Charmed signs off and nothing feels resolved

Rewind to 21–27 May 2006 — where chaos, culture and a whole lot of feelings collided.

🔮 The power of three… finally logs off

Charmed ends after eight seasons of spell-casting, sisterhood and “how is that house still standing?” energy. The finale, Forever Charmed, tries to tie everything together — time travel, fake deaths, emotional goodbyes — and somehow still feels like it’s making it up as it goes. It’s messy, it’s heartfelt, it’s peak 2000s supernatural TV.

🌏 Dawn disaster, global shock
A powerful earthquake rips through Indonesia at sunrise, flattening entire communities in seconds. Thousands killed, millions displaced and locals forced to become first responders overnight. It’s one of those weeks where the world just… stops and watches. 

🎤 Sad banger supremacy
Where'd You Go hits that weird sweet spot: catchy enough for radio, devastating enough for a quiet spiral. It’s not breakup drama, it’s “success is ruining my life” energy — and suddenly everyone’s in their feelings on the drive to school.

🔥 Cancelled… then crowned
Taking the Long Way lands like a mic drop years in the making. After being blacklisted for speaking out, the The Chicksclap back with zero apologies — and the industry has to decide: punish them… or hand them Album of the Year.

🧚‍♀️ Fairytales but make it traumatising
Pan’s Labyrinth arrives and says “what if magic was actually terrifying?” Between fascist horror and nightmare creatures (hi, Pale Man), this is not your childhood bedtime story — it’s fantasy with emotional damage.

🎤 Grey hair, don’t care
American Idol crowns Taylor Hicks — the harmonica-playing, soul-singing wildcard no one saw coming. The “Soul Patrol” shows up hard, proving once again that chaos voting is alive and well.

🎮 Tiny idiots, big nostalgia
Lemmings gets a PSP revival and suddenly everyone’s reliving the trauma of watching pixelated lemmings confidently walk off cliffs. Cute? Yes. Stressful? Also yes. Your childhood anxiety, now portable.

📚 Beach read… or beach regret?
Beach Road is topping charts but the reviews? Brutal. Think: “throw it out a window” energy. A reminder that not all bestsellers are built the same — and early internet opinions did not hold back.

Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast). You can also contact us there if you want to be a part of the show.

Transcript

Transcript is auto-generated.

The year is 2006. We head to the hills and learn reality is scripted. Your Sony Cyber Shot uploads 462 blurry regrets. A Facebook poke makes everything complicated. And Twitter's like, cool story, you've got 140 characters. Go. T-minus 20. Rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel. Week, 21 May, 2006. T-minus 20. Bringing sexy back. I want to forgive you. T-minus 20. 

I hate this long-distance relationship. And I want to forget you. You have no style or some succession. This is a beauty. This is very nice. Yeah, boy. 

We are rewinding to the week commencing 21 May 2006 where witches take their final bow. Tiny little idiots walk confidently off cliffs on your little portable devices and country music's biggest comeback says we said what we said with your hosts Joe and Mel. 

Yes, hello, if you're new here, this is T-minus 20, the podcast that rewinds to the same week 20 years ago, unpacking the chaos, unpacking the culture, and unpacking the moments that absolutely defined a group chat before group chats were even a thing. 

Yes, along with the idiots walking up the cliffs and the witches and the Dixie Chicks, there was this. At exactly 5.54am local time, the ground shook violently. A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck without warning. Within less than a minute, the serene morning turned into a nightmare. A terrible, terrible natural disaster taking place back in 2006 in Jakarta and Indonesia. We'll get more into that in the news. And of course, there was this. Hear now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night. The oldest of gods are invoked here. 

The great work of magic is sought. 

Anything that gets young people into the occult I'm on board with, even if it's more mainstream, and it's got Alyssa Milano and Shannon Doherty and whoever that other one was. We're going to talk about the show Charmed, which comes to an end. It does. This time 20 years ago. Here we go. The winner of American Idol season 5 is... Is do you even remember who won season five of American Idol? 

I don't remember after season one, actually. I don't remember anyone post-Kelly Clarkson. Oh, there was the country singer. 

There was Fantasia and you know. 

Did she win? I don't think she won, did she? Did she win? 

And then there was Adam Lambert who should have won. All right, but let's get to when you get to season five. But no idea this one is starting to get a little bit even more forgettable. 

We'll find out together a bit later on. 

Those stories and... Not much more, but maybe a few other bits and pieces worth sticking around for, hopefully, this week on T-minus 20. It's time for the hatches, matches and dispatches clue, where we're going to play a little clue for something that happens at the end of the show to kind of keep you salivating as to the prospect of, oh, who could have been? Actually, it's really easy this week. It's a, but it is, it is a dispatch of a match. 

An unmatch. 

So a conscious uncoupling, possibly an unconscious uncoupling, and I can't even say it. A celebrity who said this? 

For a long time, people have misunderstood and underestimated me, but I can understand playing that character. Of course, they were going to assume otherwise, but I'm not a dumb blonde. I'm just very good at pretending to be one. 

Oh, it's just too easy for words, but we will find out who that is and what happened at the end. 

26th of May 2006, terrible news in Java. A powerful earthquake strikes Central Java, Indonesia at around 5.54am local time, magnitude 6.3, near the city of Yogyakarta with the worst hit area in Bantul. Thousands of homes collapsed while people were still inside. Jakarta is growing bigger and taller. More than 10 million people in a city close to several fault lines. 

Millions who live in houses that are not earthquake proof. And therein lies the problem. So the city of Jakarta, the skyscrapers, like it's growing up, and a lot of the skyscrapers very much earthquake proof, but a lot of the housing there, not so much so. And as you can imagine, it depends on what end of the socioeconomic spectrum you sit at. That's what dictates what your chances would be in the event of a 5.4 magnitude earthquake, which is what happened here? 

And I think the fact that it happened so early in the morning, obviously a lot of people are inside in their homes, potentially still asleep. Yeah, Not a lot of time to get away. 

