1. Abstract: The author analyzes the appeal of the supernatural teen series Charmed for the
grown woman in the audience. She suggests that, although teenagers and little girls are
regular fans of the show, the more mature female audience responds to the ideas of sister-
hood and style that are routinely showcased in the Charmed universe.
Key words: audience, Charmed, fashion, femininity, feminism, sisterhood, women
T
elevision fantasy shows can be used to negotiate real-life experiences, with the
magical realm encouraging viewers to apply information learned about a fictional
universe to the events and occurrences taking place in their own lives (Feasey
39–48). It will come as no surprise, then, that a range of fighting female figures such as
Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001), Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), and the
women of Charmed (1998–present) regularly appears in works on gender and the politics
of contemporary culture. Theorists such as Elyce Rae Helford, Rachel Moseley, and Sha-
ron Ross routinely argue that these popular texts offer role models for a new “girl power”
feminism that is “at once powerful and undeniably girly” (Helford 137). However, while
such research is considering the ways in which these warrior women inspire “self reliance
in young female fans” (Kingwell 83), theorists have overlooked the ways in which these
empowered figures can be read by the women in the audience. With this in mind, I exam-
ine the ways in which the woman in the fantasy audience can find meaning and pleasure
from a seemingly teenage text.
Charmed
Aaron Spellingʼs Charmed is the WB networkʼs long-running fantasy drama about three
white, twenty-something sisters, who, after finding out that they possess supernatural pow-
ers, are reluctantly thrown into a world of magic and a lifetime of sorcery. These sister
By REBECCA FEASEY
2
Why Teen Television
Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications

2. witches are destined to protect the
innocent, uncover evil, and vanquish
demonic threats—all without expos-
ing their magical secret to the outside
world.
The eponymous “charmed ones” are
Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige Hal-
liwell, played by Shannen Doherty,
Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano,
and Rose McGowan, respectively.
Prue is the headstrong older sister who
has stood in as the authority figure of
the family since her motherʼs early
death. She has the ability to move ob-
jects with her mind and has given up
her steady job in an auction house to
follow her dream as a freelance pho-
tographer. Piper is the highly strung
middle sister who has the ability to
freeze time and has changed the focus
of her career from restaurant manager
to club owner. Her dream marriage to
her guardian angel led to a brief period
of separation and single-motherhood.
Phoebe is the youngest sister of the
original “charmed ones” who has the
powers of premonition, empathy, and
levitation, and has taken a high-profile
job as an advice columnist to help her
move on from her failed marriage to a
half-demon. Paige is the long-lost half
sister who joined the series in its fourth
season to re-create the power of three
after the character of Prue was written
out of the series. Paige is the single
social worker turned full-time witch
with the powers of telekinesis and the
ability to orb between planes.
The Female Audience
In terms of the woman in the fan-
tasy audience, it is worth noting that,
although this supernatural series has
“teenagers and little girls” (Sanders 1)
as regular fans of the show, the series
can also be seen to appeal to a more
mature female audience. After all, ac-
cording to Judy Wells, the public rela-
tions manager of Livingtv, the cable
and broadcast channel that is home to
the show, Charmed attracts not only a
majority female audience but a mature
one, with the “16–34 year old female
market responding particularly well
to the show” in the United Kingdom.1
Likewise, recent details concerning the
audience in the United States reveals
that the median viewing age for this
show is 31 years (Livsey).
However, that said, it is not that
the scriptwriters set out to attract the
adult female audience or even that the
showʼs producers deliberately wanted
to appeal to these particular viewers.
After all, the cast of the show hopes
that the program presents “a moral
family message for the little girl” in the
audience (“The Women of Charmed”),
and the drawing competitions in the
official Charmed magazine are clearly
targeted to a young female readership.
