked either.
*** Season 7 has "The Bare Witch Project" for its Anvilicious feminism Aesop. Also "Charrrrrrmed!" for those not fans of pirates.
*** Season 8 has "Mr and Mrs Witch" or else "Kill Billie Vol. 1". Any Billie-centred episode tends not to go down well with fans.

* BrokenBase: The infamous feud between Shannon Doherty and Alyssa Milano still causes heated debates among ''Charmed'' fans to this day, despite the fact that the two actresses seem to be at peace with one another now.

** In a season 5 episode (see both ConflictBall and DerailingLoveInterests) Piper tells Phoebe [[BlatantLies "you don't have a mean bone in your body]]". There's sisterly love and then there's just plain lying through your teeth. (In this case, though, it ''was'' a matter of life or death. With [[spoiler:Paige mortally wounded and the only way to save her being to get Phoebe over her fear of being evil]], Piper may have been willing to stretch the truth.)
** Billie from the final season. The often nicknamed "Maggot Neck", "Bimbo", and "Ultimate Retard" was loathed for many reasons - creating useless subplots that were often just [[RecycledScript rehashes of previous storylines]], distracting focus from the titular Charmed ones, threatening the world with a spin-off, getting a character that had been around since season one (and Piper's husband) [[PutOnABus encased in a block of ice]] for over half the season due to budget cuts, and breaking canon by having the ability to [[RealityWarper alter reality]] with her mind making her and her lisping sister the Ultimate Power - but no reason garnered as much hatred as Kaley Cuoco's [[DullSurprise inability to express any semblance of humanity]] that resulted in her character being alienating and just downright unlikable. Being Brad Kern's pet means you can get away with anything.

** Cole

* {{Fanon}}: Fans have a quote that's often attributed to Piper that goes "Life ain't a garden, so quit being a ho". While it is something she probably would say, she never says it at any point in the series.

* InternetBackdraft: If you go on a ''Charmed'' forum and bring up which actress you believe was in the wrong during the whole Alyssa Milano[=/=]Shannen Doherty feud, you'd better have a hose with you to put out all the flames you're going to cause...

** After Creator/HollyMarieCombs and Alyssa Milano become producers, both Piper and Pheobe become Mary Sues.
* MostAnnoyingSound: Anytime one of the Charmed Ones screeches "Leo!" in later seasons, summoning him away from life or death emergencies to deal with the most trivial problems whatsoever. This did get lampshaded at least once, when Chris annoyingly asked Piper, "Have you ever noticed that at the least sign of concern, you always call out for Leo?" And considering Chris is [[spoiler: Piper and Leo's kid from the future]], it suggests that Piper probably keeps doing this in the future while they're raising their kids.

** Phoebe also was hated after her treatment with Cole. Many fans called post Season Five Phoebe '[=PhoeMe=]'
*** She was somewhat redeemed in the eighth season for a few fans, her bitchy tendencies lessening, her SerialRomeo lifestyle getting Deconstructed and her outfits becoming less revealing.
** ReplacementScrappy: Surprisingly averted by Paige (except to Prue fans), her first season is considered to be one of the best seasons of the show (see SeasonalRot below). People don't seem to have a problem with Paige the character but rather some of the seasons she was in.

* StrangledByTheRedString: While there's nothing really ''bad'' about Paige and Phoebe's eventual husbands, they were introduced extremely late in the game (about one-third through and two-thirds through season eight, respectively), so it was kind of obvious that the writers were just trying to get Paige and Phoebe hitched before the end of the show.

** Or since they can create spells, why they never bothered to figure one to ''prevent'' anyone from teleporting in! It's somewhat sad that the only one DangerouslyGenreSavvy enough to do this was Ludlow, who protected his demonic training academy with spells to make it both untraceable unless you already knew it's location, as well as impossible to teleport into!

*** Piper's son Wyatt essentially became the plot of Season 6, in which it's revealed that he's destined to become the {{Above Good and|Evil}} EvilOverlord of a BadFuture unless someone's attempts to kill/convert him are thwarted. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a WWE Superstar named Wrestling/BrayWyatt[[note]]portrayed by a former member of the aforementioned Nexus group for good measure[[/note]] who leads a creepy {{cult}} "family" and is implied to be [[DemonicPossession a man possessed by an ancient demon]], possibly {{Satan}} himself. Furthermore, Wyatt Halliwell was born inside the Manor, making him extra susceptible to a FaceHeelTurn thanks to the Manor's Nexus. The man implied to be Bray Wyatt's vessel is the previous character his wrestler portrayed as a former member of the Nexus faction.