Catches them unawares. 5,700 people were killed. Wow. And changed. There was a few more than that. Over 30,000 people injured. and around 1.5 million people left homeless. 

Terrible. 

It was one of Indonesia's deadliest disasters of the 2000s. There are earthquakes around that area all the time. If you have a look at the maps and it's a hotbed, for want of a better word, of seismic activity. It's really bad. And there was a lot of fear after this earthquake, in fact, that the nearby volcano was going to erupt. And if that had have happened, it would have just been next level disaster because after this one, hospitals completely overwhelmed. like we said, there's over 30,000 people injured and nearly 6,000 people dead. It was just a mess. Like you were saying, people indoors asleep makes those casualties spike even higher. Most of the homes are unreinforced brick, so they're just collapsing instantly on top of each other. Villages were gone within seconds. And as a result, too... I think the infrastructure really suffered as well. So a lot of the local residents were the first responders. It wasn't like ambulances could get in there and help all these people. 

Yeah, they were digging through the rubble with their bare hands. 

They absolutely had no idea as to the scale of it in the early stages of it. But like I was saying, it is a hotbed of activity. It's right on the ring of fire. So the earthquakes are just really common, but because of the fact that it was really densely populated made it even worse. And Yogyakarta is that major centre for all the Javanese culture, the arts, education, and it really did show, like I was saying, that gap. the economic divide and the problems that come from little to no building codes or standards, especially at the poorer end of the spectrum. 

As well as the preparedness for disasters. We did obviously have the tsunami a couple of years earlier in the Indian Ocean, but we were still, particularly over there, they're still looking at those early response systems and they haven't really put anything substantial in place. Telecommunications are sketchy at best. You don't obviously have the mobile phone coverage and the ability to forewarn people like you do today. 

What was shocking to me when I was researching this was just how frequent earthquakes are there. They happen all the time, all the time. It's a fact of life over there. Like, and a lot of the people learn to kind of live with them, but obviously not when it gets to that kind of profession. 

Not at that, yeah, not at that level. 

But it certainly comes with the territory. Yeah. And I guess, our exposure to it, I mean, we're next door, but our exposure to it is we don't really, anytime there's an earthquake here, everyone's like, oh, there's an earthquake here. We have tiny little ones, but these guys, these things can happen, weekly. 

I remember hearing about this one, but nowhere near to the levels that we heard about the tsunami. But the casualties were so, high. I don't feel that this one got the cover bridge that other disasters around that time did. 

It's competing with fire crotch and things like that. Yeah. I mean, it's competing with trashy tabloid news as well. There was a huge international aid response for it. I know that. And Australia was very heavily involved with that. And that's where this sort of... focus on rebuilding for a longer term and having housing that's a bit more earthquake resistance came into it. And they certainly learned from it, but it's still one of those things that has taken years for them to recover from. And I'd say that it's a work in progress. Let's put it that way. It always sucks when you've got to kind of get through a bad news story before you get to have a bit of fun. 

Change of pace. 

On the podcast. It is a change of pace. Yes. So over to music, where Mel is definitely more of an expert than me. 

Well, same pace in UK, still crazy. They haven't pulled it yet. 

Oh God. I think you're crazy. That'll do. I'm starting to get sick of it. 

Oh, well, we weren't sick of Rihanna here in Australia. Never. 

Oh, ask me, someone help me? 

That'll do that because she features pretty heavily in the US as well. 

And the top five in the US sounded like this. 

Me and the rest of the family here singing Where'd You Go? Strolling and tryna kiss me riding dirty Tryna kiss me riding dirty Tryna kiss me riding dirty I got the right temperature fishes to you from the storm Hold on Girl, I got the right tactics to turn you on And girl, I wanna be the papa You can be the mom, oh-oh 'Cause you had a bad day You're taking one down You sing inside a song just to turn it around You say you don't know You tell me don't lie Please, someone help me. It's not healthy. 

See, there she is. Just perched on top of the US charts as well. Conquering the world is our Rihanna. I don't think she's a strange. She's from Barbados. I'm certainly not from Barbados. I'm not like conquering the world is Ariana. 

I can't do that. I can't do that. No, you get cancelled. Number 2, bad day, Daniel Power. It's #3, temperature short. Porter for Riding Chameleon. Yeah, brand new entry this week. Where'd you go by Fort Minor, feet Hollybrook and Jonah Matragna. 

Matranga. 

Matranga. 

Matt Ranger. 

Me and the rest of the family here singing Where'd You Go? 

I didn't know that Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park was involved in a crossover project. 

Rapping voice sounded very familiar. Yeah. 

Yeah, he produced it as well. 

Yes, so lead vocal. So the artist is Fort Minor, but yes, he provided lead vocal and production. The female you heard on the track is Holly Brook. There's a reason she sounds familiar. We'll get to that in a minute. And Jonah. I think Jonah is a backing vocal at some point. I don't think... old Matt Ranger appeared in that bit that you played there. From the album The Rising Tide, but Tied, T-I-E-D, I think it's important to point that out. 

Yes. 

Play on words. 

Tied as in tied up. 

Pete's in the top five, so it probably doesn't get any higher on the charts, but it was one of the biggest crossover hits, Rap Alt 2006, and took Shinoda out of Lincoln Park and moved him into something a little bit more personal and stripped back. Sad but radio friendly. It's nice. It's quite pleasant. 

The film clip had this sending kids off to war. 

Oh, that's not pleasant. 

Type vibe with the whole Where'd You Go thing. It's like, well, I went off to serve my country. 

It's a bit something like that. It's a bit Dido Eminem as well, isn't it? It's that sort of breathy female vocal with the rap contrast, which I quite like. 

A bit more squeaky clean, I think. Yeah. 

It is about distance and absence, about touring musicians missing family, partners feeling abandoned, and the emotional cost of chasing success. 

They've somehow managed to align that with soldiers going off to war. 

And as we mentioned, yes, Holly Brooke. So Holly later reinvented herself in the 2010s as Skylar Gray. 

What's A Skylar Gray? 

What's A Skylar Gray, you ask? 

