Pentagram

Pentagram is an American fantasy drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman and produced by Rick Rosenthal, with Carlton Cuse serving as showrunner. The original television series aired from from September 8, 1996, until May 21, 2006, on CBS. The program spanned ten seasons, with 268 episodes. An eleventh season season consisting of fifteen episodes premiered on February 19, 2017, and concluded on May 21, 2016. Following the ratings success of this revival, Pentagram returned for an twelfth season of fifteen episodes, which premiered on January 6, 2019 on Sunday nights at 10pm, and aired during the SuperBowl lead out show for Super Bowl LIII on February 3, 2019 before moving to its new timeslot of Mondays 10pm from February 4, 2019 and concluded on April 15, 2019. The thirteenth season was announced By CBS on April 22, 2019, which premiered on October 28, 2019, and concluded on March 16, 2020. In October 2019, the series was renewed for a fourteenth season two weeks prior to the thirteenth season's debut. In May 2021, it was confirmed that the series would move from CBS to Paramount+. The fourteenth season premiered on June 20, 2021 and concluded on October 31, 2021. In July 2021, the series was renewed for a Fifteenth Season, set to air in late 2022, and was revealed to be the shows final season. In addition to the television series, two feature films have been released: The 2000 film Pentagram which took place as part of the TV series continuity, and the stand-alone film Pentagram: The Legacy of the Warrens, released in 2011, five years after the original television run had ended.

The series narrative follows a family of witches, known as Enchanted Ones the most powerful good witches of all time, who use their combined "Power of Five" to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons and warlocks. Each family member has control over one of the five elements: Spirit, Earth, Fire, Water and Air, and possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to maintain normal lives in modern-day Boston. Keeping their supernatural identities separate and secret from their ordinary lives often becomes a challenge for them, with the exposure of magic having far-reaching consequences on their various relationships and resulting in a number of police and FBI investigations throughout the series. The series initially focuses on the five Warren family members, Joanna Warren (TBA), Jasmine Warren (TBA), Jocelyn Warren (TBA), Juliette Warren (TBA) and Jenna Warren (TBA). Following Jenna's death in the fifth-season finale, Joanna's long-lost daughter and Jocelyn and Juliete's long-lost half sister Jada Matthews (TBA) assumes her place within the "Power of Five" from season six onwards.

Pentagram achieved a cult following and popularity on The CBS with its first episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes" garnering 17.77 million viewers, breaking the record for the network's highest-rated debut episode on Sunday nights in five years. The Show aired for its original run for the first ten seasons in the Sunday 9:00 pm timeslot, and returned upon its revival on Sunday nights at 10:00 pm until moving to Mondays at 10:00 pm for season 13. In 2004, it became the longest running hour-long television series featuring all female leads.

The series has also received numerous awards and nominations. In 2010, The Huffington Post and AOL TV ranked Pentagram within their joint list of "The Top 20 Magic/Supernatural Shows of All Time," while in 2013, TV Guide listed the series as one of "The 60 Greatest Sci-Fi Shows of All Time." Pentagram has also become a source of pop culture references in film and television and has influenced other succeeding television series in the same subgenre. The show's success has led to its development in other media, including a video game, board games, soundtracks, novels, and a comic book series which served as a continuation of its narrative. According to data research from The NPD Group in 2012, Pentagram was the second-most binge watched television series on subscription video-on-demand services, such as Netflix. A reboot series of Pentagram, featuring different cast members and characters, premiered on The CW on October 14, 2018.

Series overview
The series starts when Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) returns from New York and moves back into the family's Halliwell Manor in San Francisco to live with her sisters Prue (Shannen Doherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs). When Phoebe discovers the family's Book of Shadows in the attic, she learns that she and her sisters are the most powerful witches ever known, destined to protect both innocents and the world at large from demons, warlocks, and other evil creatures. Phoebe, reasonably suspecting the book to be a novelty, reads its initial inscription—unaware that it also happens to be an incantation activating the sisters' supernatural powers once all three are reunited in their ancestral home. The Victorian building filmed as the Halliwell Manor is located at Carroll Avenue in Los Angeles, California. In the series, the fictional manor is set in San Francisco.

