Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a hit American television show centered around Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), a Vampire Slayer destined to fight vampires and other evil. The show, as well as the character Buffy, has been mentioned on Charmed on several different occasions.
Charmed and Buffy have many similarities, as they were both popular supernatural shows that started in the late 1990s, lasted several seasons and for a time aired on the same network. They were also led by titular female characters destined to hunt and destroy demons. Following Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season Eight, Charmed gained a next season in comic book form.
Buffy is also notable for having the main character of Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's best friend who becomes a powerful witch over the course of the series. The two shows, along with it's spinoff Angel, shared a large fanbase.
While in an abandoned cemetery attempting to find the headstone of Jackson Ward[1] in order to vanquish his ghost, Phoebe hears something and asks Prue what or who could it be, her response was that it could be a zombie or a vampire what let Phoebe to ask ironically "Where's Buffy when you need her?" [2]
This episode is often known as the episode based around Buffy The Vampire Slayer as it is mostly about vampires. Leo made a reference to the show changing television networks due to scheduling conflicts and also Brian Krause's hair for that episode was spiked up in the way a character from Buffy named Angel sports it. [3]
When Leo tells Paige and Phoebe about Neena, Paige asks, "The first witch? Is that anything like the first slayer?" This is a reference to the original slayer, whom Buffy Summers encountered in dreams and visions several times throughout the series.
List of actors who have appeared on Charmed and Buffy[]
Shannen Doherty and Sarah Michelle Gellar during a promo shoot for the WB
Both shows feature an episode based around a character stuck in an alternate reality where that character is in a mental hospital. ("Brain Drain" and "Normal Again") Charmed's episode aired on November 8th, 2001 while Buffy's episode aired three months later on the 12th.
Phoebe's comment confirms that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a TV show in the Charmed Universe.
Shannen Doherty and Nicolas Brendan were born on the same day of the same year. Shannon Doherty is also good friends with Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Michelle Branch performed her hit single "Goodbye To You" on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Tabula Rasa," 2001) and Charmed (Centennial Charmed, 2003). Both performances marked a goodbye in some form. It was performed after Cole Turner was vanquished and Julian McMahon left the main cast. It was also used after Willow and Tara ended their relationship and when Rupert Giles departed to England.
The struggle Cole goes through of controlling Belthazor is similar to Angel struggles to control his evil side Angelus.
The character of Hope and her storyline seen in "Little Box of Horrors" are clearly references (and likely an homage) to Buffy, as Hope is, like Buffy Summers, a young and apparently ordinary student who discovers she is a heroine of her generation.
Nina's line about "one girl being born in every generation" references the Slayer prophecy seen on Buffy, which says that in every generation a vampire slayer is born to defeat the forces of darkness.
The witch Willow Rosenberg, portrayed by actress Alyson Hannigan.
Main character Willow Rosenberg becomes a powerful witch over the course of the series. Initially a shy, naive "nerd" with a light, risque sense of humor, Willow finds self-reliance by practicing witchcraft, and gradually becomes a powerful weapon for Buffy in her fight. Despite Buffy never had direct references to Charmed throughout its course, a homage is featured in the series finale: to help Buffy in a battle against super-vampires, Willow casts a spell that would change the Slayer line (and consequently the world) forever. While under the effects of the spell, she whispers "Oh my goddess". Creator Joss Whedon stated that he took the phrase from Charmed's episode of same name, as he liked the title so much.
Willow becomes more powerful than other witches whose power comes from lineage (as Amy Madison and Tara Maclay), this aspect being the main difference between Buffy and Charmed's witchcraft mythology.
The relationship between Leo and Chris is often said to be similar to the one of Angel and Connor of the TV series Angel.
Wes Ramsey starred with Buffy-star Amber Benson in the movie Latter Days. Benson portrayed Tara Maclay, Willow Rosenberg's lover and also a witch.
Both shows featured a main character's death in their season finales of the 2000-01 television schedule (Buffy in the fifth season finale and Prue on the third season finale of Charmed).
The Source of all Evil shares similarities to The Master from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both are the leader of the predominant evil race, known only by their title, the first Big Bads in their series (and the first Big Bads to die), and they even look similar. However, while the Source was briefly revived, the Master was not, despite vampires' attempts to do so. In season eight of Buffy, however, the Master was resurrected by the Seed of Wonder, though he was later killed by a possessed angel.
Seasons Nine and Ten of the Buffy comic continuation are set in San Francisco, the location of the entire series of Charmed.
Charmed is referenced in one of the Buffy comic continuations.
Charmed is referenced in the first issue of the Buffyverse comic book mini-series Spike: After the Fall, when a minor character claims that in hell the only show televisions air is "that awful show about the witch sisters...". This confirms that Charmed exists as a TV show in the Buffyverse as well.
The character Richard Montana, from Season 6 of Charmed, suffers from an addiction to magic where he uses it for trivial purposes and poses a danger to those around him. This was the main storyline for Willow Rosenberg in the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The main story arc of Charmedseason seven is quite similar to that of the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's spin-off series Angel. The main antagonist, Jasmine, is an ancient power bent on turning the human world into a paradise free of any conflict but had to consume large amounts of humans in order to maintain herself, somewhat similar to the Avatars who for thousands of years worked to achieve a utopia and would eliminate any unruly humans to preserve it. Both versions of utopia also removed any sense of free will.
Kevin Weisman, Todd Duffey and Troy Blendell, who appeared in different episodes of Charmed, all portrayed one of Glory's minions in Season 5 of Buffy.
Both shows used the same building for the police station.
