The Charmings

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Snow White married Prince Charming and started a family. The evil witch-queen sent them to enchanted sleep until present-day America. She and a dwarf named Luther get sent forward the same way. Result? A Fish Out of Temporal Water Sitcom.

This was not a good show - the writers didn't have the inspiration to realize the true potential of the material; little happened here that couldn't happen in a normal Sitcom. The producers had a visibly low budget, so there was little magic, and what magic there was was sometimes Special Effect Failure. Having to work around concepts that Disney believes it owns likely didn't help, either. (No, Disney had nothing to do with this.)

Nevertheless, its first season brought in high Ratings -- high enough that the actress who played Snow White got replaced in the second season, since the first actress demanded more money based on her demonstrated drawing power. Its second season bombed, partly for the reasons already mentioned, and partly because ABC showed NO faith in it whatsoever (they moved it up against The Cosby Show, where it got slaughtered).


Tropes used in The Charmings include:
  • Credit Card Plot: The family runs up a huge debt after their neighbor introduces them to credit cards. Fortunately, they have a closet full of gold bars to pay it off.
  • Fantastic Comedy: The show premise.
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water: The main characters were from 15th Century France. A Disney version of 15th Century France.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck: Eric Charming gets Snow White a car for her birthday, although neither of them really understands how it works. One scene has their children running up to Snow after having watched their father work on the car. One of the children says to Snow that Eric became angry working on the car and yelled out "Fiddlesticks", whereupon Snow covers his mouth and admonishes, "The F-Word!"
  • Orphaned Punchline: In one episode, the family is hosting a Halloween party. When a giant shows up, Prince Charming and Snow White go off to handle the situation, leaving Luther in charge.

Luther: What should I do?
Prince Charming: Tell them a ghost story.
Luther: (to kids) OK, two ghosts walk into a bar...

  • The Other Darrin: Snow was recast between seasons
  • Screwed by the Lawyers: The series got complaints by the Walt Disney Company, since it was an unauthorized parody of Snow White. It's unclear whether this or low ratings ultimately led to its cancellation, but Disney does now own ABC, opening up the possibility of a DVD release.
  • Tabletop RPG: At the end of one episode, the neighbors invite the Prince and Snow over for a game of Dungeons & Dragons. And wouldn't you know it, Prince Charming already has his gear in the closet.
  • Urban Fantasy