Monday 5 January 2004, by Shane :

’Charmed’ is silly and tacky. It doesn’t come close to the depth of ’Buffy’ or ’Angel’. Heck, or even ’Saved By the Bell’.

Friday 9 January 2004, by Anonymous :

Is Charmed Better Than Buffy? um, no. you are an idiot.

Monday 26 January 2004, by Anonymous :

Charmed in a lot of aspects is different from Buffy, the line of thought the writers go is completely different. The perspective of this author is that Buffy and Charmed are TV shows, and TV shows to convey very clear cut ideas of human reality, which Buffy doesn’t really do. Buffy probably goes the more messy way, showing life is not clear-cut and very complicated. Sometimes people love the confusion and depth of it. So if it comes down to it, it’s all in different perspectives, is all. but I still like Buffy better. So boo.

Thursday 29 January 2004, by Snow Storm :

um...where do I start?

(1) Charmed may be ’consistent’ with its witchcraft, but is this such a good thing. Buffy shows the development of Willow’s powers in a realistic way. Let’s not forget that in Buffy, magick is something that Willow uses, not something that she was born with. 1st she experiments, then she starts to depend on the magick (yes, like a drug) and soon she cant deal without it. This was not a sudden development, but happenned gradually. It represents the old saying, "everything in moderation". And as for the use of magick as a metaphor for her lesbian relationship, firstly it is something that both girls share in common and become close through and, secondly, it was an acceptable way of showing a ’lesbian sex scene’ on television. Or that was what the metaphor was supposed to be anyway.

2) I have to express my concern regarding people who have the need to turn everything into a race issue. Fine, so Buffy doesnt seem to have many coloured people (although Wood wasnt mensionned and he was a very important central character in the whole of season 7), but so what? Isnt it the story that counts? Obviously not.

3)The gradual disappearance of the Watcher’s Council happenned because Buffy grew up. In the show, Buffy is THE Chosen One. Part of being that meant that she had to be able to cope on her own. Buffy shows how you need to learn to cope on your own, where as Charmed (unrealistically) shows that all the important people will always be there for you no matter what and everything will work out. Personally, I fell out of love with Charmed when they introduced Paige. It was The Power of Three, then Shannon fell out with Alyssa and chose to leave so the wrote Paige in to keep the show alive. Unplanned and annoying, it ruined the show for me.

4) On Charmed death is not real i’m afraid. Pru died due to problems off set and you seem to forget the grieving Buffy and Dawn went through when Joyce died. And Tara’s death was still important later on when Willow had feelings for Kenedy, manefested by the curse from Amy, but in terms of the show by Willow’s physical transformation into Warren due to her guilt over her feelings. Characters in Buffy get brought back by ’evil’ to torment the characters, yes, but at least this can be interesting. Charmed on the other hand continues to bring back the sisters’ mum and gran to give encouragement, enforcing the girls’ inability to cope on their own. Death is not real to them.

5) Willow doesnt seem to have a job, but she is a full time student. So was Buffy until Joyce died and then she had to get a job. The show portrayed their growth from children into adults. Xander goes through all sorts of crap jobs before finding what suits him. Anya ends up running the Magic box for a while, but does go back into vengence. Let’s remember that the ladies on Charmed are just that - ladies. The series starts when the are around their mid 20’s. In Buffy the main characters are 16 year old’s when the show starts and 18-20 when they start to experience the world of work. After all, you guys only get out of school when you’re 18 :S And I can tell you it’s hard to get a job when you’re in uni. I only just have. As for "Sunnydale is nothing but a painted backdrop", I could say the same for Charmed. All we see on that show are the good guys, the bad guys and the locations where they fight. Hardly any new characters are introduced for longer than an episode.

6)You say that we know who the charmed ones are fighting for. The ’innocent/s’. How stale is that? Ooo, innocent, ooo, demon, ooo, vanquish. Yay! Everyone is happy. Everything always works out. Not very realistic is it. And kinda boring every week.