By the end of the first episode, each sister learns that she has a unique magical power that allows them to cast spells and brew potions. Prue, the eldest, has the power of telekinesis (the ability to move objects with her mind), and in season two she develops the power of astral projection (the ability to be in two places at once). Piper, the middle sister, has the power of molecular immobilization. As she grows more proficient, she learns how to freeze only certain people or objects or body parts, as she wishes. In season three, her powers evolve further, as she is able to cause evil beings or objects to explode using her hands as a development of her powers surrounding molecular movement. Phoebe, the youngest of the three, initially possesses the power of premonition allowing her to receive visions of the future and later of the past. She later develops the powers of levitation in season three, and empathy in season six, the latter allowing her to sense and tap into others' emotions and, sometimes, powers. In accordance with the series' mythology, witches' powers are tied to their emotions.

During the first two seasons, the sisters face various evil beings from week to week. However, in the third season, they discover that their ultimate enemy is The Underworld's demonic ruler, The Source of All Evil. Eventually, Prue is killed in the season three finale by The Source's personal assassin, Shax (Michael Bailey Smith). While grieving for their older sister, Piper and Phoebe discover that they also have a younger half-sister, Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan), who had been the secret love child of their witch mother, Patty (Finola Hughes), and her "whitelighter" (guardian angel) Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck). Paige's magical abilities represent her dual heritage as both a witch and whitelighter; like Prue, she possesses a form of telekinesis, but she has to verbally call for objects to "orb" (teleport) them to their intended destination. As she attempts to control the two sides of her ancestry, Paige also learns how to orb herself and others, and to heal others with the touch of her hand; she eventually receives her own whitelighter charges to train and protect as they learn witchcraft. Paige can also "glamour", shapeshifting into a different human appearance.

The Source, responsible for the majority of attacks on the sisters, becomes the main villain during season four until he is finally vanquished. After his demise, an annual season-long storyline and several antagonists are introduced in subsequent seasons (occasionally following the "Big Bad" television format). These include Phoebe's demonic ex-husband, Cole Turner (Julian McMahon), until mid-season five; the scheming, misguided Elder, Gideon (Gildart Jackson), throughout season six; The Avatars until mid-season seven; the demon Zankou (Oded Fehr) until the season seven finale; and, in season eight, powerful sister witches Billie (Kaley Cuoco) and Christy Jenkins (Marnette Patterson), who fall under the influence of the demonic Triad (who earlier feature as early-season three antagonists). In addition to the supernatural themes explored in Charmed, the characters contend with serious issues in their day-to-day lives such as relationships, careers, marriage, childbirth, illness and the deaths of loved ones. The sisters also fight to prevent the exposure of the existence of magic to the human community at large, contending with several police and FBI investigations. Often through the assistance of their long-term ally, Darryl Morris (Dorian Gregory) of the San Francisco Police Department, they are able to avoid police suspicion, including the investigation of the most-recurring human antagonist, Inspector Sheridan (Jenya Lano), in the sixth and seventh seasons.

The sisters also face romantic storylines. Prue's love interests include her high school sweetheart, Inspector Andy Trudeau (Ted King), who dies in the season one finale in an attempt to save the sisters, and a brief co-worker, Jack Sheridan (Lochlyn Munro), in season two. Piper's central love interest throughout the series is the sisters' whitelighter Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause); their early relationship is problematic due to the forbidden nature of witch-whitelighter relationships, and so in season two a love triangle forms with Piper, Leo and her neighbor, Dan Gordon (Greg Vaughan). Eventually, the two manage to marry and consecrate their union in season three, producing a son named Wyatt in season five. The couple separate due to supernatural circumstances at the end of the fifth season; however, they reconnect in the subsequent season, resulting in a second son named Chris. The final episode of Charmed shows them to have a daughter, many grandchildren, and to grow old together in the future. Phoebe's romantic history involves a tortured relationship with half-demon Cole Turner in the show's third, fourth and fifth seasons; they have a turbulent marriage in the fourth, and in the fifth, following their divorce, she is compelled to vanquish him. Phoebe has a number of multi-episode human boyfriends in subsequent seasons, including her boss, Jason Dean (Eric Dane), before meeting a cupid named Coop (Victor Webster) in the eighth season, whom she marries. Paige, like Phoebe, has several multi-episode boyfriends, including fellow-witch and magic "addict" Richard Montana (Balthazar Getty) in season six, and an unstable FBI agent-turned-whitelighter Kyle Brody (Kerr Smith) in season seven. In the eighth season, she becomes committed to a human parole officer, Henry Mitchell (Ivan Sergei), whom she marries. The final episode's flashforward montage reveals Piper, Phoebe, and Paige to have three children each with their respective husbands.

