Charmed Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs fire back at Krista Vernoff for saying the show was "bad for the world" in trying to appeal to male viewers

TheWrap

In a Hollywood Reporter profile, the Grey's Anatomy showrunner recalled spending three seasons writing for Charmed and turning down an offer to write for a fourth season. "I signed on because Charmed was a girl-power show, and about halfway through there was an episode where Alyssa Milano comes out in mermaid pasties and there was a huge spike in male viewership, and then every episode after, the question would come from the network, 'How are we getting the girls naked this week?'" said Vernoff, insisting there were no attempts at subtlety. "And they were throwing money at me, and the number keeps going up, and there's all this pressure, and all I can think is, 'I'm creating something that's now bad for the world, and I've had enough bad for the world in my life.'" Milano responded on Twitter: "Well, this absolutely broke my heart. I hope we didn’t make something that was 'bad for the world' for eight years. I think we gave permission to a generation of women to be themselves and to be strong and own their sexuality. I’m so proud of what this show meant to so many." Combs replied: "I can attest 1000% Charmed was not bad for the world. The reasons and people are too long to list. Maybe it was bad for Krista’s world at the time. End story. And the fact that we can still stand up for ourselves and the show and the people who loved it proves this. I never cared what producer or network exec wanted us more naked for their $. And still don’t. We knew how to rally against it and found our own power. And still do. #Facts." Vernoff later issued a tweet clarifying her comments. "I want to clarify here for Charmed fans and also for my colleagues from Charmed who I love and admire, that I do not believe that the show was bad for the world," she tweeted. "I felt that the objectifying notes were bad for the world - and were demoralizing for me.  All love to Charmed."