7) several things bug me here. The Cole/Phoebe relationship is so boring now. Good vs Evil all the bloody time. It’s not that simple kids. Phoebe chooses her sisters, of course, it wouldn’t happen any other way. Spike and Buffy’s relationship is about need, lust, physical satisfaction, if you will. Cole and Phoebe’s relationship is tame. Yes, Spike is neither a the good guy or the bad guy and the same goes for Buffy. But that’s because there is no good/bad guy in the real world. The are only shades of grey.

9) What do yuo mean "morality counts on Charmed"? Do morals only mean good and evil?

10) The Charmed Ones faced off against a completely different and human foe did they? That sounds familiar. What was your point? If Buffy only knows how to tell one story, the same can be said for charmed. Sorry, but innocent, demon, vanquish, blah, blah, blah. As I have said. Oh, Piper is having a kid, sure, but do you think a similar plot would work on Buffy? No. She’s only 21. I think :?

In conclusion, Buffy is far better than Charmed. With far more wit, humour and story than charmed. You say that in "Centennial Charmed," the three Charmed Ones reunite in the alternate universe and triumph over evil. Wow. How unusual for them, triumphing over evil again, eh. Black and white. No shades of grey. "In "The Wish," alternate-Buffy and her alternate-friends kill each other in a meaningless fight." Meaningless? the point of this was to show how things would be if Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. How is it meaningless? "Giles is the one who saves the day, and he’s off somewhere else doing something completely unrelated." Saving the day, yes, and making the point that Buffy saves Sunnydale every day, but Sunnydale also saved Buffy. If she had never come to Sunnydale she wouldnt have been the same girl. Giles had to sabe the day in "The Wish" because Buffy in that reality didn’t want to help/believe him. She didnt trust him.

"That difference says it all." What exactly does it say?

If you have any interesting arguements please voice them :P

Friday 30 January 2004, by Anonymous :

This was a really stupid, ill-thought out article. The auther obviously has no idea what makes a good story. Since when does having different races make a good story? Aside from the monsters and super powers, Buffy is a much more realistic show. It’s also far more entertaining because of it unpredictability whereas Charmed is extremely predictable. You always know how it will end. I could go on but why bother?

Friday 26 March 2004, by Vera :

I love both shows. I fell in love with Buffy in the first season and Charmed when it first came out. The difference is in my opinion that Buffy is more excitement, more thrilling. There’s fighting and first loves, and stuff younger people can relate to.

Charmed in a way can be boring. But its in the way you look at it. Buffy can be seen as a kids’ show. Charmed is more....drama. Each show is fantasmic in its own way. One thing about Charmed which I find very good is that there are little hints/allegories in each episode that hint to what will happen in future episodes. And these don’t like happen accidentally and the writers write it in. THey seem to have a purpose. Like in one ep. of Charmed ’Cat House’ a demon goes back into the past to kill their familiar and accidentally in one memory steps on the wedding figurine signifying the marriage of piper and leo wouldn’t last. In the next season, piper and leo separate.

ANother cool allegory was introducing Chris. At first I thought he was bad guy, but he kept sending mixed signals. It wasn’t till a couple weeks ago we find out he’s piper’s younger son. Plus she’s pregnant! and it doesn’t happen b/c she slept with another guy. Its b/c her and Leo sort of for one nite resolved their differences and fell in love again. Quite possible in real life.

Buffy in my opinion does not have allegories like this. It is not consistent. The first 2-3 seasons were awesome. But around the 4th season...it started dwindling. It seemed Joss was more interested in bringing back dead characters into the season and playing off that....Spike, Drusilla, Jonathan. Nothing new. Kinda like Buffy never meets new people and stays with her same crowd forever.

Family (like the sisters in charmed) will always be there for u. If they love u. I think mainly Buffy just got off track the very last season or so. The whole buffy/spike thing was weird. Even SMG announced that in an interview. She even couldn’t understand why the writers would write something like that. Its almost as if they tried to turn Buffy into a soap opera!!