Yeah. 

She's kind of the voice of everyone else's feelings. So you would recognise her. Never quite the main character. So there's a song you probably recognise, Love the Way You Lie, Eminem featuring Rihanna. 

Oh yeah. 

Love the way you lie. 

No, don't do that, but yeah. 

Similar rap and female vocal sort of thing. She co-wrote that and actually recorded the original demo hook. And when you think about the voice in this song and the hook in that, you can hear her kind of vocal coming through in Rihanna's style. 

Hollybrook, AKA Skylar Gray. 

Skylar Gray. 

AKA wrote the Love You Way You Lie Eminem vocal. 

But also featured on the Diddy Dirty Money track, Coming Home. They were, I'm coming home. 

Oh, but once again, don't do that. 

She sings that, chorus. And do you know the Dr. Dre Eminem song, I Need A Doctor. 

Jesus Christ. What do you have to sing, aren't I? 

I need a doctor. That's her as well. So she's kind of like, you know her, you know the songs, but you don't immediately go, oh, Skylar Gray. 

Oh, right. Yeah. No, I'm just still trying to connect the dots with the Dr. Dre song. 

Yeah, it's someone where he goes, I need a doctor in this song. I need a doctor. 

Yeah, I forgot about Dre. 

Anyway, that's her. 

Yeah. 

Quite huge, quite huge. 

Yeah, but still in the background though, kind of thing. 

Yeah, And obviously Cemented Shinoda is more than just the rapper from Lincoln Park. 

Oh, he's a good producer. 

Yeah. 

Great producer. 

Didn't hate that. 

Yeah, you didn't? He's like some alt rock rap, Timberland type character. 

Yeah, I don't, so I don't know, the context around Fort Minor and whether he did other stuff. as part of Fort Miner or if he was just a guest of Fort Miner. 

I always, you can tell that the guys in Linkin Park are kind of good with production and stuff as well. 

They use good microphones. 

Yeah, they use good microphones. And when the guitar is... And when they're performing live, even in concerts, sometimes they're wearing big headphones. 

Yeah, they know the good gear, don't they? 

Yeah, they do that. You get your big headphones on, you know somebody means business. 

Yeah. 

The bigger the headphones, the bigger the business. 

More music news. We had a big album release as well from the Dixie Chicks. Are they the Chicks yet or are they still the Dixie Chicks? 

They're still the Dixie Chicks. 

The Chicks came later, didn't it? 

Yes, not Chicks with. 

Taking the long way. 

That's right. Taking the what? 

The long way. 

Is that Chicks with ? Taking the long way. 

Debut is at #1. 

What? I'm so confused. 

Cells. So they're not the chicks. 

They're the Dixie Chicks. 

And the album? 

Not the chicks with. 

I don't even know where that came from. Not the album was called Taking the Long Way. 

Yes. 

I believe this is the first release after the big 2003 incident. 

That's right. I mean, and so they are still the Dixie Chicks at this stage, and they don't become the chicks until the whole Dixie thing becomes problematic. 

So we don't have a problem with that yet. That's still to come. 

Not yet. And I don't think. If we're being, like, I don't think that the Dixie Chicks ever intended to have that connotation attached to the Dixieland. It's from the South. 

Yeah, the type of music. 

Unfortunately, it gets associated with the Confederate movement, which then gets associated with racism and it spirals. 

Down a little bit further. 

So we just get the Chicks and we remove the Dixie. And everyone's happy. 

But let's go back to the first controversy, first cancellation. 

This album, this album basically is the DC Chicks saying, we're not okay with what happened. 

And what happened in 2003. was the, was it Natalie that said it? 

Yeah, Natalie Maines, the lead. And they were performing, they were performing in London. 

And she made the comment that they were ashamed that then US President George W. Bush was from Texas. And this is just before the Iraq war. 

So peak patriotism, post 9-11, very sensitive. 

And they were cancelled before cancelling was a thing. They had radio boycotts. 

CDs were burned. 

Fans were destroying T-shirts. 

Were shredded. 

Death threats, industry backlash. They were effectively blacklisted from mainstream country music. And it was a really, really hard time for them. And this is then their comeback album after the 2003 incident. It debuts at #1, sells more than 2 million copies, wins 5 Grammys, including album of the year, with the lead single, Not Ready to Make Nice. 

I'm not ready to make nice. And I don't have time to go round and round and round. It's too late to make it right. I probably wouldn't if I could. Because I'm mad as hell can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should. 

I love it. I love it because they got their hands dirty. And they didn't back down from getting their hands dirty. They actually doubled down. And look, I think, they were more into that sort of country hit sort of stuff previously, but now it's more about their identity and how they've kind of been a little bit betrayed by their country and things like that. And I think that From a distance, I don't think he's a massive influencer as far as shaping, obviously, their sound and stuff, but I think shaping the direction of the lyrical content was helped a lot by Rick Rubin, who produced them. So you've got Rick Rubin, who has produced Slayer, the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, like just all of these bands. His resume is massive. Like he's like one of the uber music producers of our time. Probably one of the most the most famous music producers of our time. And he's a very hands-off music producer as well. He's not on the tools. He's not a technical kind of producer. He's a bit more aloof, I guess. And a lot of artists have expressed frustration with working with him. But equally, a lot of artists absolutely love working with Rick Rubin. And he did push them away from that polished country sound and got them into that real raw emotional storytelling. And I think the reason why they went to #1 is because with this album, even after all that controversy is because that controversy actually opened them up to an audience much bigger than the country audience. 

Yeah, I think so. And I think 2 years later, we are starting to see that maybe not all was as we thought with the Iraq war and the backlash was building over time. And I think a lot of people were like, I think they were on to something. 

Yeah. And for them too, I think it's a bit of a case of this too shall pass. Because if you've seen the documentary about what happened to them, which is it's really raw and candid, and you see how it affects them. 

And just their relationship with each other as well. 