*** Piper's son Wyatt essentially became the plot of Season 6, in which it's revealed that he's destined to become the {{Above Good and|Evil}} EvilOverlord of a BadFuture unless someone's attempts to kill/convert him are thwarted. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a WWE Superstar named Wrestling/BrayWyatt[[note]]portrayed by a former member of the aforementioned Nexus group for good measure[[/note]] who leads a creepy {{cult}} "family" and is implied to be [[DemonicPossession a man possessed by an ancient demon]], possibly {{Satan}} himself. Furthermore, Wyatt Halliwell was born inside the Manor, making him extra susceptible to a FaceHeelTurn thanks to the Manor's Nexus. The man implied to be Wyatt's vessel is the previous character his wrestler portrayed as a former member of the Nexus faction.

*** Piper's son Wyatt essentially became the plot of Season 6, in which it's revealed that he's destined to become the {{Above Good and|Evil}} EvilOverlord of a BadFuture unless someone's attempts to kill/convert him are thwarted. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a WWE Superstar named Wrestling/BrayWyatt[[note]]portrayed by a former member of the aforementioned Nexus group for good measure[[/note]] who leads a creepy {{cult}} "family" and is implied to be [[DemonicPossession a man possessed by an ancient demon]], possibly {{Satan}} himself.

*** Piper's son Wyatt essentially became the plot of Season 6, in which it's revealed that he's destined to become the {{Above Good and|Evil}} EvilOverlord of a BadFuture unless someone's attempts to kill/convert him are thwarted. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a WWE Superstar named [[Wrestling/TheWyattFamily Bray Wyatt]][[note]]portrayed by a former member of the aforementioned Nexus group for good measure[[/note]] who leads a creepy {{cult}} "family" and is implied to be [[DemonicPossession a man possessed by an ancient demon]], possibly {{Satan}} himself.

** Pretty much every new big threat after the Source could count, really, seeing how the Source was set up to be THE BiggerBad of the show.

** The season 4 premiere has Paige nearly orbing a man's heart out of his body. Creator/RoseMcGowan would later play a young Cora in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' and her preferred method of dealing with people was ripping their hearts out of their bodies. Additionally in "A Knight To Remember" Rose also plays an Evil Enchantress who tries to make a prince forget his potential bride and marry her, hoping to gain control of his kingdom - something Cora does in the second episode where Rose plays her. And a third one - in "Happily Ever After" Paige falls victim to Snow White's poisoned apple. In ''Once Upon A Time'' Cora is Snow White's step-grandmother. It's also hilarious that Paige is sceptical about the fairy tales being real - when in OUAT she is a fairy tale character.

** "Spin City" has Leo finding out that Chris hates him in the future. When demon Chris is attacking him, Leo mockingly says "Did I miss a school play? Take away your favourite toy? Play favourites with Wyatt?" when it's already known that he wasn't around much in Chris's future. However later on, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Piper died when Chris was fourteen]]. This turns Chris's angst from WhenYouComingHomeDad to a huge TearJerker. It's kind of understandable why Chris keeps punching him even after he's been turned back.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Jenny Gordon was important enough to get a spot in the Season 2 opening credits - before getting written out after only four episodes. WordOfGod is that they realised she served no purpose. Jenny's role could have served as a way to give Dan some more characterisation beyond Piper's SatelliteLoveInterest.

%%** Brendan Rowe, warlock who wants to turn good. Handsome Anglo boy... until he gets his GameFace on and then he looks like an anti-Semitic caricature. Also, he's the most Anglo-looking character out of the Rowe brothers, and he's the only one who lives and turns good. There's more than that, and not just in this episode, although it does take the cake. There's the moment where Prue sees Brandon change and realizes he's evil, because only BeautyEqualsGoodness; there's the idea of three women being good and supposed to fight three evil men, which is tacky in itself. Then, there's the thing where becoming a priest somehow magically protects from all evil, which begs the questions: a) what is a ''woman'' who wants to be protected supposed to do, b) what if the priest is hypocritical in his ways, and c) what of other faiths? (Later on, we see a witch who is also Buddhist, and she says something that amounts to her faith making her stronger. The MonsterOfTheWeek promptly shows her she's wrong and kills her.) Prue even wears a cross around her neck in this episode, for no apparent reason other than the blatantly-Christian theme. In the second episode Piper takes the fact that she could walk into a church and was not struck by lightning as proof that she's good, as if ethics, morality and just plain thinking didn't exist. Plus the ''black'' pastor who can only think inside a fundamentalist box. All these probably stem from the LowestCosmicDenominator, but they still stand out.