=Cast and characters= Main article: List of Pentagram characters

Main
TBA (top left) portrayed Joanna Warren, TBA (top middle) portrayed Jasmine Warren, TBA (top right) portrayed Jocelyn Warren, TBA (bottom left) portrayed Juliette Warren, TBA (bottom middle) portrayed Jenna Warren, and TBA (bottom right) portrayed Jada Matthews.


 * TBA as Joanna Warren
 * TBA as Jasmine Warren
 * TBA as Jocelyn Warren
 * TBA as Juliette Warren
 * TBA as Jenna Warren (Main: Season 1 - 5, 11-15, Intermittent Regular: Season 6, Special Appearance: Season 10)
 * TBA as Jada Wentworth "Warren" (Main: Season 6 - 13, Guest: Season 5, Special Appearance: Season 14 & 15)


 * Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell (seasons 1–3), the eldest sister who initially receives the power to move objects with her mind by channelling telekinesis through her eyes. As the series progresses, Prue learns how to channel her telekinetic powers through her hands and gains the power of astral projection, the ability to be in two places at once. Prue also develops martial arts skills and becomes an effective hand-to-hand fighter. During her three seasons on Charmed, she is regarded as the strongest and most powerful witch of the Halliwell sisters. Prue initially works as an appraiser for an auction house, and later becomes a professional photographer for a magazine company. In the season three finale, she is killed by Shax (Michael Bailey Smith), a powerful demonic assassin sent by The Source of All Evil.
 * Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell, the second eldest sister who initially receives the power to freeze her surrounding environment. As the series progresses, she also gains the power to cause evil beings or objects to spontaneously explode. Piper is initially the middle sister of the family during the first three seasons, but later becomes the eldest sister after Prue dies. Piper's central love interest throughout the series is Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause), the sisters' whitelighter – a guardian angel for good witches. In season three, she marries Leo, and as the series progresses, they have two children; Wyatt (born in season five) and Chris (born in season six). Piper initially works as a chef and manager for the restaurant Quake, but from season two onwards, she becomes the owner and manager of the nightclub P3.
 * Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell, the third eldest sister who initially receives the power of premonition, the ability to see into the future and the past. To make up for initially only having a passive power, Phoebe develops martial arts skills in order to better assist her sisters when they fight evil. As the series progresses, she also gains the active powers of levitation and empathy. Phoebe is introduced into Charmed as the youngest and most rebellious of the Halliwell sisters. However, her progression as a witch helps her become more responsible and grow as a person. Phoebe later becomes the middle sister after Prue dies and the series introduces their younger half-sister Paige (Rose McGowan). Phoebe was initially a college student for the first few seasons, and later becomes an advice columnist for the newspaper company The Bay Mirror.
 * Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews (seasons 4–8), the youngest half-sister who initially receives the power to move objects with her mind by orbing ("teleporting") objects from one location to another through a vocal command. She was the secret love child of the Halliwell sisters' mother Patty (Finola Hughes) and her whitelighter Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck), making Paige both a witch and whitelighter. She was given up at birth and raised by her adoptive parents. Paige is introduced upon Prue's funeral at the beginning of season four, where she goes on to help reconstitute The Charmed Ones by taking Prue's place in the "Power of Three". As the series progresses, Paige also receives the whitelighter powers of orbing herself and others, as well as sensing, glamouring, and healing.

