The Charmings

The Charmings
Genre	Fantasy sitcom
Written by	Prudence Fraser Mark Fink Ellen Guylas Carrie Honigblum Danny Kallis Robert Sternin
Directed by	Gerren Keith Howard Murray Jack Shea
Starring	Christopher Rich Caitlin O'Heaney (1987) Carol Huston (1988) Judy Parfitt Cork Hubbert Brandon Call Garette Ratliff Henson Paul Eiding Dori Brenner Paul Winfield
Composer(s)	Ray Colcord Jonathan Wolff
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	21 (1 unaired) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Prudence Fraser Robert Sternin
Producer(s)	Danny Kallis
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Sternin & Fraser Ink Embassy Communications (1987–1988) ELP Communications (1988) Columbia Pictures Television (1988)
Distributor	Columbia TriStar Domestic Television (2001) Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	March 20, 1987 – February 11, 1988

The Charmings is an American fantasy sitcom that follows Snow White and Prince Charming, awakened from a thousand-year spell, as they adjust from their familiar life in the enchanted forest to the modern ways of 20th century Los Angeles suburbs. The series originally aired from March 1987 to February 1988 on ABC.

Synopsis

The opening voice-over sets up the premise:

“

Once upon a time there was a vain queen who was so jealous of her beautiful stepdaughter, Snow White, that she poisoned her with an apple. But a handsome prince came along and broke the spell. Snow White and Prince Charming threw the wicked stepmother down a bottomless pit and lived happily ever after. But, it turns out the pit wasn't bottomless - just very deep. And now, the queen was very mad. With a spell so powerful even she couldn't control it, she put the Charmings asleep for a thousand years. She also got herself and one dwarf. Eventually they woke up.

”

The premise of the series' plot was that fairy tale characters Snow White and Prince Charming were magically transported to a 20th-century suburb in Burbank, California. Each episode shows the Charmings trying to adapt to their new life while Lillian, the wicked stepmother, and her wise cracking Magic Mirror watch from upstairs. After the first season, Caitlin O'Heaney (who portrayed Snow White), was replaced by Carol Huston.

After mild success as part of ABC's Friday night lineup, the series was moved to Thursday nights for its second season, in a head to head battle with NBC's Family Ties. Due to low ratings, the series was canceled after twenty episodes. One episode remains unaired in the US, though it was shown during the show's run in the UK.

Characters

Snow White Charming

Played by Caitlin O'Heaney (1987) and Carol Huston (1987-1988). Her "fairy tale" motif caught the attention of a department store executive, who then sponsored a line of interior decorating products and gave her a job overseeing the designs.

Prince Eric Charming

Played by Christopher Rich. Unskilled at anything in the modern world, he later finds that is good at being a carpenter/handyman, which becomes his job.

Thomas and Cory Charming

The two Charming children. Played by Brandon Call and Garette Ratliff Henson. Due to their spending the least time in the fairy tale world, they had been the most assimilated into 20th Century society, and they faced difficulties accepting they were from fairy tales.

Queen Lillian White

The wicked stepmother, whose sorcery often backfired on her, but would occasionally prove useful in helping her family. Played by Judy Parfitt.

Luther

One of the Seven Dwarfs. Played by Cork Hubbert.

The Magic Mirror

Played by Paul Winfield. The Mirror frequently reminded Lillian that her daughter and son-in-law would come out on top and make it in this new land because unlike her, they were good hearted people who respected others. A running gag was that he would make remarks about how Snow White is the fairest and telling Lillian "it ain't you!" whenever she asks who is the fairest. However, it is implied he may have been joking, because at one point when Lillian has lost her powers and he must depart, he confides in her that she has always been the fairest.

Don "King of Carpets" Miller and Sally Miller

The Charmings' neighbors who found their new neighbors' penchant for medieval fairy tale style odd but never figured out they were the real Prince Charming and Snow White. Even when Eric was under a truth spell and confided in Don that they were Prince Charming and Snow White, Don considered it a joke. Played by Paul Eiding and Dori Brenner.

