The new reboot of the fan favourite series Charmed has been released upon the world and people have some things to say. Rumours were running riot prior to the episodes release, what would fans think? Would it live up to the towering expectations of the hordes of loyal Charmed followers? Would it stand up to its predecessor?

After watching the first episode of the reboot, this writer took to Instagram and asked for opinions of the episode and was met with mixed responses.

Nicky (@gickles5 on Instagram) said of the episode “I’m ten minutes in and I still haven’t worked out the names of the characters yet. They also look so alike that I am having trouble telling them apart,” and “The show is desperately trying to do too much in such a short period of time. It’s trying so hard to be relevant to pop culture.”

The original series has such a cult following and has a lot to live up to. After watching the episode this writer is conflicted, there’s that want to love it like an old friend, and then…there’s all the things that unfortunately fell flat in the episode.

In the beginning, we meet sisters Mel and Maggie whose mother Marisol dies mysteriously after being flung from the iconic round attic window…let’s face it, that window never survives an episode, in a flash it’s three months later. Then in even more mysterious circumstances, say hello to your long-lost sister – who looks to be around the same age (weird). Yes, a young woman named Macy arrives on the sisters’ doorstep claiming to be related by flashing a photograph. No more discussion about her mysterious appearance. No questioning if she is actually the daughter of Marisol…what’s weirder still by the end of the episode, without discussion Macy is moving into the manor? What is HAPPENING? Sorry, if someone turns up on your doorstep, claiming to be your sister, does that not warrant a HUGE discussion?

So in the midst of all that going on, there is the appearance of Harry, the white-lighter which needs to be discussed. Harry pops in to tell the sisters that yes they are in fact the magical charmed ones. The most powerful witches of all time, the only ones who can stop the impending apocalypse the first sign of which was Donald Trump being elected as president and their mothers murder being the second sign. The third and final sign will be the rise of the source of all evil which has yet to occur. Harry comes across as a complete untrustworthy, sneaky, and a slightly creepy character. A white-lighter is supposed to be the guardian angel of the charmed ones, someone who is compassionate, who is caring, not a wise ass, emotionless prat who interrupts the sisters and demands they listen to him.

The CGI effects in the original seemed to be more believable and ‘real’ than in this new generation some effects like the black crows at the beginning looking totally unrealistic, the demon looks like a rip off of a white walker from Game of Thrones. Tamika (@paperbackandflickchick on Instagram) says of the effects “why do I feel like they are worse in the new one? And how is that possible? Also, why is the demon a crappy version of a white walker?”

Can we also please talk about the baking soda? Really? Using baking soda to vanquish a demon? Umm, right, that’s not a thing. In the original there were amazing rhymes and verses and calling on the power of three to vanquish a demon…not baking soda, that should not be a thing.

The constant references to sororities and having to continuously hear about ‘rushing’ gets old quickly as do the forced #metoo references, the Trump jokes as well as the constant forced feminism. The original was feminist without throwing it in your face and trying so hard.
There were some positives for the episode, there was a cute dog…oh no wait, the dog was a demon too.

The episode left on a cliff-hanger which is probably the only reason this writer will watch the next episode – oh and to see if there were any survivors from the train wreck that was episode one.

What did you think of the episode? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Charmed Recap: 1.01 ‘Pilot’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

“Stronger together.” That’s what Marisol tells her daughters, firebrand social justice warrior Melanie “Mel” Vera (Melonie Diaz), and her sister, fun-loving Maggie (Sarah Jeffrey), about their family. But then, a shocking tragedy shatters their world and threatens their sibling bond: Marisol dies in a horrifying accident. Or was it?

Three months later, we find Mel unable to accept the official explanation of their mother’s death, while Maggie accuses her of being morbidly obsessed. And then, another huge shock shows up at their front door: they have an older sister, brilliant geneticist Macy (Madeleine Mantock), whom their mother kept a secret all these years! Macy is eager to connect with Mel and Maggie, but Mel can’t handle another shock, and shuts her out.

With the emotions of all three sisters running high, each of the girls suddenly exhibit impossible new abilities: Mel can freeze time, Maggie starts hearing others’ thoughts, and Macy has telekinetic powers. But don’t worry, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation…or so says Harry Greenwood (who as far as they know is the officious new chair of the women’s studies department), when he gathers the three sisters together to reveal they’re actually powerful witches, as was their mother. And he’s not really a professor, he’s their “Whitelighter,” a witch’s advisor and guide!