Supporting

 * TBA as James Ford (seasons 1-15), introduced as Jocelyn, Juliette and Jenna's childhood friend and Jocelyn's high school sweetheart and first love. He works as lawyer and is coincidentally assigned to almost every police case that involves the Warrens, and sometimes teams up with Emily on cases. James eventually discovers that they are witches and over time accepts Jocelyn as a witch. In Season Four James and Jocelyn marry, and have their first child together a daughter in Season 7.
 * TBA as Professor Lei Zhao (season 1, guest seasons 3 and 10), Jenna's college professor, who originally is very strick and firm, but over time developes a bond with Jenna. Lei eventually is convinced that Jenna is into black magic, and hires a private investigator to follow Jenna and her family. When she discovers the truth, she eventually forms an alliance with Damon Williams. Lei eventually turns on Damon, and helps Jenna and her family. In the season one finale, Lei is killed by the warlock Sanchez (TBA), who also happens to be one of the Internal Affairs officers investigating Joanna and Emily's unsolved cases.
 * TBA as Emily Pickens (seasons 1–9, 12-15, guest seasons 10-11), a lieutenant in the Boston Police Department. Emily is introduced into season one as Joanna's best friend and partner. Emily used to be suspicious of the Joanna's recurring connection to mysterious murders and crimes. However, two years into working as partners Joanna reveal to her that she and her family are good witches trying to bring justice and protection to the world. Throughout the series, Emily helps the Warrens cover up unsolved cases related to demonic activity, as well as granting them favors and giving them general support. Her family also become close to the Warrens and consider them part of their family. At the end of season nine, Emily and her family move to the East Coast.
 * TBA as Damon Williams (seasons 1-2, guest seasons 3, 5 and 10), was a warlock whose mission was to destroy the Enchanted Ones. He was the owner of the Buckland Musuem and Jocelyn's boss. Damon was sent by the Source of All Evil to confirm the existence of the Enchanted Ones. To do this, Damon hired Jocleyn at Buckland. Along with his partner Sandra Sanchez, who posed as an Internal Affairs officers investigating Joanna and Emily's unsolved cases, he tried to destroy the Enchanted Ones several times. At the end of season one, after Sanchez is vanquished, and Damon exposed as a warlock, he disappeared. He reappeared mid-way through season 2 and was finally vanquished by the Enchanted Ones at the end of season 2.
 * TBA as TBA (season 2), introduced as the Warren family's new next-door neighbor. TBA and Jocelyn become romantically involved after Jocelyn and James (TBA) break up due to the strenuous nature of Jocelyn's job as a witch and place on their relationship. Jocelyn later breaks up with TBA and reconciles with James. At the end of season two, TBA moves to Portland to take a job offer.
 * TBA as Marian Ford (season 2-3), introduced as James Ford's niece who temporarily moves in with him for school because her parents are in Saudi Arabia on business. Whilst living with her uncle, Marian forms a bond with the Warrens and often turns to them for advice on female issues that she is not comfortable talking to her uncle about. Midway through season three, Marian moves back in with her parents after they return to the United States.
 * TBA as Victor Jones (season 3, guest seasons 1, 5 and 10, recurring season 2 and 4), is Joanna's ex-husband and Jocelyn, Juliette and Jenna's father. He had kept his distance for sixteen years, only to be sought out by Jasmine when Juliette loses her powers. In the season two finale, he recognizes Henry as Mark, Juliette's lover from one of her past lives, and tells her this. Victor is killed in Season 3 by Jonathan Sparks, the grandfather of Joanna and Jasmine.
 * TBA as Henry Yan (seasons 4–10, 14-15; guest seasons 1, 12-13, recurring season 3 and 11), the Halliwell sisters' whitelighter—a guardian angel for good witches—who has the powers to orb, heal, sense, levitate, glamour and hover. Leo is introduced into season one as the sisters' handyman hired to fix up their house, but they later discover that he is their whitelighter. Leo's whitelighter duties often causes problems for his marriage to Piper and their family. Their relationship is the first of many conflicts between the sisters and The Elders. At the begining of the revival season, we learn that Henry and Juliette are currently separated. Due to the stress with their failing marriage and conflicts on raising their children, they divorce at the end of season 11. The pair reconicle during season 14, and re-marry during season 15's final episode.
 * Julian McMahon as Kol Caine / Belthazor (seasons 4–6; guest season 8, recurring season 10), a half-human and half-demon who has the powers to teleport and throw projective energy balls which could stun or kill. Kol is introduced into season four as an Assistant District Attorney sent by The Triad to kill The Enchanted Ones, but instead he falls in love with Jasmine. Although Kol completely rids himself of his demonic nature and marries Jasmine in season five, he later returns to evil after he unwillingly becomes the new Source of All Evil. As The Source, Cole is eventually vanquished by The Charmed Ones, only to come back from death in his attempts to win Jasmine back. He teams up with the Avatars in an attempt to make Utopia, but makes the ultimate sacrifice to defeat the Avatars. He later returns for a guest appearance in the season eight episode "The Eight Year Witch," where it is revealed his spirit is trapped between realms. In Season 10, he returned and was the one to find Jenna and reunite her with her family. His soul was destroyed in 2006 after he was stabbed with the Ancient Athame.
 * Debbi Morgan as The Seer (season 4 and season 5), The Seer was an upper level demon . Duplicitous, manipulative and self-serving; she served several Sources. Her cunning gameplay pits the sisters against one another. Imbued with the power to see the future, she can only eliminated by the Power of Three.
 * Drew Fuller as Chris "Perry" Warren (season 8; guest seasons 7, 9–10), the second-eldest son of Jocelyn and James. Chris is introduced into the season seven finale as a whitelighter from the future who helps assist the Halliwell sisters against magical beings known as The Titans. In season six, Chris reveals that he is Leo and Piper's son and has traveled back in time to prevent his older brother Wyatt from growing up to be the evil dictator he becomes in the future. In the season six finale, adult Chris is killed by an Elder named Gideon (Gildart Jackson) and baby Chris is born.
 * Kaley Cuoco as Billie Jenkins (season 8), introduced as a young college student and a new charge for Paige (Rose McGowan). Billie has the power to move objects with her mind using telekinesis, and later develops the power of projection; the ability to warp reality. She spends most of season eight trying to find her eldest sister Christy (Marnette Patterson), who was kidnapped 15 years earlier by The Triad. Billie is eventually reunited with her sister, but does not know that Christy has been turned evil under the influence of demons. After Christy briefly sways her to betray the Charmed Ones, Billie eventually sides with them in the series finale and is forced to kill her sister in self-defense.