Tuesday 10 May 2005, by Izzy :

Many people didn’t understand the relationship between Buffy & Spike and thought it was just something cooked up by the writers to make the series more exciting; unrealistic. They had to deal with Buffy coming back from the dead, she was detached and didn’t feel the emotions she used to. So she turned to Spike to feel something, anything, than the nothing she was feeling before. It was a messy, confusing relationship and it was supposed to be. It was very realistic, IMO.

Tuesday 10 May 2005, by BUFFY LOVER :

OMG! Why is this even posted at a Buffy fan site?!?! Charmed writers are pervs who just cant wait to put phoebe and paige and piper into another set of skimpy outfits! The story NO Substance NO Depth! Its COMPLETELY LAME!!! Buffy Rules!!!!!!!

Wednesday 11 May 2005, by Pinfeathers :

Charmed started out to be very entertaining and now it is very silly and redundant each episode is lamer than the last and it is time for the show to END .................. Pheobe is so slutty and Pyper is getting fat....and Paige is just too Silly..........

Saturday 21 May 2005, by Anonymous :

Some points made are irrelevant, such as the race issue. The first point is somewhat irrelevant to the comparison also. Charmed is a show about witchcraft, of course the witchcraft must be more consistent. Buffy is not a show about witches (not primarily anyway).

Lots of the points made about the good always be good/stay true to themselves, always clear who the bad guy is, and such, only say Charmed is a more cliched and unoriginal show, I don’t see how those make it a better show.

Wednesday 6 July 2005, by Anonymous :

First of all - about the writer’s main point: did you even notice what you were typing? I mean, siriously, you’re basicly claiming Charmed is better than Buffy because it’s shallow. A lot of your arguments are much like saying "it’s good because you have right and wrong and there are good guys who will always be on the right side". Even Pheobe, who did become evil for a while, truned good again when it really mattered. Because she has to be good, she’s the star and she can’t have mixed feelings when it really matters. On buffy, on the other hand, it’s not that obvious. The answer to the question "why we fight" is not necessarily "because we’re good and that will never change". Willow can turn dark and Buffy can start questioning her purpose, and that’s what makes Buffy and her friends more real than charmed would ever be. They’re lives can change them. If Buffy died, got to heaven and then was pulled back by her friend, she won’t be the worrior of justice she used to be and she would question her goals. And, well, I can go on and on about that, but I think I made my point clear - the fact that Charmed is shallow, doesn’t make it a better show (obviously).

And just a few things I have to add: 1. Buffy&Spike is the parallel relationship to Charmed’s Pheobe and Cole? huh? if you would think for a second about Buffy&Angels relationship - He’s a vampire, she’s a slayer, the love eachother, he turnes evil, she sends him to hell when she doesn’t have a choice anymore, he comes back, they know it can’t work and he Even turns human for one ep. Pheobe&Cole’s relationship - he’s a demon, she’s a Charmed One, They love, he turns evil, she sends him to this Wasteland and hey, I think I heard that one before. Oh, right, it started almost right after the Buffy&Angel story ended.

2. You’re saying Buffy defeated a god at the and of season 5 while the Charmed Ones "ended the season by facing off against a completely different and very human foe". Well, now, two or three seasons after this article was written - they DID face a god (or at least something similar), at the end of season 5. And once more - hey, I think I’ve seen a show where on it’s 5th season they faced a god, right?

(Or, as God-Joss once said - "a crossover with Charmed? doesn’t them doing the same plot as us the week after count?")

Wednesday 20 February 2008, by CHARMED SUCKS :

You idiot. You know nothing about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You need to go back and rewatch the show. And after that, you need to go ask Joss for forgiveness and offer your life in penance. I hope the gods don’t smite you for your dumb ass-ness.

Friday 22 February 2008 :

Load of bollocks. I love to read articles, even if I dont nessesarily agree, Hence the reason I read this. But this is pure crap! Not a single point is well thought out. If you are going to write a comparative atrticle then you need to actually have brains that can process the complex storylines in BtVS! Maybe re - watch both shows and then come back and write something worth while.