Not only that, but Mel was right: their mother’s death was no accident – she was murdered by unknown dark forces. It’s a lot to take in, but ultimately the sisters accept their new destiny as The Charmed Ones…and their new duty to protect humankind from the demons that walk among us…one of whom killed their mother.

At San Diego Comic Con, the executive producers Jennie Snyder Urman and Jessica O’Toole, along with cast members Sarah Jeffery, Madeleine Mantock and Melonie Diaz attended for a Charmed panel.

“The original was so much about female empowerment and sisterhood and strong women taking over the world and I feel like that’s what we need right now,” Urman says of why she wanted to revive the classic fan favourite. “It felt like a good time to get back to that and show women kicking ass.”

During the panel, Jeffrey also stated that the new series isn’t here to ‘replace’ the original, “Charmed is so iconic,” she says. “They laid the groundwork and we want to be respectful of that and the mythology of everything. We want to honour it while bringing a modern twist. Come join us!”

Starring Madeleine Mantock (The Tomorrow People), Melonie Diaz (The Breaks), Sarah Jeffrey (Shades of Blue), Rupert Evans (The Man in the High Castle), and Ser’Darius Blain (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle).

Charmed is set to premiere Sunday October 14th at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

Will you be watching the new show? Or have you already? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

The post New To TV: Charmed appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The CW is rebooting Charmed so the new cast and showrunners attended San Diego Comic-Con with words of encouragement for fans of the original.

Cast your minds back to the mid 90’s. Buffy was slaying vamps, Rocko’s Modern Life was all the rage, and three sister witches dominated the television world. Those witches? The Charmed Ones.

The series Charmed was originally created by Constance M Burge, and centred around the Halliwell sisters—Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano)—who are the most powerful witches of their time. The sisters fought mostly on the side of good, but there were some episodes which saw the witches lured into the dark side. There were always epic storylines and a strong sense of family and love throughout.

At the end of season three, Doherty’s character was killed off and Rose McGowan stepped in to play the character Paige Matthews for the remaining five seasons. With demon vanquishing, spell casting, and awesome powers, they were a force to be reckoned with, so much so that the series is now getting a reboot on The CW and we saw a first look at the series back in May.

So who’s actually in this reboot? Madeleine Mantock (The Tomorrow People), Melonie Diaz (The Breaks), and Sarah Jeffrey (Shades of Blue) The show has also cast some leading gents in the form of Rupert Evans (The Man in the High Castle) as a character named Harry. Reports say that he’ll play a charming professor with a mysterious interest in the sisters. This may suggest he’s a Whitelighter and also Ser’Darius Blain (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), as a character named Galvin, who appears to be the perfect boyfriend.

Wait no Alyssa Milano? No Holly Marie Combs? No Rose McGowan? NO! We have seen a slew of tweets and posts on social media earlier this year from former cast members who are not too keen on the reboot. Holly Marie Combs (Piper) has been the most vocal with a number of Twitter posts:

We wish them well. #Charmed

— Holly Marie Combs (@H_Combs) January 26, 2018

Here’s the thing. Until you ask us to rewrite it like Brad Kern did weekly don’t even think of capitalizing on our hard work. Charmed belongs to the 4 of us, our vast amount of writers, crews and predominantly the fans. FYI you will not fool them by owning a title/stamp. So bye.

— Holly Marie Combs (@H_Combs) January 26, 2018

Her on-screen sister (Milano) and half-sister (McGowan) have added their voice to the forum also with McGowan tweeting, “They really are running out of ideas in Hollywood,” back in 2013 after the rumour of a Charmed reboot and she further added, “Lame lame lame lamertons”. Milano whose comment was probably the softest of the lot said, “The thing about them doing a #charmed reboot is… it just… it feels like yesterday. It feels too close.”

The San Diego Comic Con Buzz

After taking such a bashing from the original cast of the series, executive producers Jennie Snyder Urman and Jessica O’Toole, along with cast members Sarah Jeffery, Madeleine Mantock and Melonie Diaz delighted fans with a screening of the pilot. The screening was followed by a panel discussion which focused around how they planned to honour the original series.

“The original was so much about female empowerment and sisterhood and strong women taking over the world and I feel like that’s what we need right now,” Urman says of why she wanted to revive the classic fan favourite. “It felt like a good time to get back to that and show women kicking ass.”

During the panel Jeffrey also stated that the new series isn’t here to ‘replace’ the original, “Charmed is so iconic,” she says. “They laid the groundwork and we want to be respectful of that and the mythology of everything. We want to honour it while bringing a modern twist. Come join us!”

