This week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy is joined by the magnificent, the glamorous, the slightly crop-top-obsessed Patrick Gomez—yes, that Patrick Gomez, the Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment Weekly. Together they dust off the spell book, step into a suspiciously San Francisco-looking Paramount backlot, and dive headlong into the world of Charmed.
Patrick confesses his original entry into the fandom was less about WB primetime devotion and more about syndicated reruns sandwiched between USA High and “some other show whose title he swears is real.” What followed was a lifelong affection for the Halliwell sisters, midriff tops, and the idea that maybe, just maybe, witchcraft was a safe place for a Texas teen trying to figure out who he was.
From Lori Rom’s mysterious disappearance from the unaired pilot to Aaron Spelling’s tyrannical hair rules (no updos for six episodes, thank you very much), Mandy and Patrick relive the highs, the spell-casting lows, and the “why is there suddenly so much blood” shocks of the series. Along the way, they geek out over soap opera casting crossovers, Julian McMahon smoldering in the underworld, Rose McGowan’s fierce arrival, and that whole “season seven was secretly the finale, season eight is just a glamour we all politely ignore” situation.
It’s nostalgia, it’s camp, it’s actual tears at Shannon Doherty’s swan song. Plus: paparazzi tangents, Britney theories, and the eternal truth that if you’re not hot for Alyssa Milano, you probably don’t have a pulse.
So light a candle, chant “The Power of Three Will Set Us Free” approximately 9 billion times, and join Mandy and Patrick as they prove that sometimes being a nerd means admitting you cried at Charmed.
