As a fan of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', I don't think there's anybody who would seriously argue that 'Charmed' is the better show.
Comparing the two is easy. They're from the same time period, both are fantasy shows with female leads, focusing on relationship drama and monster-of-the-week episodes while also having season-long story lines. 'Buffy' has vampires and demons, 'Charmed' has warlocks and demons.
The difference is that 'Buffy' takes itself seriously. That's a risky move - being serious in a show about a high school girl fighting the forces of evil is harder than taking the 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' carefree comedy route. 'Buffy' makes it work. It builds a world with deep mythology, remembers the rules of its own world even when it breaks them, and doesn't discard characters without a good reason.
'Charmed' is halfway there. It's lighthearted and fun, and sometimes it takes steps towards actual drama, with characters making difficult choices, but things always end up neatly resolved and we don't really learn anything. It's just senseless feelgood drama.
And there's all that pointless pandering. Do we really need an episode of the hot young sister turning into a creature that physically cannot wear clothes? 'Buffy' was a true feminist show that never reduced its characters to sex objects. 'Charmed' does it all the time.
Comparing the two is easy. They're from the same time period, both are fantasy shows with female leads, focusing on relationship drama and monster-of-the-week episodes while also having season-long story lines. 'Buffy' has vampires and demons, 'Charmed' has warlocks and demons.
The difference is that 'Buffy' takes itself seriously. That's a risky move - being serious in a show about a high school girl fighting the forces of evil is harder than taking the 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' carefree comedy route. 'Buffy' makes it work. It builds a world with deep mythology, remembers the rules of its own world even when it breaks them, and doesn't discard characters without a good reason.
'Charmed' is halfway there. It's lighthearted and fun, and sometimes it takes steps towards actual drama, with characters making difficult choices, but things always end up neatly resolved and we don't really learn anything. It's just senseless feelgood drama.
And there's all that pointless pandering. Do we really need an episode of the hot young sister turning into a creature that physically cannot wear clothes? 'Buffy' was a true feminist show that never reduced its characters to sex objects. 'Charmed' does it all the time.