Fans reacted well to this new modernisation of the series with mention of a fit-bit possessing demon, “Well my favourite is… like a demon that possesses your Fitbit,” O’Toole said when asked about demons we’ll get to see the sisters battle in Season 1. “It drains your youth and lifeforce as you step. It makes you keep walking until you die, basically. We haven’t totally conceptualized it, but something like that.” It seems as though with this blend of humour pared with demon kicking sisters, the producers and cast may yet again be on to a winner.

Charmed is set to premiere Sunday October 14th at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

Are you excited for the reboot? Tell us in the comments below!

The post The CW’s ‘Charmed’ Reboot Promises To Kick Ass appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Charmed

“Stronger together.” That’s what Marisol tells her daughters, firebrand social justice warrior Melanie “Mel” Vera (Melonie Diaz), and her sister, fun-loving Maggie (Sarah Jeffrey), about their family. But then, a shocking tragedy shatters their world and threatens their sibling bond: Marisol dies in a horrifying accident. Or was it? Three months later, we find Mel unable to accept the official explanation of their mother’s death, while Maggie accuses her of being morbidly obsessed. And then, another huge shock shows up at their front door: they have an older sister, brilliant geneticist Macy (Madeleine Mantock), whom their mother kept a secret all these years! Macy is eager to connect with Mel and Maggie, but Mel can’t handle another shock, and shuts her out. With the emotions of all three sisters running high, each of the girls suddenly exhibit impossible new abilities: Mel can freeze time, Maggie starts hearing others’ thoughts, and Macy has telekinetic powers. But don’t worry, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation…or so says Harry Greenwood (who as far as they know is the officious new chair of the women’s studies department), when he gathers the three sisters together to reveal they’re actually powerful witches, as was their mother. And he’s not really a professor, he’s their “Whitelighter,” a witch’s advisor and guide! Not only that, but Mel was right: their mother’s death was no accident – she was murdered by unknown dark forces. It’s a lot to take in, but ultimately the sisters accept their new destiny as The Charmed Ones…and their new duty to protect humankind from the demons that walk among us…one of whom killed their mother.

Starring Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffery, Madeleine Mantock, Rupert Evans, Ser’Darius Blaine, Charlie Gillespie, and Ellen Tamaki.

All American

Spencer James is a rising high school football player and A student at South Crenshaw High. Compton is the place he calls home. But when Beverly High School’s football coach Billy Baker recruits him to join his team in Beverly Hills, Spencer’s mother, Grace, and his best friend, Coop, convince Spencer it’s an opportunity he has to seize. Now Spencer must navigate two worlds, the south side neighborhood that he knows and the affluent Beverly Hills world that has offered him an opportunity for something bigger. When Spencer is forced to move in with Billy and his family to protect his transfer permit to Beverly, Billy’s son, Jordan (the team’s starting quarterback), is less than thrilled to be sharing his father’s attention — or the team spotlight — with Spencer. While Spencer struggles to find his footing, he makes an unlikely friend in Jordan’s sister, Olivia, who is dealing with her own demons. He also quickly develops a crush on his classmate, Layla, something her boyfriend, Asher, quickly realizes — and so, he sets out to drive Spencer off the football team and out of Beverly Hills for good.

Inspired by the life of NFL player Spencer Paysinger. The series stars Daniel Ezra, Taye Diggs, Samantha Logan, Bre-Z, Greta Onieogou, Monet Mazur, Michael Evans Behling, Cody Christian and Karimah Westbrook.

Interested in either of these shows? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Trailers For The CW’s ‘Charmed’ and ‘All American’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The “reimagining” of the series won’t be set in current times, but instead it will take place in 1976. This new take on the much loved series will be written Jessica O’Toole, Amy Rardin and Jennie Snyder, who currently work on the CW’s Jane the Virgin.

There have been no casting announcements made just yet, as the show is still in script stage. There have been rumours the show revolves around three new witches who come together to fight evil in a small New England town, but we won’t know until more information has been released.

Perhaps we may even see the original cast members make an appearance in the new version, a little time travel or even as new characters, if they are willing.

Holly Marie Combs who played Piper Halliwell tweeted about the news shortly after.

We wish them well.

— Holly Marie Combs (@H_Combs) January 5, 2017

So Charmed fans, are we excited for what the cauldron is brewing?

The post Charmed Gets Rebooted! appeared first on The Nerd Daily.