Our beloved colleague, TV columnist Michael Storey, passed away Oct. 7. This is the final column written before his death.
The last big week for new fall shows starts today with The CW rebooting an old series and an old friend returning for a new season. Let's take a look at the new offering first.
Charmed, a tweaked and updated reboot of the fan favorite WB series that ran from 1998-2006, debuts at 8 p.m. today.
Fans will recall that the original starred Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano as Prue, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell, three sisters -- "the charmed ones" -- who were good witches protecting innocents from demons and warlocks.
Rose McGowan joined as half-sister Paige Matthews after infamous prima donna Doherty was fired toward the end of Season 2.
Trivia: Who remembers Kaley Cuoco (before The Big Bang Theory) as the young witch Billie Jenkins? She joined the series in the eighth and final season.
The Charmed reboot is set in the fictional college town of Hilltowne, Mich., (instead of San Francisco) and stars Madeleine Mantock as Macy Vaughn, Melonie Diaz as Melanie "Mel" Vera, and Sarah Jeffery as Maggie Vera.
The trio are half-sisters.
The series begins with Mel and Maggie living with their mother, Marisol, played by Valerie Cruz. Mom doesn't last long, however, because she is shortly dispatched by an unknown demonic force.
A few months later, the girls discover they have an older half-sister. Marisol kept Macy's existence a secret. After Macy moves in with the girls, they unexpectedly begin to exhibit magical abilities.
Macy, who has a Ph.D. in molecular genetics, is "practical, driven, shy and intense." Her power is telekinesis.
Mel, a graduate student in women's studies, is "a strong-willed feminist and passionate, outspoken activist." She can freeze time.
Maggie is "a bubbly, fun-loving, kindhearted" freshman at the university who is pledging a sorority. She is telepathic.
Naturally, the girls need a whitelighter -- an adviser/guardian angel who guides and protects witches. Rupert Evans portrays whitelighter Harry Greenwood, who poses as a professor and fills the siblings in on their destiny.
And -- presto -- we have three brand new Charmed Ones. Action and adventure ensue.
A couple of other things to note that differ from the original: Mel is a lesbian with an on-and-off again relationship with Niko (Ellen Tamaki), a detective on the Hilltowne police force. In addition, note that the cast is far more diverse than the original. Diaz and Jeffery are Hispanic, while Mantock is of Afro-Caribbean descent.
• Supergirl, 7 p.m. today, The CW. Melissa Benoist (Glee) returns for Season 4 as Superman's cousin Kara Zor-El, survivor of the doomed planet Krypton who was sent to Earth and raised by a foster family.
If you haven't been following the series so far, there's not enough room here to recount all the convoluted stuff that has gone on. Just know that when last we saw our heroes, a duplicate, demonic Kara had appeared in Siberia at the same time the villainous Reign (Odette Annable) was defeated with the Harun-El (the Rock of Yuda Kal).
It was the Harun-El that split Kara in two.
Supergirl is part of The CW's expansion into Sundays this fall. Look for Nia Nal (played by Nicole Maines), a new cub reporter at CatCo who will eventually become Dreamer, television's first transgender superhero.
Also in Season 4, Rhona Mitra (The Last Ship) joins the series as iconic DC villain Mercy Graves, and Sam Witwer (Being Human) as anti-alien hatemonger Agent Liberty.
Oh, yeah. Supergirl gets a nifty new red and blue flying suit that I'm told is really cool.
• Arrow, 7 p.m. Monday, The CW. It's Season 7 for billionaire/vigilante Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and the same thing goes as with Supergirl -- if you haven't been watching, there's really no recapping it all for you now.
Queen, who cavorts about as the Green Arrow, protects Starling/Star City.
There have been multiple enemies, especially drug lord Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo). At the end of Season 7, Cliffhanger: Oliver was forced to publicly reveal his secret identity in the season finale, so now he's in Slabside Maximum Security Prison.
• Shark Tank, 8 p.m. today on ABC. Season 10 premiered Oct. 7. This is the debut of the show's regular time slot.
• The Alec Baldwin Show, 9 p.m. today on ABC. The most famous acting Baldwin brother gets something rare -- a prime-time talk show. ABC hasn't had much success with this time slot lately, so why not try this? Expect lengthy, in-depth interviews.
Quick quiz: Name all four Baldwin brothers from oldest to youngest. Answer: Alec (1958), Daniel (1960), William (1963), Stephen (1966).
What about Adam Baldwin? The star of Firefly, Chuck and The Last Ship is not related to the others.
Style on 10/14/2018