Moreover, the WB network is so con-
cerned that “younger viewers are flee-
ing the broadcast network” (Livsey)
that the showʼs creators have recently
added a new, younger witch to the cur-
rent series “to bring [. . .] a younger au-
dience to the show” (Hagg). However,
irrespective of any attempt to appeal
to the teen audience, Charmed contin-
ues to attract the more mature female
viewer. With this in mind, it is neces-
sary to consider the ways in which this
Watching Charmed 3
The heroines of Charmed: a sisterhood, a style. Photograph courtesy of the WB Net-
work, Burbank, California.

3. audience can be seen to negotiate this
ostensibly teenage text.
Although Glyn Davis and Kay Dick-
inson suggest that teen televisionʼs
appeal to the young adult viewer is
dependent on the audienceʼs increased
accessibility to higher education, the
social pressure to g r o w
up quickly, and the
decay of the notion
of the job-for-life
as a marker of adult
maturity (11), the
appeal of Charmed
is more specifically
dependent on the
programʼs inter-
section with con-
temporary feminist
debates. After all, whereas
the codes and conventions of teen tele-
vision point to the use of teen actors,
a teen setting, and the presentation of
problems associated with teen iden-
tity, Charmed uses actors who are in
their late twenties and early thirties, a
domestic setting, and the presentation
of problems associated with the mod-
ern woman. Therefore, even though
Charmed, like teen fantasy texts such
as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and, more
recently, Roswell High (1999– 2002),
does deal with notions of anxiety and
isolation, it does so in relation to the
more mature woman in the audience.
Therefore, whereas Buffy and Roswell
foreground the in-between teen pe-
riod of impending adulthood, Charmed
deals with the quarter-life crisis that
occurs some years after leaving teen-
age angst behind. Although teenagers
feel anxious about “sex and sexuality,
family tensions and negotiating oneʼs
place among oneʼs peers” (Davis and
Dickinson 3), so too, women in their
late twenties and early thirties feel “in-
secure, anxious and confused” about
their life choices in relation to friends,
relationships, money, and motherhood
(Smith).
Feminist Negotiations
Although it is somewhat difficult
to define 1970s feminism because the
movement was never based on a uni-
form set of ideas, it is generally accept-
ed that the second wave was “a form of
program would be dismissed by the
second wave for its failure to deal with
issues beyond the trials and tribula-
tions of the sister witches. After all,
the womenʼs movement sought to ex-
plain the inequalities between men and
women as a basis for social change
and sex- ual equality rather
than as a site for
entertainment or
escapism.
Since the 1980s,
however, feminist
film and television
theorists have begun
to critically exam-
ine feminine texts
such as soap operas
and shopping films
and have concluded that such
popular forms could offer possibilities
for female pleasure and empowerment.
Therefore, whereas second-wave femi-
nists routinely positioned themselves
in opposition to popular cultural texts,
postfeminism has been prepared to
look more positively at the relationship
between feminism and femininity in
popular culture (Hollows and Moseley
104). Moreover, contemporary feminist
criticism has actually been shaped by
a generation of women growing up
with feminism in such popular cultural
texts as The New Avengers (1976–77)
and Wonder Woman (1976–79). For
example, Joanne Hollows and Rachel
Moseley open their current volume on
Feminism in Popular Culture by stating
that their idea of feminism “is shaped
by our own experiences of growing up
with feminism in the popular. Rather
than first encountering feminism as
a social movement in the 1960s, our
initial ideas of what feminism was
about were formed through the popular
in the 1970s and 1980s” (Hollows and
Moseley 1). Likewise, Charmed makes
it clear that the Halliwell sisters did not
encounter feminism through involve-
ment in feminist movements but, rather,
that their ideas about womenʼs social
and sexual roles were shaped by their
own experiences of growing up with
feminism in such popular cultural texts
as Charlieʼs Angels (1976–81) and,
more recently, Xena: Warrior Princess
and Sex and the City (1998–2004). The
work, domestic and sexual violence,
and the sexual division of labour”
(Hollows and Moseley 4). One might
suggest that Charmed can be seen to
demonstrate the achievements made
by this social movement. After all, the
Halliwell sisters have grown up in con-
ditions that are shaped by the successes
of the second wave, including access to
free and safe contraception and a com-
mitment to equality in the workplace.