And their relationship with each other, their relationship with their country, you know, all of that stuff. Like, I mean, that would just be something else to have your entire nation feel or to be made feel like your entire nation is turned off. on you. So I love this album, not because I'm a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks, but for what it means. Like the cultural impact of it. Because it is, it's not so much a redemption story. It's because they don't need to redeem themselves. 

No, it's standing by your principles. 

It's a I've told you so story. And I'm not ready to back down or maybe forgive and forget because it's still pretty raw. And I just think that's one of the most honest human responses to to being, put in the situation that they were put in. Over to the box office now. 

Oh, yes, and we've got The Da Vinci Code movie, but I've just realised that I haven't put any information there, so I hope you know about it. You can, you're just going to have to go for it. 

Saw the film, have the trailer. 

We are in the middle of a war. 

To protect a secret so powerful that if revealed it wouldn't have devastate the very foundations of mankind. Professor Langdon, the chief of police would like your assistance. I'm not sure how much help I'm gonna be here. Dear God. He did this himself in his own blood? Is it possible? This is a message. Your grandfather left you. He left us. Might be some kind of anagram. Can you break it? Demons, omens, gods, monks. Da Vinci. 

What? It was a huge film, massive hit, big blockbuster, thoroughly enjoyable, fronted by Tom Hanks. And I think that's where it kind of almost, because I read the book, love the book like everyone else. It all seems a bit absurd. 

What did you think about Hanks though in the role? 

So this is what kind of ruined it for me a little bit because it's, and it's not Tom Hanks's fault. He's a wonderful actor, but it's the trappings of being Tom Hanks. Yeah, because you've got to remember. But also in 2006, Tom Hanks He's a mega star. Like he's, and he still is a mega star. So any film that you put Tom Hanks in now, it's Tom Hanks. You know what I mean? 

Yeah. 

And so I'd enjoyed this book and I'd pictured the character Robert Langdon as, I mean, not somebody. Not Tom Hanks. Not somebody dissimilar to Tom Hanks, but not Tom Hanks. Not Tom Hanks, yeah. And so it just kind of, it just kind of ruined it for me. I didn't really enjoy it that much. I didn't enjoy it as much as the book. And then over time, I think I kind of have revisited the concept of the book. And I'm like, it's all just a little bit absurd, isn't it? You know? And the Knights Templar and the conspiracies, I mean, we lapped it up at the time. You get little codexes and you decode them and there's little messages in them. And then people get into putting like codexes in geocaches and searching for stuff and having their own little treasure hunting thing. 

Or remember the judge in the when they were getting sued for stealing someone else's? 

That's right, yeah. 

And the judge even put a code in the ruler. 

Everyone was on board and they wanted a piece of it. And look, the film did well. I'm not sure exactly how well, because I think. 

It's at #1 for a while, yeah. 

It's #1 in the box office. I probably got a moderate score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it did so well. They did a sequel anyway, so because Angels and Demons is the next book, so they did a sequel. 

That was good. I think Tom Hanks got that. I think you did well there. Thank you for that. 

You're very welcome. 

You knew all the information. 

I think this next film, however, is a favorite. of mine. I absolutely. And this, the director of this film, I just, I love his style. He's so original and unique. And I adore pretty much everything that he commits to film. Sometimes it gets a bit, you know, self-indulgent, but I, you know what? I don't even care. I just like, I like this director. I'm talking about Guillermo del Toro. Pan's Labyrinth was the film that he had made that made its debut at Cannes this time 20 years ago. 

In a dark time, when hope was bleak, there lived a young girl whose only escape was in a legend that wanted her back. The legend speaks of the lost soul of a princess from another world who will one day be reborn. There will be signs that mark her return. There will be secrets that reveal her destiny. There will be a journey that will make you believe. 

It's a very visually spectacular film. There's an aesthetic that Del Toro has with all these movies across all of them that you can kind of identify, especially with creatures and characters, where you just know that it's one of his movies. There's a style to it, which I absolutely love. It's A Spanish language film that was set in post-civil war Spain in 1944. A young girl by Ivana Buquero plays Ophelia, and she's a young girl that escapes into this mythical labyrinth. while she's living with this cruel stepfather who's a fascist army officer. And the thing with it is, like, you think it's like, oh, okay, so bad real world, nice fantasy world, nice fantasy world, as bad as the real world. That's the thing with it. It's a very adult fairy tale in that respect. And I think what I like about it is he, like, it is that fantastical thing, but it's not really campy. It's, there's an element of, dread or sort of, there's an undercurrent that's almost horrific to it. But there's a beauty to the whole thing as a work of art as far as the film goes. 

Well, there's some scary characters in there, isn't there? The pale man. 

Horrifying. Played by, I believe, Doug Jones, who's a very good character performer. Doug Jones is in the Hellboy movies, he's in Shape of Water, other movies that Del Toro had done. And I think this is where that aesthetic from Pan's Labyrinth goes across into those other films like Shape of Water and the Hellboy movies. movies because it's a very similar kind of style. So yes, Doug Jones plays the pale man and he's just this amazing costume performer. He also is in Star Trek Strange, no, Star Trek Discovery. He plays a character called a Kelpian where he walks differently and everything. He's just incredible. He just, this is a dude who spends all of his acting life under latex. That sounds sweaty. And he's very skinny and pale as a consequence, but he's fantastic. 

Yeah, your skin would be a bit wrinkly. 

Yeah, so he does the Pale Man. I'm not sure if he does the Fawn as well, who's not fully good and not fully bad. And then Pan, I'm not sure as well. But there's these incredible chalk door scenes where she like draws The door with chalk and then goes into the world and stuff. It was just great, and it was a combination of the childlike innocence meets the brutality of the real world and also the fantastical world. It was extraordinary. All practical effects, way better than CGI, just... This is where you get to see, I think, artists at work, not just in the form of the director and the actor, but the props and the set design and the makeup. And then the actual physical performance of the people behind the makeup, where it's like they're completely de-identified, but their movements are such that they are that of the character, not of themselves anymore. It's just a really extraordinary film. Absolute cult classic stands up To this day, it's one of the go-tos. Like I've watched it many, many times and I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy it. And I'm a big fan of Guillermo del Toro. And of course, then he went on to make, when I found out that he was doing the Hellboy movies, which is one of my favorite comic book franchise of all time. And the fact that they have not done a third one just absolutely ruins me to this day. It just makes me so sad. But if you have not seen Pan's Labyrinth and you want something a bit different, I would definitely go and see that movie. Then we go from, sort of arty-farty stuff to trashy TV. 