Saturday 27 September 2008, by Anonymous :

Buffy and Angel was better than Charmed (...) - Comment removed by author

Sunday 31 January 2010, by Phoebe Halliwell :

Charmed is the best tv show ever! Nothing could even come close to it! I agree with you completely! ;)

Tuesday 17 August 2010 :

This is the stupidest article I’ve read. You’ve clearly thought nothing out. Come back when you get some brains, dumbass.

Friday 8 July 2011, by fyredancer911 :

I wish some of you would chill. I have seen every episode of Angel, Charmed and Buffy. Many of them, more than once. I can’t decide which I like better, honestly. I think that ’Buffy’ stuck to her story more; but in my opinion the Charmed Ones had a bit more realistic lives at times. There will always be a conflict between these shows, but the honest truth, as I see it, is: What more can you really do? Turn the good characters evil? Have a love interest who isn’t "right" for you? Screw the morals of the characters? Turn them against eachother? Kill off the people who will make the audience cry? Every TV show I think I have ever seen has done all of the above. And it limits it when you have specified genres. The sisters are witches, but as the show does seem to show, they ARE sisters. They don’t let to many things get in the way of that. They do always end up "good" at the end, but I don’t find that as a problem. In Buffy, the characters don’t seem to develope until... the 6th season. This is all how it appears to me, keep that in mind. Oh and in Angel, they rocked Wes and Cordelia, but they killed off the character that they did the very best with, I believe. God, I loved Cordy by the end of her role on Angel. And do you know how cool it was when I realized that she was one of my favorite characters on Charmed, as the Seer in Season 7? Which by the way, she did after she was killed on Angel. But, and as much as I adore Angel (My oh my he is handsome ;)), they didn’t have many ideas. They mostly had Angel going postal. Like we haven’t seen that before? Don’t get mad because of this, I don’t think any are better. They are all aimed at different but similar audience, so of course they are similar. I appreciate that the person who wrote this in the first place explained why they thought Charmed is better. It’s better than a lot of people can do, trust me. I love all three, despite the plots and whatever everyone else says. I consider them all to be fairly good, I love the characters and the main ideas of each show, and that makes me less inclined to hate any of them or criticize them.

This was all my opinion and I wrote it as well as I could at this hour, so please, do not leave anything mean in reply. Everyone has the right to an opinion, but nobody should be allowed to bash another persons opinion.

Thursday 31 May 2012, by Sunny :

Whoa, all of you guys need to calm down, and calling the author a dumbass isn’t going to persuade anyone that Buffy is better than Charmed. Honestly, this article is an opinion, which you have no right to bash. Sure, you can argue against it, but when you start insulting fans of Charmed that gives a bad name to Buffy fans. I have seen both shows, and they’re undoubtly amazing. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but Buffy brings out more emotion in the audience, and the plots are pretty creative. But I have to say in the long run, Charmed is better. After watching all the seasons of Buffy, I’ve never felt the urge to go back and watch it. While with Charmed, I’ve probably watched each episode ten times (and possibly more). It’s a very entertaining show that never gets old, it’s charm never ends ;)

Friday 27 July 2012 :

Charmed is the dumbest show I’ve ever seen

Saturday 21 June 2014 :

For the sake of being dispassionate and fair, let’s skip ripping Mr. Black a new asshole and just lay out the facts:

*The Writers’ Guild of America ranked Buffy on their list of the 101 Best Written TV Shows—and Charmed didn’t make the list.

*AOL TV ranked Buffy first on its list of the 20 best Magical/Supernatural Shows of All Time, while Charmed took 10th place.

*TV Guide listed Buffy as 7th on its list of the 60 Best Sci-fi Shows—Charmed didn’t make top ten.

*Complex.com praised Buffy as number 9 on its list of the Top 50 TV Dramas of All Time—Charmed didn’t make the list.

*Gellar’s Buffy earned a spot on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the Top 50 Greatest TV Icons, and was also ranked the 3rd Greatest TV Character of the Last 20 Years by TV Guide . . . while no Charmed characters made these lists.