However, rather than simply take such
conditions for granted, the show rou-
tinely focuses on second-wave ten-
sions concerning the conflicts of moth-
erhood and career, single motherhood,
sexual freedom, sexual harassment,
and the social construction of gender
roles as they affect the lives and loves
of the central female characters in the
Charmed universe.
However, before championing the
series for highlighting a range of so-
cial and sexual situations that are
relevant to the modern woman, it is
worth noting that the second wave
would seek to dismiss the show for its
status as a form of feminine popular
culture. After all, 1970s feminism was
“underpinned by a hostility towards
the popular” (Hollows and Moseley 5)
because such texts were seen to posi-
tion the audience as the passive dupe
of patriarchal culture. Therefore, irre-
spective of the fact that Charmed reg-
ularly highlights a range of concerns
pertinent to contemporary women, the
politics which aimed to intervene in,
and transform, the unequal power rela-
tions between men and women” (Hol-
lows 3). In this period, feminism was
seen as “a social movement engaged
in struggles over [. . .] issues such as
reproductive rights, equal pay for equal
The program’s commit-
ment to female bonding
could be read as part of
the contemporary fem-
inist agenda, and, like-
4 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television

4. point here is that the “charmed ones”
live in a period that is historically
post–second wave, and, as such, it is
worth considering the ways in which
the show might be seen to respond to
contemporary feminist demands.
“[. . .] the secret of the charmed
ones lies in their sisterhood” (“The
Power of Three Blondes”)
Contemporary feminist critics have
pointed to the fact that the second
wave was neither open nor accessible
to women of differing class, educa-
tion, or ethnic backgrounds. After all,
“the experiences recounted in con-
sciousness-raising groups which were
used as a basis for theorising the uni-
versal oppression of all women were
[. . .] largely the experiences of middle-
class white women” (Hollows 6). Eliz-
abeth Fox-Genovese makes this point
when she argues that the second-wave
movement has been valuable only for
the college-educated, white middle
class, leaving the needs of the over-
whelming majority of poor and minor-
ity women unmet. We are told that, be-
cause “the middle-class spokeswomen
for the [. . .] womenʼs movement [. . .]
established their own autobiographies
as the benchmark of experience of all
women” (29), working-class, unedu-
cated, and black women were alienated
from the feminist sisterhood.
However, whereas second-wave
feminism was rigidly defined in terms
of class, education, and ethnicity, re-
cent academic debates have high-
lighted postfeminism as a more in-
clusive and, therefore, more openly
available movement. For example,
contemporary feminist film theorists
have pointed to the way in which
female friendship films can be un-
derstood as a form of contemporary
feminism, with the emphasis on fe-
male bonding being “one feature of
the ways in which feminist concerns
have entered into mainstream popular
forms” (Hollows 8). Yvonne Tasker
praises mainstream Hollywood films
such as Boys on the Side (1995) for
“bring[ing] together women from dif-
ferent social backgrounds” (155), and
Karen Hollinger talks about the po-
tential empowerment of those female
buddy films that foreground interra-
cial friendships (181).
Much work on this familial bond
between women examines the role and
responsibility of the female friendship
in mainstream filmmaking, but little
work to date looks at the representation
of the feminist sisterhood in fantasy
television. It is relevant that Charmed
is an ensemble drama that foregrounds
a sense of female camaraderie between
the showʼs sister witches. Moreover,
the show clearly favors the presenta-
tion of female bonding over the ever-
popular star in isolation and above
the predictable heterosexual romance.