** Pretty much every new big threat after the Source could count, really, seeing how the Source was set up to be THE UltimateEvil of the show.

*** The ''Charmed''/Wrestling/{{WWE}} connection goes even further, with WWE debuting a stable of young renegades known as Wrestling/TheNexus in 2010, led by [[Wrestling/WadeBarrett a man]] whose FinishingMove at the time was called the Wasteland. In ''Charmed'', the Nexus is the name of the central point of powerful energy the Manor was built upon, and the Wasteland is where demons go when they die, inevitably becoming food for serpent beasts there.
*** Paige's appearance in the fourth season is that of RavenHairIvorySkin and as noted on the main page, she's nicknamed "Raige" on the TelevisionWithoutPity recaps - thanks to her BloodKnight tendencies. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a [[{{Wrestling/Paige}} WWE Diva]] named Paige with black hair and pale skin, known for being violent and aggressive.
*** Similarly, Piper's son Wyatt essentially became the plot of Season 6, in which it's revealed that he's destined to become the {{Above Good and|Evil}} EvilOverlord of a BadFuture unless someone's attempts to kill/convert him are thwarted. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a [[Wrestling/TheWyattFamily WWE Superstar]] named Bray Wyatt[[note]]portrayed by a former member of the aforementioned Nexus group for good measure[[/note]] who leads a creepy {{cult}} "family" and is implied to be a man [[DemonicPossession possessed by an ancient demon]], possibly Wrestling/{{Satan}} himself.

** Paige's appearance in the fourth season is that of RavenHairIvorySkin and as noted on the main page, she's nicknamed "Raige" on the TelevisionWithoutPity recaps - thanks to her BloodKnight tendencies. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a [[{{Wrestling/Paige}} WWE Diva]] named Paige with black hair and pale skin, known for being violent and aggressive.
** Similarly, Piper's son Wyatt essentially became the plot of Season 6, in which it's revealed that he's destined to become the {{Above Good and|Evil}} EvilOverlord of a BadFuture unless someone's attempts to kill/convert him are thwarted. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a [[Wrestling/TheWyattFamily WWE Superstar]] named Bray Wyatt who leads a creepy {{cult}} "family" and is implied to be [[DemonicPossession an ancient demon possessing an ordinary vessel]], with the demon possibly being Wrestling/{{Satan}} himself. Adding to this, the man portraying Bray Wyatt was formerly seen as a member of a stable called Wrestling/TheNexus.
** When Phoebe says of Penny's six marriages[[note]]This is a goof; Penny was only married four times but engaged six[[/note]], Cole says "I would have stopped at three". Phoebe would eventually be married three times across the series. [[spoiler: And she would [[HappilyMarried stop at the third one]]]].

** Paige's appearance in the fourth season is that of RavenHairIvorySkin and as noted on the main page, she's nicknamed "Raige" on the TelevisionWithoutPity recaps - thanks to her BloodKnight tendencies. Fast forward to 2012 where we have a [[{{Wrestling/Paige}} WWE Diva]] named Paige with black hair and pale skin, known for being violent and aggressive.

** After Holly-Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano become producers, both Piper and Pheobe become Mary Sues.

** Cole Turner: Misunderstood lovesick anti-hero whose fate was the result of others constantly treating him as some''thing'' to be feared or to join with for power rather than as a man? Or gradual {{Yandere}} who usually just made things worse and couldn't face up to his own mistakes and move on with his life until it was too late? Or was Cole simply in love with an [[LovingAShadow idealised version of Phoebe]], that blinded him to her many, ''[[BitchInSheepsClothing many]]'' faults?

* EnsembleDarkhorse:

** It was recorded which cast member received the most fan mail and it wasn't any of the leads - it was Finola Hughes. Which would make Patty an Ensemble Darkhorse too.

* {{Asspull}}:

** Prue - kickass and badass feminist icon that stands up for what she believes in? Or SympatheticSue and CanonSue that is also a massive {{Hypocrite}}?