Oh, look, I think many would argue that it's not trashy. We had the series final of Charmed, titled Forever Charmed, ending the series after eight seasons on the 21st of May. My sisters and I, we have special gifts. I just read from the book and wham, I am Tabitha. I hate being a witch. 

Yes, but somehow I thought I was going to get to fly. 

Oh, righto. That's enough. Yeah. So I think the selling point for me for this show was Alyssa Milano. 

Alyssa Milano. 

Because I mean, we all, anyone who was a young man, sort of prepubescent, who grew up with who's the boss, had a massive crush on Alyssa Milano. 

I loved her hair. She had good hair. Witchcraft, sisterhood, leather pants, demons, all happening in San Francisco in a house. The class that had seen more supernatural incidents than any other workplace should legally allow. 

And it was, so it was, it was Alyssa Milano, Shannon. 

Doherty, and the other one. 

Who's the other one? 

I don't know. 

But then Shannon Doherty left and then Rose McGowan came in. 

Yes, and I think that over the years there was a lot of rumours coming out of the show that none of them could get along with Shannon, which was also happening in the 90210 era. I think she could be difficult to work with was the rumours. 

Shannon Doughty. 

Yeah. 

She was also, she did a couple of Kevin Smith films where I think she leaned into that joke. But you know, maybe she's in Clerk, so. 

Maybe she set high standards and she was just... expecting everybody to lift their game. Maybe it was a bit of that. 

Holly Marie Coombs, Piper. 

Never would have got that. 

Yeah. 

I can see her face in my head, in my mind's eye. 

I'm sorry, Holly Marie Marie Coombs, if you're listening. Piper, of course, was a pivotal character in the show. Actually, the linchpin that kept all the sisters together, so much so that Shannon Doherty left. And, you know, if Holly Marie Coombs hadn't been there, maybe Rose McGowan and the trilogy, the triangle. 

Would not have been complete. We would have made it to the finale for forever. One of the longest running female-led dramas in US TV. 

Right. 

Built around the Halliwell sisters, that was their last name, and the power of three. It was peak 2000 Supernatural, Chosen One Saving the World Weekly, Witchy Feminism. 

Do you know what I like about this stuff, right? These shows, you've got to remember, this is pre-Iron Man, this is pre-Marvel Universe, this is pre-Marvel TV, this is pre-streaming, this is pre-Disney Plus, this is pre-Olive that stuff. And this show has, I mean, they've probably drawn maybe some inspiration from comic books or whatnot, but this show has been concocted. by probably a group of writers sitting down in some office just going, we've got to come up with some **** for these TV executives. And they're like, why don't we get like 3 witches who are sisters who fight the forces of evil? And they're like, yep, let's write like 300 episodes of that. 

Yeah, and you know, a new demon every week. Demon of the week. 

Yeah, demon of the week. It was a simpler time. 

Kill the demon of the week. 

It was like, it was almost like. 

Kill power. 

It's almost like the same formula as the A-Team. 

With more ***** and demons. 

Somebody's having problems. 

They'll, yo, they'll solve it. 

If you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team or the charmed girls and they'll either get rid of your demon or they'll build a truck and ram a few people and then fire some guns and save the day. Very similar. Very similar. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm surprised that Stephen J. Cannell and the guys from the A-Team did not sue the guys that made How many demons were on the A-team? 

Come on. 

I don't know, but I feel like maybe Shenandoah was the BA Baracus character. I don't know. Actually, God rest her soul. She passed away recently, didn't she? 

Shenandoah was the start of the deal late last year. Yeah, very, yeah, very sad. 

She had a long struggle with breast cancer, I believe it was. But this is one of those, you know, this is the last of those kind of shows. So this wrapping up, At the end of season 8, it was 178 episodes, by the way. That's a lot. I said 300 when I was exaggerating. I came close. It's the end of an era for TV, a lot of these shows. I mean, not quite. There's still a few to come as far as those big series that are commercial television series. and not streaming series. But it's definitely the sign of things to come. 4.5 million people in the US watched that show. It was the highest rating episode of the season, the last one. They all came back to it. They were like, no, don't go. And then it went. 

Yes, but so I think the only way to do it justice is to, let's all jump into the way back machine. 

All right. 

Time travel back to 2006 internet. 

Yeah. 

We'll jump into the snarky forum that is television without pity. 

Yep. 

And bless everyone with the Charmed finale recap. 

I think Lois should handle this. 

She was a big fan of Charmed, wasn't she? Was she? 

Yeah. 

In between John Grisham books. 

I'll duck out. We'll get her in. 

Okay. 

Hello, Mel. 

Oh, Lois, how you doing? 

I'm doing good. I hear you need a recap. 

I hear, yes, we do need a recap. Do you recall the series finale of Chance? 

Yes, where's that big stud muffin of a husband of yours go? 

I don't know. I'm Kenny, he always just disappears when you appear. 

I can't be in the same room as him, I'll get a bit too inside. 

Dangerous. You're going to help us read out the Television Without Pity recap of the season finale of Chump. It's an abridged version, because I should disclose the actual recap itself is 15 pages long, which is nobody's got time for that. 

No, nobody does, especially me. I've got other things to read. 

Okay, all right, well, I'll let you dive straight in. Off you go. 