Although each of the sisters has, over
the course of the showʼs history, made
an effort to leave the family home, the
“charmed ones” have always returned
to the family manor because of the fun-
damental significance of the sisterly
bond. The showʼs writers deliberately
highlight this theme of female cama-
raderie in the text as we are told that
Charmed is “about three sisters who
happen to be witches, not three witch-
es that happen to be sisters” (“The
Women of Charmed”). Likewise, the
network foregrounds the importance
of the sisterly bond as we are informed
that “the Halliwell sisters continue to
wage war against evil as they seek
to strengthen their sisterly bond and
come ever closer to fulfilling their
destiny” (“Charmed”). This dedication
to female bonding is important both
to the show itself and to the ways in
which the fantasy show can be read as
a postfeminist text.
Although one might suggest that
explicit references to class, ethnic-
ity, or race are uncommon in the
Charmed universe, it is worth con-
sidering whether such differences can
be articulated through the presenta-
tion of the sister witches. Jaye Wil-
liamson draws on the politics of skin
tone to argue that Sex and the City
appeals to a black female audience
based on the differing fashion trends
and hair colors of its central female
protagonists (6). From this perspec-
tive, then, it is worth considering the
ways in which the women of Charmed
could also be seen to appeal to a di-
verse female audience. The showʼs
distributors comment that “the Halli-
well sisters were always different, not
just from the world around them, but
also from each other” (“Charmed”).
In fact, they go as far as to suggest
that “these twenty-something women
could not have been more dissimilar”
(“Charmed”). If these seemingly dif-
ferent women could be seen to “create
a bond that reached far beyond petty
sisterly grudges” (“Charmed”), then
the program could be seen to fore-
ground the availability and accessibil-
ity of contemporary feminism.
“[. . .] you canʼt go hunting demons
in heels” (“The Power of Three
Blondes”)
The programʼs commitment to fe-
male bonding could be read as part
of the contemporary feminist agenda,
and, likewise, the showʼs dedication to
female fashions could be understood
in this same way. However, before out-
lining the ways in which fashion and
consumerism can be understood as a
site of contemporary feminist empow-
erment, it is relevant to note that there
exists a long-standing and negative
link between fashion, female consum-
erism, and the second wave.
Feminist theorists routinely state that
the rejection of fashion and beauty prac-
tices was at the heart of second-wave
feminism because the paraphernalia of
femininity was seen to objectify, trivi-
alize, and dehumanize women (Faludi
203–56). Moreover, this dismissal of
fashion was part of the wider critique of
femininity as feminist protests against
beauty pageants encouraged women
to literally throw away the parapher-
nalia of femininity, condemning items
such as bras, girdles, and curlers as
“woman-garbage” (Morgan 585). This
feminist rejection of feminine clothes
has been most succinctly expressed by
Susan Brownmiller, who is seen to con-
demn any item of clothing “that is not
trousered anonymity as bad, frivolous,
and indulgent because the nature of
feminine dressing is superficial in es-
sence” (56). In this same way,Adrienne
Rich puts “feminine dress codes in the
same category as purdah, foot-binding,
the veil, public sexual harassment, and
the threat of rape, all of which work in
Watching Charmed 5

5. feminism, fashion, and beauty prac-
tices, and, as such, one might suggest
that the “charmed ones” can be read
as postfeminist because they are con-
structed through a relation to consump-
tion. After all, the Halliwell sisters are
neither trapped in femininity like the
prefeminist, nor reject femininity like
the second-wave feminist, but are able
to use it to their advantage and enjoy-
ment (Brunsdon 85–86). Shopping and
consumption can be understood as a
powerful “means to self-expression
and control” (Curran 239). Therefore,
although it may be tempting to assume
that the programʼs attention to surface
appearance is a way of containing
the showʼs postfeminist potential as
“womenʼs intellectual [. . .] and [. .
.] physical skills [. . .] pale in com-
parison to the way they wear their
costumes” (Helford 6), it is significant
that the “charmed ones” are powerful
and purposeful female figures that are
aired for the attention of a female audi-
some way to physically confine and
prohibit movement” (qtd. in Gaines and
Herzog 4).
