The Lycos 50 likes to spotlight up and coming search topics that we think you will be hearing more from in the future. Today we want to highlight a TV show that has already up and come, even though you may not know a lot about it. It's a little WB drama called Charmed, which is getting about twice as many searches as it did one year ago.
Charmed follows three good witches, all sisters, as they attempt to vanquish evil, protect the lives of innocents, and meet hot boys (some of whom are half-demons). Charmed is produced by Aaron Spelling, and it originally featured Alyssa Milano, Shannen Doherty, and Holly Paige Combs as the three young witches.
Of course, Doherty became famous on another Spelling show (Beverly Hills 90210) and then left it, so perhaps her future -- like the witches' fight against evil -- was destined. Her tumultuous personality once again created problems on the set. Apparently she had a lot of disagreements with Milano over who was the star of the show.
So Doherty is gone this year. Her character was killed off and replaced with actress Rose McGowan (famous as the ex-girlfriend of shock rocker Marilyn Manson) playing the girls' "long lost" half-sister Paige. How come this never happens in real life? "Guess what, son, I misplaced your sister under the couch for twenty years. She's fine except for the stale Cheeto powder."
Certainly we've been learning over the last year that Lycos has a lot more young female users than you might think. There are a number of searches to demonstrate this, such as the high interest in young hunks like Josh Hartnett and Vin Diesel, and the huge number of searches for prom dresses and hairstyles in springtime.
Searches for shows like Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are further evidence of the multitude of girls online. But even among shows aimed at teenage girls, Charmed stands out. Charmed gets roughly five times as many searches as the better-known Felicity, and two and a half times as many searches as Dawson's Creek. It's about half as popular as Buffy.
All those young female fans have dedicated a vast reserve of online bits and bytes to their favorite show. Angelfire has a ton of homepages dedicated to Charmed, including The Halliwell Home and Sandy's Charming Charmed World, each with pictures, news about the show, and an epsiode guide.
Each of the actresses on Charmed also gets her share of searches, led by Alyssa Milano. Milano is consistently among the most-searched women on Lycos, although she hasn't been in the Lycos 50 since January. New cast member Rose McGowan also gets a good number of searches, and interest in her spiked significantly back in June when she was hired for Charmed.
Combs gets some searches as well, but fewer than the other two. For each search Combs gets, McGowan gets two and Milano six. As for Doherty, her searches have dropped in half since leaving the show. Perhaps she is the David Caruso of teen dramas.
TOMORROW: The breakout Survivor.