Filming locations
The pilot episode was filmed at Ray-Art Studios in Canoga Park, Los Angeles on the studio's sound stages. When the show was ordered to series, production for Pentagram moved to the Paramount Studios lot in Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA, with addiitonal on-location shooting taking place in the city of Boston. In 2003, production for Pentagram moved to the Paramount Studios lot and to Los Angeles for seasons nine and ten. Actress TBA who played Jenna, didn't renew her contract beyond season 5, due to wanting to move back to LA and be closer to her family. When production moved to LA, TBA was more willing to accept an offer to return for Season 10.

Ratings
Pentagram became one of CBS's highest-rated series during season three and continued through season six, when it was the ninth most watched network series, with 17,190,000 viewers that amounted to a 15% share of the market as determined by Nielsen Media Research. In season eight, after the series moved from its Sunday time slot to a Saturday one, it dropped to 79th place, with 8.3 million viewers.

Previous versions
Before Pentagram, two other television adaptations, were produced, but neither of these were picked up for full seasons. The first adaptation was produced for NBC in 1992, starring Julia Campbell as Jane Hollis, Catherine Mary Stewart as Sukie Ridgemont, Ally Walker as Alexandra Spofford, and Michael Siberry as Darryl Van Horne.

The second unsold pilot was produced for Fox in 2002, starring Marcia Cross as Jane Spofford, Kelly Rutherford as Alexandra Medford, Lori Loughlin as Sukie Ridgemont, and Jason O'Mara as Darryl Van Horne.

Development
The series is based on the 1984 novel The Witches of Eastwick and the film counterpart of the same name. While the book was written by John Updike, the series was conceived by Maggie Friedman, who wanted to create a show about female empowerment and a show that is magical but also real. ABC picked up the show in early 2009.

The series was filmed on the Warner Bros. Studios backlot, using the same town square as The WB's series, Gilmore Girls. Filming of the pilot began in August 2009 when all characters had been cast, the last one being Matt Dallas on July 30. ABC decided to put the show on the air Wednesdays at 10:00pm Eastern/9:00pm Central, after another new show, Cougar Town on ABC's Comedy Wednesdays.

There were initial suggestions that the show could potentially feature a musical episode, but this never occurred. The last day of shooting was held on November 16, 2009.