It is this idea of costume and dress
that is relevant here in relation to the
Charmed universe, not, however, in a
way that adheres to the second-wave
dismissal of feminine attire but in
such a way that considers the sig-
nificance of style in a positive light
for the contemporary feminist. After
all, whereas a dedication to feminine
fashion and beauty practices has been
seen as a problem by the second
wave, it is worth noting that feminine
fashions, beauty practices, and female
consumerism can be championed as
part of the contemporary feminist
project. In fact, postfeminism has
recently “reclaimed everything tradi-
tionally feminine, including a love of
dressing up and fashion” (Redfern).
In her research on postfeminism and
shopping films, Charlotte Brunsdon
highlights differences between 1970s
feminism and postfeminism in rela-
tion to ideas about consumption, fem-
ininity, and identity, suggesting that
for the contemporary feminist “wear-
ing lipstick is no longer wicked,”
and notions of identity are routinely
“informed by ideas of performance,
style and desire” (85).
Moreover, the creators of Charmed
are aware that the showʼs female au-
dience does not simply tune in to
view the sistersʼ weekly good deeds
or demonic battles but rather that they
tune in and take pleasure in the “re-
ally great clothes” (“The Women of
Charmed”) that the characters wear
from week to week, be it Prueʼs “fear-
less” clothing, Piperʼs “conservative”
dress, Phoebeʼs “fun” attire, or Paigeʼs
“eclectic” wardrobe. In fact, the every-
day outfits and dramatic costumes that
these women wear are so significant
to the popularity of the program that
they form an ongoing point of refer-
ence in the show. For example, there
is a long-running joke since the first
season that the Halliwells are always
dressed inappropriately when demons
attack. For example, in “Blinded by
the Whitelighter,” one of the guardian
angels tells the sister witches that they
need to change their wardrobe, com-
Furthermore, Charmed is often de-
scribed by the showʼs writers and pro-
ducers with reference to existing fe-
male-definedtelevisionprograms,with
intertextual references foregrounding
an earlier image of fashion-conscious
femininity. For example, in an attempt
to describe the nature of the show, the
creative team behind the fantasy series
routinely refers to it as “Charlieʼs An-
gels with broomsticks” (“The Women
of Charmed”) and “Charlieʼs Witches”
(Soriano). Furthermore, Holly Marie
Combs makes it clear that she can
see the comparisons between the two
shows because “weʼre three girls and
itʼs a Spelling show and we always
have great hair and make-up and great
clothes” (“The Women of Charmed”).
Therefore, if contemporary feminists
are currently applauding Charlieʼs An-
gels for depicting a “fashion utopia”
in which “the women were always
perfectly groomed [. . .] their hair
perfectly coiffed [. . .] their fingernails
menting that “you need outfits that are
loose and that move [. . .] that means
no bra-less, strapless attire.” The pre-
dictable response from the sisters at
this point is quite simply that “in that
case, I have nothing to wear.”
perfectly manicured” (Inness 40–41),
then it is relevant to note that Charmed
is routinely understood as a fantastic
take on this earlier Spelling produc-
tion.
Feminist theorists present a posi-
tive correlation between contemporary
6 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television
The “charmed ones” ponder powers and wardrobes. Photograph courtesy of the WB
Network, Burbank, California.

6. ence rather than exhibitionistic display
objects presented for any structuring
male gaze. Therefore, irrespective of
whether the women in the audience
choose to emulate, aspire to, or simply
take visual pleasure from the sartorial
display, the importance of clothing and
feminine adornment is rel-
evant to a consider-
ation of the ways in
which the Charmed
universe can be un-
derstood as a site of
postfeminist discus-
sion.
The representa-
tions of the Hal-
liwell sisters are
postfeminist in the
sense that, to use
Brunsdonʼs definition, the characters
mark historically specific “changes
in popularly available understandings
of femininity and a womanʼs place”
(101). Particularly indicative of these
shifts is the programʼs presentation
of the witches as sisters, friends, and
strong women, women who can be un-
derstood as postfeminist insofar as they
remain both dependent on, and dismis-
sive of, traditional feminist identities.
