Espelho Encantado

I was very fond of this show, especially as it seemed a pretty fresh spin on your standard cheesy American family sitcom. I think this is more in line with the early 60s and 70s comedy like I DREAM OF JEANNIE, MY FAVORITE MARTIAN, and WHEN THINGS WERE ROTTEN, when television comedy seemed to have more imaginative storylines and less social moralising ("Not that there's anything wrong with that!").

Sadly this is one of those half-remembered shows from my childhood that I wish I could remember better. I remember loving this show, but the details are hazy...I know that it was on this show that I first saw a cd, though. This would a a great show for Nick at Night to air for Revenge of the 80's.

I watched this show from day one and fell in love with Lillian. Scheming, malicious evil women are my one weakness. I always felt they should have chucked the rest of the cast and made it the Lillian and the magic mirror show. I still have all 21 episodes from 1987 that are still in good viewing condition, save one ep. I just watched them not long ago after learning of Paul Winfield's untimely death.

Paul Winfield has some great one liners throughtout the series.

Lillian: "Lets see..what should I wear?" (Begins to disrobe) Mirror: "I dont know but if you're taking your clothes off I'm leaving. (disappears from view

Mirror: "Ok, Lillian. You want to know who's fairer than you? (Pulls out telephone book and opens it) "Now this is just the greater los angeles area."

Lillian: "Im good with forest animals" Mirror: "you barbecue them"

Lillian get sick and Mirror tells her to open wide so he can look Mirror: "Whoa! Its all nasty back there Lillian: "what should I do?" Mirror: Close your mouth! Your'e making me sick!"

Plus so many more. I wish one day these would be released to dvd. Charmings rule!

I remember the show being hilarious and trying to figure out which dwarf Luther was (out of the seven). Paul Winfield was fantastic as The Mirror. I real wish this was on Nick at Nite or I would buy this if it was released on DVD. And it was really a family show, there were laughs for adults and kids alike :) I remember liking the first Snow White and wasn't as thrilled with the second one. I had a major crush on Christopher Rich. People thought I was crazy because I always called him Prince Charming. That's when I found out that not many people watched The Charmings :( I noticed that the postings for this show are far and few in between, but if you can find this show, watch it, you'll be really happy with it.

"The Charmings" was a well written and well acted show. There were jokes on many levels. Both children and adults found them funny for different reasons. Many episodes satirized the faulty aspects of our society which we accept without question. Since the characters were people from a "happily ever after" reality, they considered the failings of our world challenges to be overcome. So the real life wisdom of classic stories was part of every episode.

It was rare to see such thought put into the writing of any show. It is even rarer now (2004) since TV producers want easily written "real life" shows which teach nothing about real life.

Sadly "The Charmings" was killed by ratings. It was far better than the stereotypical, repetitive rubbish that was scheduled against it.