Episodes

Season		Episodes	First aired	Last aired
	1	6	March 20, 1987	April 17, 1987
	2	15 (1 unaired)	September 17, 1987	February 11, 1988

Season 1 (1987)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"The Charmings"	Will Mackenzie	Prudence Fraser, Robert Sternin	March 20, 1987
Prince Charming, Snow White and their family find themselves in the 20th century and have problems trying to adapt to the modern world.
2	2	"The Mirror Cracked"	Mark Cullingham	Rich Reinhart	March 27, 1987
Eric and Snow throw a party in an attempt to make new friends. Annoyed by their reluctance to invite her, Lillian uses her magic to spoil the festivities, but it results in her own beloved Magic Mirror getting broken.
3	3	"Modern Romance"	Gerren Keith	Doug Bernstein, Denis Markel	April 3, 1987
Luther and Lillian make a bet that they can get a better date. While Luther finds an attractive girl, Lillian chooses to drag a bum off the street and makes a potion to turn him into a hunk.
4	4	"The Charmings Buy a Car"	Bill Foster	Ellen Guylas	April 10, 1987
For their 1,010th anniversary, Eric buys Snow a lemon of a car from a sleazy used car dealer. Meanwhile, the Mirror tries to coax Lillian into taking a trip to Las Vegas. Eric beats the salesman through a 20th Century twist on his fairy tale values of honor.
5	5	"The Incredible Shrinking Prince"	Jack Shea	Bob Myer, Bob Young	April 17, 1987
Attempting to find a way to earn money, Lillian concocts a diet potion, but it turns out that it is actually a "reducing" formula; Eric inadvertently drinks it and shrinks to 12 inches high.
6	6	"An '80s Kind of Prince"	Gerren Keith	Christopher Ames, Carolyn Shelby	April 17, 1987
Lillian tries to break up Snow and Eric by putting a spell on a neighbor to fall in love with Eric.