*Buffy episodes and actors have won: an Emmy nomination; a Nebula award; Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a TV Series Drama (Gellar); nominations for the Teen Choice Awards; the Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actress, along with numerous other Saturn Award nominations; a nomination for Drama Series of the Year in the AFI Awards; a host of awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA; awards for Best TV Show, Best Actor, and Best Actress at the SFX Awards, UK; the award for Best Television Ensemble at the Satellite Awards, along with numerous other related nominations; and the Drama category for Television’s Most Memorable Moment at the Sixtieth Primetime Emmy Awards (beating out The X-Files, Grey’s Anatomy, Brian’s Song, and Dallas).

*Buffy has elicited a vastly larger amount of scholarship and critical interest than Charmed, and while Buffy retained a level amount of viewers throughout its entire run, Charmed’s viewership drastically declined in its last three seasons.

*Executive producer of the Doctor Who series, Russel T. Davies, proclaimed: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the whole world, and an entire sprawling industry, that writing monsters and demons and end-of-the world is not hack-work, it can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer—not just genre/niche writers, but every single one of us."

The flaw in Mr. Black’s article isn’t simply that he strives to make Charmed sound better than Buffy—he also tries to make Buffy sound trite and stupid. Which is funny, because that is exactly what Charmed is (there: I broke with impartiality).

Saturday 29 November 2014 :

Hi everyone,

First I’d like to agree with the other person who said that some of you need to chill out. There is no need for name-calling. Surely, we can be more mature than that.

I am a big fan of both shows. In fact, they’re both my most favourites. I’ve watched every episode of both, in order.

I think it’d be cool to do my own little comparison :) So... Charmed did a great job communicating that your family can always, no matter what, be there to help you. Charmed had a clear cosmology of good and evil: there’s the goodies and the baddies, they need to be in balance and, in relation to that, the concept of free will was interesting. It’s very yin and yang, so there’s a bit of bad in the good and vice versa. There’s a constant struggle between the sides to get the upper hand but in the end balance counts. Thought-provoking. It was especially shown in the storyline on the Avatars - this was one of the best seasons of Charmed and it was Season 7. Those who parrot that the first few seasons were alright, but not the rest, didn’t even give the rest a fair chance.

In contrast, good and evil, the powers that be — the bigger picture — is more a mystery in Buffy. But the inner world of emotions was very well done. Things are more messy and ill-defined. But this is what is so great about Buffy! It’s like real life. The deep and dark emotion of BtVS is very post-modern and really "touched" me. And it was awesome that the show went so deeply into the theme of depression and suicide.

Charmed’s cosmology was very fairytale-ish. Yeah they mixed it up, but it was more black and white than Buffy’s. In Charmed, this allowed me to see and to think about good and evil, with the fight between them, the necessity of the bad, and also how ingrained in our psyches those concepts are. In Buffy, the main impact on me was that I was more able to feel like Buffy’s struggles were my own. She was the Self archetype.

Another thing, I was rapt with the Phoebe/Cole thing! And the Buffy equivalent, I was so into the Spike/Buffy thing: so exciting, sexy, tragic and entertaining. I’m not a die-hard Spuffy shipper though; I really loved Bangel too. Both of the shows did a great job at exploring different types of romantic relationships, although the Charmed sisters were able to have sex without so much drama and guilt, unlike Buffy. Charmed had some happily ever afters - not just in relationships, but in general. I know in real life this isn’t often the case but it is sometimes. It’s not all doom and gloom!

What I love about both shows are that they communicated that life is hard; women are powerful; never give up; try your best; make a positive difference; and make do. And there’s so much more too, but I’ll save it. There’s so much more to say on the topic - enough for a thesis!

Although I haven’t completely made up my mind, I would judge Buffy the better show because it was so emotional and yes, sad, but in a good way for those who’re into that sort of thing. But I love Charmed very much also and it’s a very near second. Generally, they have different moods with different world-views. But one of the coolest things about both of them is the supernatural and powerful female leads!! :) They’re both philosophical and, imo, excellent.

These comments are an anwser to this article : Is Charmed Better Than Buffy ?

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