Make sure it's not a Michael Crichton book. The night before. Before I wrote the first draft of this recap, this would be my last chum recap ever because cancelled? Previously on cancelled, they blew up the manor and Phoebe died in the process. Hooray! I didn't drag myself through six years of this crap just to get my **** blown off in the first 10 seconds of the last episode. Well, that's a bit of a spoiler, isn't it there? That's why we call them Heavy Useless. Moron. Oh, f***, cancelled. Don't ask. Snort's tomorrow's Piper, you'll get a headache. Reconstituted Piper is an idiot. Christy, go boom. Finally. God, I hate this show. I'm 22 minutes and 29 seconds away from freedom and cancelled. This show is going to kill me. Are there any other problems we should be worrying about? And that is the most bizarre experience I've ever talked in my entire life. Long story short, no one cares. I'm going for a cigarette then. Damn it, why would they cast a spell to take themselves to the point where Boring Jesus lost his powers? This show is going to kill me! Boo! Who her? In other words, f*** you, Shannon Doherty. Who cares? Cancelled! I am three minutes and one second away from freedom. We're a family of survivors, which is why we've truly been cancelled. Whoops, charmed. And can you believe there are still 15 seconds to go? Because cancelled. I only just figured out she was live tweeting that the entire time. 

Yes, that's what it was. That's what it was, yes. 

Alright, I'm going to cancel myself now. Okay, thank you, Lois. 

I am Hilbert and I need to be loved just like everybody else. 

Where'd Lois go? 

He missed Lois. Oh, gosh. 

Unfortunate. 

Let's go there. Wow, I only just missed her. That's crazy. 

Yes, well, let's go to, what have we got? More TV news. This could have been music. See, now I'm confused. 

Oh, yeah, that's on the TV though. 

Music down the TV. We teased it at the beginning of the show. So here we go. The winner of American Idol Season 5 is... Taylor Hicks! Yeah, Taylor Hicks, remember him? 

No. 

Remember Catherine McPhee? 

No. 

She was the runner-up. Right. No idea. That was apparently a peak popularity year for Idol as well. And you don't know who Taylor Hicks is. 

No, idea. 

Well, he's 29 years old at the time of auditioning, so he's significantly older. 

I love that 29 years is he's old. 

Do you know what those are? So he had the thing that made him stand out was his grey hair. He had grey hair at 29 and it was natural grey. And he had a very soulful bluesy kind of. Would you like to hear his first audition? 

Oh, yes, please. 

Why are you here? 

I want my voice heard. 

Why? 

'Cause I feel like I got one. 

Yeah? All right, what are you gonna sing? 

I'm gonna sing some Sam Cooke, Change Is Gonna Come. 

Great. 

I was born by the river In a little tent Oh, and just like the river I've been a runnin' ham Ever since I did not expect that. 

I gotta be honest with you, I didn't expect it. You definitely can sing. Can you give us 20 seconds of something else? 

Dude, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out. 

Do you know a way down A way down upon the Swanee I'm talkin' 'bout the river Yeah, you know I'm so far Hey, I'm so far away I'm so far away Wow. 

I actually liked you, man. Thank you. Kind of a little ray. That's good, that's good. I actually like you. It's a very good throwback. I love that. 

My problem is, and I've always said this, it is not just about the voice. And you prove that. 

Got a good personality. You're just like a good energy, good character, just good performer. 

I disagree completely. 

No, come on. 

Completely. 

You don't think this guy could be commercial? 

No. 

Why? 

Because this is a guy who should be singing backgrounds not in the spotlight. 

I don't... Wow. 

Eat your fat farty words, Cal. 

Well, maybe, but if you look at the long game, who's Taylor Hicks? 

Good point. 

Right, I don't know. I mean, he pulled in 63 plus million votes to win. It's a big winner. 

He had a fan base called the Soul Patrol. 

Yes, which is? 

If you've got a fan base with a name, you know he made it. 

The Soul Patrol. Now that is pretty fly for a white guy. Like really, really in the truest sense of the word. He did have that sort of Joe Cocker, Ray Charles kind of. 

But he was Orkies. 

Yes, he was very awesome. 

Loved to play the harmonica. 

The anti-pop and they rebelled as a consequence. People were like, oh, you know, So he's real. It's finally something different and all of that sort of stuff. But I don't know, like have a listen to the **** that they made him sing at the end. And I've learned to war. Sure, you might. Typical Idol Winner song, isn't it? Every single Idol Winner song sounds exactly the same. 

Yeah, exactly the same. 

That one's called Do I Make You Proud? Do I Make You Proud? Sure. Anyway, it went to #1. It goes to #1, which means it'll be in the charts at some stage. 

Probably, yes, we'll play it at some point and talk about it. 

And he did pretty well, but he just didn't have the momentum that, say, a Kelly Clarkson or a Carrie Underwood would have. 

No, But he did later get a Vegas residency. 

But like on the strip or off the strip? You know what it is too. It's this is the this video game that we're talking about actually reminds me of Idol fans. It's I mean this game has been around for ages. 

I had to put this in because it just gave beautiful 90s house computer vibes sitting in the kitchen leading a bunch of idiots to their death. 

Yes, Lemmings was released on the PlayStation Portable. There we go. I think they've kind of revamped the music a little bit. 

Oh no, it's taken me back to the beige MS-DOS. 

I don't think I don't think the music was quite that high fidelity. 

Yeah, it was more like a dot matrix. 

But then we're talking like a game that's endured since the early 90s. 

That's still... 

There you go. I remember playing it on my Commodore Amiga 500. I was thrilled when it came out on the PlayStation Portable. I love Lemmings. It's one of my favourite games of all time. 

It does take you back to your childhood. 

Yes. 

It's the one where you've got all these little dudes that just walk around and you kind of control the behaviour as opposed to just a character. You give them jobs, there's a digger and a builder and a blocker and a bomber and you're basically going to stop them from dying. They can fall off cliffs. 

They can drown, blow up. For someone who obsesses over getting things correct and being perfect, you know, I couldn't bear to lose but one of my ladies. 

Didn't you feel guilty when they died? You just were like, oh man, They just killed them. 

And then you just kind of let it go. 

Then you'd start again. 

Yeah, and then I'd be laughing. But it was great. I mean, they just would all march in unison in a single direction and you would have to dig holes or put up walls or whatever. 