“[. . .] any excuse to spend a little
extra time in the kitchen” (“Lost
and Bound”)
Although the series routinely high-
lights the tensions between home and
work, private and public space, sexu-
ality, motherhood, and liberation (Hol-
lows and Mosley 12), an episode in
the fourth season titled “Lost and
Bound” offers one of the most explicit
references to the programʼs feminist
perspective. The episode finds Phoebe
considering a marriage proposal from
her once demonic partner, Cole Turner
(Julian McMahon), weighing up not
only the romantic ideal of marriage
but the societal expectations related
to this proposition. In this way, the
program can be seen to challenge
stereotypes about appropriate roles for
women and demonstrate social and
sexual changes from the 1950s to the
present day.
The episode begins with Phoebe
talking to Cole about the pleasures and
remind us that only the first 74 epi-
sodes from 1964–66 were in black and
white, with the overwhelming majority
in full color from 1966–72, the impor-
tance of Phoebe as the ideal of postwar
womanhood available only in shades
of gray is significant as it evokes a
popular perception about
the role of the sub-
urban goddess from
a bygone period.
When her sis-
ters and fiancé be-
come first curious
and then concerned
about Phoebeʼs
behavior—baking
cookies instead of
fighting demons
and sitting and knit-
ting instead of writing her column—
they challenge her about her actions,
asking if she remembers who she is.
The reply, predictably in the context
of the episode is, “I know exactly who
I am—Mrs. Cole Turner.” The point,
of course, is that, throughout the pro-
gramʼs long history, Phoebe has been
identified as a witch, friend, sister,
or student at various points, whereas
in this episode she merely identifies
herself as belonging in both body and
mind to her future husband.
When the ring is removed from
Phoebeʼs finger, she regains both her
original color and her own identity.
Phoebeʼs turn as the suburban 1950s
housewife leads to a conversation be-
tween the witch and her future hus-
band concerning their life together,
highlighting Phoebeʼs fears about a
loss of identity, subjugation, and a
focus on housework for women. The
closing sequence offers a form of nar-
rative resolution as the two characters
agree that their marriage will be based
on equality both within and beyond
the home, stating that they will work
“extra hard to make sure that neither
one of us loses our identity.” Such
closure appears far removed from the
example of 1950s commitment dem-
onstrated by Mr. and Mrs. Darrin Ste-
phens in the earlier fantasy text. After
all, whereas Samantha was asked to
regulate and control her powers at the
request of her mortal husband, the men
and the long-standing link between
wedding vows and the loss of female
identity. The point is made that al-
though Phoebe liked watching Saman-
tha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery)
in Bewitched, she never actually want-
ed to be her. After all, Samantha was
a witch who fell in love with a mortal,
a witch whose husband requested that
she contain her powers and curb her
aspirations, a witch who struggled
to balance the roles of independent
young woman, witch, housewife, and
mother.
The magic and fantasy of the
Charmed universe take over when
Cole puts a ring on Phoebeʼs wedding
finger. We are told that the jewelry is
not merely an engagement ring but a
family heirloom that has been passed
down the Halliwell family tree from
Phoebeʼs grandmother to her mother
before her. It is this ring that motivates
the ensuing narrative as it, quite liter-
ally, brings out Phoebeʼs worst fears
concerning the marriage bond as we
see her transformation into a mono-
chrome vision of postwar womanhood,
reminiscent of the early black-and-
white episodes of Bewitched. The use
of black and white is significant here
because the color scheme can be un-
derstood as a visual shorthand for a
period in which women were routine-
ly depicted as suburban housewives,
mothers, and homemakers. Therefore,
although frequent reruns of Bewitched
paradoxes of the television program
Bewitched (1964–72). Early episodes
of Bewitched focused on the difficul-
ties of new marriage, in-laws, and the
prospect of having children; likewise,
Phoebeʼs conversation with her fiancé
moves toward the subject of marriage
Watching Charmed 7
[. . .] it is significant that the
“charmed ones” are power-
ful and purposeful female
figures that are aired for the
attention of a female audi-
ence rather than exhibition-

7. 8 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television
in the Charmed universe not only con-
done but actively encourage the sister
witches to embrace their charmed and
dangerous identities. This is not to say
that Charmed should be read as a reac-
tive backlash against the second wave;
after all, the show is not simply sug-
gesting that gender equality has been
achieved nor that such equality was a
misguided aim in the first place but,
rather, that the Halliwell sisters can be
seen to negotiate the contradictions of
the contemporary feminist movement
in which “feminism is being simul-
taneously appropriated and rejected,
popularised and subjected to back-
lash” (Read 205–06).
