Charmed is an American television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcast by The WB for eight seasons from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006.The series narrative follows three sisters, known as The Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches of all time, whose prophesied destiny is to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons and warlocks. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to maintain normal lives in modern day San Francisco. 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 first three seasons of Charmed focus on the three Halliwell sisters, Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano). Following the death of Prue in the third season finale, their long-lost half sister Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan) assumes her place within the "Power of Three" from season four onwards.Charmed achieved both critical and popular acclaim, with its first episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes" garnering 7.7 million viewers, breaking the record for the highest-rated debut episode for The WB. During its fifth season, the series became the highest-rated Sunday night program in The WB's history. At 178 episodes, Charmed is the second-longest drama broadcast by The WB and the second-longest running hour-long television series featuring all female leads. The series has also received numerous awards and nominations. In 2010, HuffPost TV and AOL TV ranked Charmed 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".Charmed has been developed into other media, including a video game, board games, novels, and a comic book series, which serves as a continuation of the show. Throughout 2012, six years after it ceased broadcasting, Charmed was the second-most watched television series on subscription video-on-demand services, including Amazon Instant Video and Netflix.