Charmed Stars Respond To Writer Exiting Show Over Sexist Story Requests

Stars of the WB drama Charmed, Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs, are firing back at the show’s former writer, Krista Vernoff, who left the show in 2004 over claims that the network made sexist story requests. Charmed originally ran on the WB network for 8 seasons from 1998 to 2006. Set in modern-day San Francisco, the series follows a trio of sister witches, Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), who are known as the Charmed Ones. Eventually in season 4, Prue is replaced by their long-lost half-sister Paige (Rose McGowan).

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Grey’s Anatomy showrunner and former writer on Charmed, Vernoff, explained why she left the show. She says she became a writer on Charmed because she believed the show would empower women. However, the season 5 premiere featured Milano’s character Phoebe wearing a revealing costume after she was turned into a mermaid, which caused a spike in male viewership. After that, Vernoff claims executives at the network only became interested in “getting the girls naked” for each week’s episode. At this point, the show became “bad for the world,” Vernoff says.

Now, per The Wrap, Charmed stars, Milano and Combs, are firing back at Vernoff for her comments in a series of tweets. Milano says Vernoff’s comments “absolutely broke” her heart and she believes Charmed “gave permission to a generation of women to be themselves and to be strong and own their sexuality.” Combs then came to Milano’s defense, saying “I can attest 1000% Charmed was not bad for the world” and she “never cared what producer or network exec wanted us more naked for their $.”

Soon after Vernoff started to receive backlash for her comments, she took to Twitter to clarify. She says it was not Charmed itself that was bad for the world, but rather the notes the network gave which she felt were “objectifying and demoralizing.” Combs also followed up and shared her experience on Charmed. On the issue of the revealing mermaid costume, Combs says “we all chose our outfits or lack thereof. The WB nor our producers ever controlled us or our choices.”

This Twitter bout amongst the cast of Charmed is just the latest of many discussions regarding the depiction and empowerment of women in film and television. While the stars of Charmed and Vernoff seem to disagree, it is still important that conversations such as these are being had.

Source: The Wrap

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Adam Bentz
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Adam Bentz is a movie and TV news writer for Screen Rant. From a young age, Adam has been interested in a wide range of movies and television, but it was talented auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Aaron Sorkin who ultimately sparked his interest in the craft. Motivated by his love for the screen, Adam studied creative writing with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University.

After graduating, Adam interned as a writer with The Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization working to end extreme poverty. Other than writing for Screen Rant, Adam reviews films on his website adambentz.wordpress.com

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