Conclusion
Recent work in the field of media
and cultural studies argues that fantasy
television is popular with and, more
important perhaps, a positive influence
on young female fans. However, I argue
that such supernatural programming
also appeals to an older generation of
women. Based on viewing statistics,
cast commentaries, the showʼs creators,
and the network itself, it is clear that the
long-running Charmed series appeals
not only to a “tween” or “teen” market
but to the more mature woman in the
audience. Those concerns about alien-
ation, anxiety, sex, and friendship that
are relevant to the teen demographic
are equally pertinent to the older fe-
male viewer. After all, if one considers
that women are seen to suffer from a
quarter-life crisis whereby they “realise
that their career is nothing like what
they always dreamed of doing, theyʼre
constantly worried about money and
how to make their way through life”
(Smith), then the themes of teen televi-
sion may offer an unusual but wholly
relevant area of interest and advice for
the modern woman. Clare Birchillʼs
work on nostalgia and intertextuality
in Dawsonʼs Creek (1999–2003) makes
this point when she suggests that teen
television is not strictly aimed at the
much-coveted thirteen- to nineteen-
year-old audience but, rather, that such
programming is aimed more broadly
at the young adult market (176). From
this perspective, then, it is clear that
our current understanding of the youth
demographic would “welcome anyone
from pre-teens to people in their for-
ties” (Davis and Dickinson 11), with
programs such as Charmed deliber-
ately aimed at both the teenage and the
young adult viewer.
However, it was not my argument
that Charmed draws on nostalgic strat-
egies in order to appeal to the woman in
the audience but, rather, that the ways
in which the program foregrounds
those themes of sisterhood, style, and
a strong female identity are clearly at-
tractive to a more mature female. This
is not to suggest that such themes are
not appropriate for the “little girl” in
the audience. In fact, although such
themes may be both pleasurable and
powerful for the young female fan,
current research suggests that young
viewers are as interested in the magic
and sorcery of the program as part of
their “bedroom culture” as they are in
the style or sisterhood presented in this
popular cultural text (Sanders 1).
NOTE
1. In terms of scheduling these mod-
ern multi-tasking witches for the viewing
public, it is worth noting that, at the time
of writing, the British cable and satel-
lite channel Livingtv was showing early
episodes of Charmed back to back every
weekday afternoon and airing the most
recent season on Thursday evenings. The
channelʼs dedication to this supernatural
program provides evidence of a unique re-
lationship between the women of Charmed
and the target demographics of the chan-
nel in question. With this in mind, Joanne
Laceyʼs recent work on Livingtv suggests
that the channel is not content with having
a core female audience but, rather, that
the channel aims to target specific kinds
of women. The channel seeks to recruit
very clear categories of women, categories
that include the pre-family modern women
(what they call “the Bridget Jones” type)
and the modern women with children
(what they understand to be the “I am more
than just a mum” type). Although Laceyʼs
work does not provide a detailed break-
down of the Livingtv viewer in terms of
class, education, ethnicity, or income, what
the research does provide is an attitudinal
description of the target audience and,
perhaps more interesting, an attitudinal
description of the Halliwell sisters in the
Charmed universe (Lacey 188–89).
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