And you think you're going well? 

To try and stop them. And then they all just turn them around. It was great. It was just, I would have poured as a kid out. You know what I love though? It's a great game because it teaches like problem solving and it's like it encourages people to kind of think on the go. 

And you get lost in it too. You could be playing it for hours and hours. 

It was just different maps and different backgrounds and levels. It was an absolute joy. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And it was like, it was stressful. It was stressful. 

You had the upbeat music. They were cute, but then you killed them accidentally and you just felt terrible. And they're dying to this upbeat, happy music. It was such a weird combination. 

That's right. We didn't set the one to blow up and he'd be like, oh no, and then he'd tremble and pop. 

It was a great time. Oh, that's right. 

Oh, poor little fella. And it's like, I think it says what kind of person you are as to how good. 

You are at your lemmings alive. Like if you were sitting there laughing, serial killer. 

Yes, exactly. And if you can't keep your lemmings alive, then you're not ready to own a Tamagotchi, for example. So on the PSP, Sony were like, well, what if we could, take your childhood frustration and make it portable? And that's what they did. And it was, I think it was good. But it definitely didn't hit as much as just being in the computer room. when you're 15, 16 years old, being in the computer room when it's finally in the room. 

Well, you had a computer room. Our computer was in the kitchen. 

Well, it was the spare room. So when we had visitors, we were playing lemons while dinner was cooking. Yeah, right. Yeah. 

And your mum clanging the saucepans in the background. 

And then me like, dinner's ready. Hurry up and get off this. 

No, they're going to die, mum. I can't eat yet. 

Their lives are in my hands. And it's like, your life is going to be in my hands if you don't get to the table. 

I'm in my peas right now, saving these little guys. 

Let's move across to books we didn't read. Yeah, New York Times bestseller this week. 

Beach Road, and it was by, it was by one of the big ones that we talk about, not John Grisham. 

James Patterson. 

James Patterson. 

That's it. 

That old chestnut. 

What have we got for James? Is it like a thriller of some description? 

Yes. 

Like A law-based thing. Everyone's doing legal. 

There's a trial. I see the word trial in the synopsis there. Yeah, let's go with that. 

All right, what's it called? Beach Road. 

Beach Road. 

Beach Road. Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in America's wealthiest resort town, Legendary East Hampton. 

That's the name of the town. 

Oh no, it's Legendary East. It's not Legendary in East Hampton. I'm so confused about the address. 

East Hampton is legendary. 

Legendary East Hampton, but his job barely keeps him in paper clips. Oh, that's... 

You're right there. 

I'm okay. 

Choking on your voice over. 

I'm okay. His clients make a living serving the rich. The billionaires and celebrities swarming the beaches already have lawyers on their payroll. Very expensive. Then a friend of Tom's is arrested for a triple murder near a movie star's mansion. Goodness me. Tom knows he's in it. Sorry, I got excited. Tom knows in his gut that Dante Haleyville is innocent. I mean, if you've got a name like Dante Haleyville, you don't want to be drawing attention to yourself. Dante asked him to represent him in what could be the trial of the century. Century. Century. Yes, very exclusive. Tom recruits Manhattan Super Lawyer Kate Costello to help. She's a tough hire because Kate is his ex-girlfriend. 

Oh, gosh. Geez. 

But she agrees. In their search to find who really executed 3 locals, Tom orchestrates a series of revelations to expose the killer, and what emerges is staggering, very explosive. The final scenes of this book unveil a truth that will leave readers gasping in shock, written with the precision that has made James Patterson a master of his genre, says USA Today. Beats Road is his wildest, most thrilling novel There you go. 

Rob B1 star. Spoiler alert. 

Rob. 

The main character is the killer. Shocking. Do yourself a favour and throw this book out the window and hope it hits one of the authors. 

Are you fair Dinkum Rob? You've ruined it in the, that's a move. And now we've just broadcast it. I mean, if you. 

Look, if you haven't read it yet. 

New York Times bestseller back in 2006. If it's on your pile of shame, it's not leaving it. Snooze, you lose. 

Sergey V. One star. Cheap and vague substitute for John Grisham. 

I agree. If you are Grisham's fan, stay away from this one. 

Lois doesn't like John Grisham. 

No, she doesn't. 

So she would hate this book even more. 

Yes. 

Jackson Person. 

Person. Oh, shout out to Jackson Person and the entire Person family. 

One star. If this was a parody of itself, it'd be genius. 

Really? Daisy Grant. I'm sure she does. One star. Pretty much every part of a book that could be good was actually not good. solid review. Straight to the point. Yeah. 

Very clear. 

Yeah. 

Madeleine, one star. We went from a very mild sex scene at the open to suddenly learning that a main character has a ****** ring and mysterious other piercings. 

That's right, Madeleine. And if you taste... 

Flutch your pearls, Madeleine. 

That's right. You've got to be careful, Madeleine. They taste like car keys. Ben Nicholson, one star. I'm not going to put the music back on. Make it more dramatic. OK, great. 

OK, here we go. Come on, Ben. 

Just to be clear, if your palate needs cleansing, this book works about as well as a spoonful of sh*t. it's almost time to pack up the toys for another week, but we'll do the hatches, matches and dispatches clue. I mean, this was a really easy one. It was a bit weak this week, if I'm being honest, but it was a big news story as far as being a dispatch of a match. There wasn't much else. So, the match that was dispatched from a person who said this? 

For a long time, people have misunderstood and underestimated me, but I can understand. playing that character, of course they were going to assume otherwise. But I'm not a dumb blonde. I'm just very good at pretending to be one. 

Now, obviously that's Paris Hilton, right? Yeah. I love that clip of her using her real voice. It's great. She sounds completely different. 

She does, doesn't she? 

Extraordinary. She's had us all fooled, or maybe not, I don't know. She split up with Stavros Niarchos, and he was the son of a shipping magnate. 

That's right, yes. He was very rich. 

