The series narrative follows a trio of sisters, known as The Charmed Ones, the most-powerful, good witches of all time, who use their combined "Power of Three" to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons and warlocks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Expanding on the popularity of witch-themed dramas such as The Craft (1996)[8][9] and Practical Magic (1998),[10] the production company explored different forms of mythology to find characters they could realize with contemporary storytelling.

The writers with the most writing credits other than Kern include Daniel Cerone, Curtis Kheel, Zack Estrin, Chris Levinson, Krista Vernoff, Sheryl J. Anderson, Monica Owusu-Breen, Alison Schapker, Cameron Litvack, and Jeannine Renshaw.

[18] However, many Wiccan viewers appreciated the fact that Charmed brought their religion into the public eye in a positive way, through the use of other elements such as sacred objects, spellcasting, a Book of Shadows, solstice celebrations and handfastings.

[18] Cast member Holly Marie Combs revealed in The Women of Charmed documentary (2000) that the series aimed at following a mythology created by fantasy, and not adhering to Wiccan rules too closely, for fear of coming under criticism for either not being "technically correct enough" or missing the truth completely.

[18][33] Executive producer Brad Kern revealed that they had to cut back on special effects and guest stars, and that the entire season was shot only on the Paramount Studios lot as they could not go out on location anymore.

[38] After the title card in the opening of seasons 1 to 3, scenes from the pilot episode are shown, including an overhead view of the sisters casting a spell at a round table and a shot of them coming downstairs.

[36] However, after the title card is shown, new scenes are introduced which include images of the Golden Gate Bridge, a gargoyle, talisman, a scrying crystal, a tattoo of the triquetra symbol, and candles.

"[46] Vanessa Thorpe of The Guardian agreed with Alyssa Milano's description of Charmed as "perfect post-feminist girl-power," praising the balance between action and emotion as the "three sibling sorceresses know mischief, but are accessibly feminine.

"[47] Entertainment Weekly critic Karyn L. Barr labelled Charmed a "crafty cult classic" and in her retrospective review of the first season, wrote that it "remains spellbinding thanks to its proper balance of quirky humor, Buffy-esque drama" and Shannen Doherty's character Prue.

[2] Angelica Bastien of Bustle magazine commended the "strong female characters" and felt that the show resembled Xena: Warrior Princess more than Buffy due to its "mix of drama, wacky humor, intensely layered mythology, and feminism-lite vibe.

"[48] During the third season, Michael Abernethy of PopMatters praised the "well-choreographed action sequences, respectable acting" and "believable" sisterly relationship between Milano, Doherty, and Holly Marie Combs.

Upadhyaya also praised the "smart decisions" the writers made of how they introduced a new sister into the series, calling the transition "Charmed's greatest accomplishment" that "opened up whole new avenues for grounded, emotional storytelling.

Bustle's Bastien felt that after Doherty's departure, "Charmed got pretty bad," noting that the show "lost track of its core theme" of witchcraft and sisterhood by bringing in mystical fairy tale beings and focusing more on soap opera-type plots and the sisters' love lives.

[48] Similarly, BuzzFeed writer Jarett Wieselman agreed that "After Doherty's exit, Charmed veered into slightly-absurd-yet-no-less-entertaining territory," noting that McGowan's addition "ushered in a wave of increasingly campy episodes.

[54] Hugh Armitage of Digital Spy believed that Charmed "began to feel very self-indulgent towards its stars" in the later seasons, noting that character-driven storylines were replaced with gimmicks, such as the revealing outfits worn by the sisters, particularly both Milano's and McGowan's characters.

[103] Following the broadcast of the season eight episode "Payback's a Witch" in January 2006, Charmed became the longest running hour-long series in American television history featuring all female leads.

"[111] In 2012, six years after its original broadcasting, Charmed was found by The NPD Group to be the second-most binge watched television series on subscription video-on-demand services, such as Netflix.

[139] In the 2002 teen comedy film Big Fat Liar, Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) recalls watching an episode of Charmed on The WB where Alyssa Milano's character Phoebe was about to put a spell on her demon boyfriend.

In a 2003 episode of the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Serena Bishop (Lara Sacher) and Erin Perry (Talia Zucker) find out they have a lot in common like their love for Charmed.

"[143][144] In the season four episode "Me and the Devil" of True Blood, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) tells a witch named Marnie Stonebrook (Fiona Shaw) that one of her favorite television shows she watched as a child was Charmed.

It has been the subject of several collective books such as Investigating Charmed: The Magic Power of TV edited by Karin and Stan Beeler, which adopts a gender perspective to carry out an in-depth analysis of third-wave feminism as shown in the series.

[169] A retrospect of songs compiled from all eight seasons of the show, Charmed: The Final Chapter was positively received by Heather Phares of AllMusic, who praised it for "feel[ing] like a late '90s/early 2000s time capsule".

[198] Party of Five co-creator Christopher Keyser and Sydney Sidner were going to executive produce and write the pilot script for CBS Television Studios (who own the rights to Charmed) and The Tannenbaum Company.

[203] On January 25, 2018, The CW network officially ordered a pilot of a new Charmed reboot, developed by Jennie Snyder Urman, Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin, for the 2018–19 television season.