Television series

Charmed

Name: Charmed
Genre: Drama, Romance, Supernatural
Released: 1998
Cast: Holly Marie Combs, Lori Rom, Alyssa Milano, Brian Krause, Rose McGowan

Three estranged sisters inherit a house, a spellbook, and a destiny they didn't ask for, and spend eight seasons juggling demons, boyfriends, and each other's feelings while saving San Francisco on a weekly basis. It's glossy, soapy, unapologetically melodramatic supernatural TV — big hair, bigger stakes, and a genuine emotional core about sisterhood underneath all the vanquishing. Comfort food with fangs.

TVMaze rating

8.2

If you liked this

Buffy the Vampire Slayer1997

The other great '90s monster-of-the-week show with a female lead who actually gets to be funny, furious, and heartbroken in the same episode. Sharper writing, darker turns, same demon-fighting-as-metaphor engine.

But Tonally colder and more willing to hurt its characters — if you want cozy, this bites harder than Charmed ever does.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch1996

Lighter, sillier, and aimed younger, but it's the same basic pitch — ordinary girl discovers witch heritage, talking cat included — with genuine warmth and a killer laugh track era.

But Sitcom pacing and studio-audience jokes feel dated next to Charmed's soap-opera sincerity; almost no ongoing mythology.

The Vampire Diaries2009

If it's the romantic-supernatural-soap engine you love, this cranks the melodrama and love triangles up further, with witches, vampires, and a small town drowning in secrets.

But Leans harder into brooding CW romance than Charmed's sisterly banter; less humor, more angst per episode.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Bewitched1964

Same core idea — witches hiding power inside domestic, romantic lives — but from the sitcom era that invented the trope, decades before the WB glossed it up.

Decades before Charmed, this sitcom already asked what happens when magical women try to live ordinary lives among mortals who can't handle it — the template Charmed inherited and modernized.

But Black-and-white early seasons and mid-century domestic-comedy pacing will feel very slow if you're used to Charmed's soap momentum.

Grimm2011

Swaps witches for fairy-tale creatures but keeps the procedural bones — a hidden world, a chosen protector, a case-of-the-week structure that rewards long-haul watching.

But Male lead, cop-show framing, and a much more muted emotional register than Charmed's sisterhood-first storytelling.

American Horror Story2011

A coven of witches, family power struggles, and camp turned all the way up — it's Charmed's DNA filtered through prestige horror anthology sensibilities.

But Far more graphic and unsettling; the humor is pitch-black rather than warm, and it doesn't do happy endings easily.

Practical Magic1998

Two witch sisters, generational curses, and a lot of heart — this is Charmed's sisterly-love-conquers-evil premise compressed into one gorgeously moody film.

But Slower and more melancholic than the show; it's a mood piece first, spell-slinging action second.

The Craft1996

Four teenage witches, power that goes to their heads, consequences that follow — sharper-edged and more cautionary than Charmed, but the same coven-as-family thrill.

But Considerably darker and more punishing toward its characters; not the cozy hang Charmed usually offers.

Hex2004no page yet

A British boarding-school witch drama that's moodier and more gothic, but scratches the same itch of ordinary girls discovering supernatural inheritance and danger.

But Shorter-lived, harder to find, and noticeably grimmer in tone — less banter, more dread.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon1992

Structurally identical engine — sisterhood of chosen women, individual powers, combined strength defeats evil — reborn in a completely different medium, culture, and target audience.

A group of ordinary girls discover they're destined protectors with individual powers who must unite against ancient evil — the Power of Three concept, but anime, and utterly sincere about its melodrama.

But It's a Japanese animated series aimed at kids, with a very different visual language and pacing; subtitles or dub required.

The Witch2016

Takes the exact same premise — sisters/family discovering witchcraft changes everything — and plays it with total historical seriousness instead of glossy fun, showing the darker root Charmed defanged.

Strip away the banter and the glamour and this is what's underneath Charmed's premise — a family torn apart by the terror of real witchcraft, told as slow-burn folk horror with dread instead of quips.

But Bleak, austere, and genuinely frightening rather than fun; period dialogue and a punishing tone make it the opposite of comfort viewing.