Season 2 (1987–88)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
7	1	"Lillian Loses the Kids"	Jack Shea	Ellen Guylas	September 17, 1987
To keep them quiet, Lillian turns the children into mannequins, but she's unable to change them back.
8	2	"The Charmings Go Plastic"	Jack Shea	Mark Fink	September 24, 1987
When Snow gets a credit card the family goes on a shopping spree, and when the bill comes they are shocked. Snow and Eric have a big fight. Lillian magically gets her own credit card but, because of the information she placed on it, she is audited by the IRS.
9	3	"The Witch Is of Van Oaks"	Jack Shea	Danny Kallis	October 1, 1987
Snow and Eric set up Lillian with a new neighbor, but they quickly come to realize that he's actually the devil. Meanwhile, Luther gets an ego boost regarding his short stature from the children.
10	4	"The Fish Story"	Jack Shea	Jeff Greenstein, Jeff Strauss	October 8, 1987
After Lilian uses magic to restore a broken lamp, the children decide to use her spell-book to revive their recently deceased pet fish. Meanwhile, Eric faces Snow's wrath when he misses her wildlife preservation meeting.
11	5	"Cindy's Back in Town"	Jack Shea	Carrie Honigblum, Renee Phillips	October 15, 1987
Lillian's attempt to zap herself back into the Enchanted Forest goes awry, landing Cinderella in the Charming home. Cinderella's arrival doesn't bode well with Snow — particularly when "Cindy" makes a play for Eric.
12	6	"A Charming Halloween"	Jack Shea	Dan O'Shannon	October 29, 1987
Embarrassed by his family's antics, Thomas neglects to tell Eric about a father/son car wash. But the family causes even more humiliation for the lad when Eric insists on hosting the neighborhood Halloween party.
13	7	"Trading Places"	Jack Shea	Mark Fink	November 12, 1987
Luther expresses his envy of Eric's looks, so Lillian casts a spell to make the dwarf as handsome as a prince. The catch is that Luther and Eric switch bodies and can only return to normal if Luther wishes — and sincerely means it.
14	8	"Lillian Loses Her Powers"	Jack Shea	Jay Folb	November 19, 1987
As a result of Cory passing the flu to the family, Eric becomes a hypochondriac and Lillian loses her magic powers (and as a non-witch, she has to say goodbye to her Magic Mirror).
15	9	"The Charmings and the Beanstalk"	Jack Shea	Danny Kallis	November 26, 1987
Lillian throws out some beans and they sprout into a beanstalk and a giant comes down. When they chop the beanstalk down the giant finds himself stuck. At the same time Snow and Eric are having problems. And the giant takes a liking to Lillian. Eventually the giant's wife follows him but he refuses to go back with her.
16	10	"Yes, Lillian, There Is a Santa Claus"	Jack Shea	Carrie Honigblum, Renee Phillips	December 17, 1987
Lillian tries to ruin Christmas by telling the children that there is no Santa Claus, but gets a shock when Santa does arrive at the Charming house only to find no "believers" left there. Since Santa only delivers gifts to true believer, Lillian must use her powers to try to correct the damage she has done.
17	11	"The Charmings Get Robbed"	Jack Shea	Carrie Honigblum, Renee Phillips	January 7, 1988
After two teen crooks rob the Charmings', Eric over-zealously protects their home, such as making a moat with alligator. Meanwhile, Lillian tries to track down the family's stolen possessions, but finds it difficult, having lost her spell-book and beloved Magic Mirror in the robbery.
18	12	"Birth of a Salesman"	Howard Murray	Mark Fink	January 14, 1988
In order to pay for rising expenses, Eric gets a job working as a salesman for Don. Eric proves a lousy salesman when he says competitors have better deals and extends credit to a struggling couple, causing Don to warn Eric he needs to shape up. Snow wishes Eric was a little less considerate as well, causing Lillian to remark she will do that with a spell. Lillian's new spell makes Eric a ruthless salesman and obnoxious sleaze. Snow must convince Lillian to reverse the spell when a relative of the earlier couple is a hotelier who wished to meet Eric, and this could cost Don a lucrative contract.
19	13	"The Man Who Came to Dinner"	Phil Squyres	Carrie Honigblum, Renee Phillips	January 21, 1988
Lillian puts a spell on Eric to make him tell the absolute truth. Meanwhile, Don winds up rooming with the Charmings after he and Sally have a fight; and Lillian transcribes all of her spells into her computer, causing the Mirror to comment she turned into a computer nerd.
20	14	"The Woman of His Dreams"	Howard Murray	Lan O'Kun	February 11, 1988
Eric says that Snow is the only woman for him, so Lillian makes one of the women from Don's girlie magazines come to life and appear at random times to have fun with Eric.
21	15	"Lillian's Protege"	Jack Shea	Prudence Fraser, Robert Sternin	unaired
Amused by a devious shoplifter, Lillian takes her in — but has a change of heart when the girl sets up Thomas to get caught stealing. Meanwhile, Snow and Eric question their parenting skills in the modern world.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Recipient
1987	Emmy Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camerawork/Video Control for a Series	Warren Cress, Ross Harmon, Charles T. Henry, Bud Holland, Stephen A. Jones, Art LaCombe, Bill Scott, and Dave Smith (For episode "The Incredible Shrinking Prince")
			Outstanding Achievement in Costuming for a Series	Betsey Potter (For episode "Modern Romance")
1988			Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camerawork/Video Control for a Series	Warren Cress, Ross Harmon, Charles T. Henry, Joe Talosi, Harriet Uhl, Dave Smith, and Dale Walsh (For episode "Trading Places")
		Won	Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Comedy Series	Mark Buxbaum (For episode "The Witch Is of Van Oaks")
1988	Young Artist Awards	Nominated	Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor in a Television Comedy Series	Brandon Call

External links

• The Charmings at the Internet Movie Database
• The Charmings at TV.com
• The Charmings at epguides.com