Yeah, and it was a very messy relationship. You're going to remember, like, last week we were talking about Paris stumbling out of some venue ****** while one of her mates was mouthing off about how horrible Lindsay Lohan is, and it wasn't a good look for her, but she had a boyfriend at the time, and they split up, and he probably was like, I saw that video. 

Yeah, that wasn't very nice that you were laughing at. 

I'm a son of a shipping magnate. You dropped. I've got a reputation to uphold. 

Yes, we can't be fire crossing. 

Family legacy to preserve and you're sitting there with your drunk mates talking about fire crossing. 

Doesn't go well with my yachts. 

No, so I don't think we should keep seeing each other. You dropped. They, this is socialite stuff though. I mean, this is heiress. Probably relationship and convenience. You know what it's like. It's like, think about it, but on a level of like maybe millionaires and billionaires and whatnot. You know, when you go to like your parents parents are friends with other people and those other people have kids. And so you go to the BBQ and then all the kids play together while all the parents socialise and stuff and you just end up, that's how you make friends, right? So that's how it's kind of happened, I think. They've gone to a party with mum and dad and they've met at the kids' table, you know, over some chicken nuggets and chips, probably some dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. 

On a paper plate. 

Which never made any sense to me, but I guess there is a deep historical connection to that. 

Just juice fruit box. 

Science did prove that dinosaurs have actually all the ancestors of birds. So chicken nuggets, dinosaur shapes, entirely appropriate. I do digress. So they're at the kids' table. 

And they start dating. 

And they start dating. Previously, Stavros had been at the kids' table with Mary Kate Olsen. 

Oh, really? 

Yeah. And now he's in the kids' table. 

Oh, that's right. I remember that. And this Paris started dating him just after she ended her engagement. to another Greek shipping heir, Paris. Oh, that's right. 

It was Paris in Paris. 

I love, I love when celebrities date another celebrity with the same name. I just love that. There was tailors that did that. 

A few tailors. 

Taylor Lautner and Taylor someone else? 

Yeah, a couple of tailors. 

Was it Taylor Swift? No, I don't know. I feel like there was a Taylor Swift had it dated a tailor. But the tailor from the sparkly vampire? 

Oh, the Twilight films. 

Yeah, him. He dated a tailor. 

Taylor, did he? 

There's been a few, not a lot, but when it does happen, I really enjoy it. 

I don't think he can. I don't think he can be. 

I just really enjoy because I think most of us would go, I could never date someone with the same name as me. It would just be Orkies. And they're just like, **** it, I'm going to do it. And I just love the ballsiness of I'm going to date someone with the same name as me. 

I was going to say, yeah, the awkwardness of it, but not when you're a narcissist. I mean, Paris dating Paris just seems perfect. 

It does. 

It really does. I love it. Anyway, she wasn't dating Paris, she was dating Stavros. 

No, she wasn't dating him either, because she's split up with Stavros. 

She was dating Stavros up until I think. 

But when was Millsy? That wasn't the Millsy timeline around 2000? I don't know. Oh gosh. 

I'm sure we'll get to it if it pops up. 

No, Millsy was already has already happened. We've already had that. 

It was between Paris and Stavros. 

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, right. Yeah, Millsy happened at the Melbourne Cup. 

Yes. that was last year then. 

Or the year before. 

Or was it the year before? I can't keep up with all these celebrities and their highfaluting lifestyles. What goes on at the kids' table should really stay at the kids' table at these functions. Anyway, they're no longer a couple according to Paris's publicist. No official reason was given. Insiders just said I'm not going to deny that there was a split. And it wasn't really that clean kind of PR friendly thing. It was very volatile. As again, you could probably sense from the behaviour the previous week that we were talking about. I think there was a bit of jealousy there. he was linked to Lindsay Lohan, Stavros. I think he may have dated her as well. Yeah. So there was a lot of tension there. 

I think he turned up to her house and was crying and asking her to take him back. 

Well, that'd be right, wouldn't it? You know, what are you doing, Stavros? You know, I mean, but then they were on again, off again. They break up, then they'd see each other at the club, you know, a few. I mean, we can all relate, like, you know. 

Oh, like that time I dated another Mel? 

Yeah, when you were sitting on the kids' table at the rich heiress function thing or whatever and another rich kid came and sat on the kid's table and you just like shared your chicken nuggets with him. Same name. The rest was history. A few weeks later you're breaking up because I don't know, reasons. And that's it. It's time to break up the show for this week. Yeah, it's a good idea. Unfortunate for them, I guess. I don't think it affected either of them at all. I mean, this is the thing. These people are the ******* rich. They're not even people. 

These are whatever. 

Yeah, it's just confusing. It's just confusing to me. It's confusing to me because I want to be sympathetic. But again, like. they don't have the same problems that we do. They've got different problems and it's hard to relate. The biggest problem that I have at the moment is wrapping up the show. So let's do that. 

You're bumbling now, aren't you? 

Yeah, I am. I'm just stumbling my way out the door. It's become an awkward goodbye. Is there anything happening next week? 

Feel the rain on your skin. The hills. Premieres. Oh my gosh. There's nothing else we need to discuss. 

That's very exciting, actually. 

It is exciting. 

I can't wait. 

Here comes Spencer and his crystals. 

Oh, I'm going to have to do some serious searching for some good bits for that. Look, there's other stuff going on. Come and find us on the socials. You'll find out more about that. You can see some of the wonderful posts that Mel shares during the week. You can come and slide into our DMs. We might open up the boom box next week. We'll see how we go. See how we go. See how you go. Hopefully we will see you next week though, because we really We do appreciate your support of our little podcast that we do just because we like doing it. There's no profit to be gained from this. No. The only thing that we profit from is you're listening to it. And if you don't do that? 

The occasional DM. 

Yeah, and if you don't do either of those things, we stand to make nothing. So please don't let us make nothing. 

Okay, now you're getting needy. Now you're being a Stavros. 

Can you stop? See you next week. Bye. 

Thanks for taking the time to rewind. Join us next time for another week that was 20 years ago. In the meantime, come and reminisce on the socials. Search for T-minus 20 podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.