She´s best known as the most charming, sexiest and all around greatest of the Halliwell witches, Phoebe Halliwell on the cult tv show CHARMED.
Before that she starred in the tv hit WHO´S THE BOSS ? where she grew up in front of the national tv audience. I vividly remember SELLING SAM SHORT ( season 8, episode 4 ) in which puberty has already hit certain areas of her body in particular her chest. Alyssa is at that delicate threshold young women reach when their breasts are already fully grown but the rest of the body hasn´t had time to catch up. She is wearing a green top that is straining heavily under her grown up breasts. I found the episode on YouTube but the quality is too bad to make an animated GIF.
Anyway, speaking about animated GIFs I started preparing for this post four or five days ago but because of the improvised Bart Sears posts I haven´t quite finished. Thankfully I found a lot of usable GIFs online but there are still a few I had to make myself. Sadly when I had finally added most of them I had to realize that the strain all the GIFs put on the post prevented it uploading completely so I had to cut the part about ALYSSA MILANO´S BEST SCENES ON CHARMED and put it in a separate post.
But back to Alyssa Milano. During her time on WHO´S THE BOSS ? she produced and starred in her own workout video called TEEN STEAM, which ( despite its quasi - raunchy title ) was an exercise video for kids -- and was absolutely never used as an entertainment piece for guys in their parents' basements. I´m sure nobody used this tape of Alyssa´s tight and fit teenage body stretching, flexing and bending for recreational reasons.
After that italian - american actress Alyssa Milano got our italian beef swelling as she was trying to get away from her good girl image, slutting it out and getting naked in a few movies like POISON IVY II where her male co star got to live out every Samantha Micelli fan´s sexual fantasy.
But my favorite is the vampire movie. I´m saying the vampire movie because here in Germany it´s called EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE, KISS OF THE VAMPIRE or PASSION OF THE VAMPIRE depending on which tv station shows it. Alyssa who had played Tony Danza's daughter, teaching viewers the joys of watching a young girl develop, then buy a bra to handle her blossoming charms, and finally lose her virginity lost the bra and her massive talent spilled over onto the big screen. In this erotic direct to video classic she embraced more than gothic occultism, but lesbianism with a nymphomaniac Charlotte Lewis and threesomes too. Alyssa´s body in this one is incredible and she has her breast nude scenes in this one.
In the same year Alyssa starred in an episode of OUTER LIMITS where she didn´t leave much to the imagination thanks to the lower restrictions of the Sci Fi channel. She was well on her way to become a sexsymbol.
After that she went on to star in CHARMED where her 36C 23 36 measurements got the better of spoiled brat Shannon Doherty who left the series to be replaced by Rose Mc Gowan. Anyway, none of the other Halliwell sisters really did much for me where sex appeal is concerned.
Come on, you know Alyssa is the only reason why we guys watch the show.
It´s to see her as a amazon, stripper, genie, harem girl or mermaid.
And that´s not counting all of her appearances where she just squeezed her huge overdeveloped XXL boobs into impossibly tight corsages.
When Rose McGowan joined the cast she and Alyssa entered a weekly competition to see who could wear the skimpiest outfits, wear a bikini more times and generally display their nipples or showcase their boobs.
Since Alyssa knew that her body is the reason why people watch the show, this continued even after she took the reigns as a producer on the show.
Happy male viewers were treated to boobage, sideboobs, cleavage, buttocks and nipples from both women for an impressive eight years.
Now after the fiasko with the CHARMED DVDs around Christmas last year I bought all the remaining seasons in one order when they were available for a much cheaper price. When I started watching the show I expected to have to wait until maybe the third or fourth season to get to the good stuff because I knew some of my favorite scenes ( seen farther above ) are in the fifth season but Alyssa steals the scene from the get go.
After the third season Shannon Doherty leaves the cast ( her character dies in the series ) and Rose McGowan comes in as a long lost half sister.
CONAN`S DAUGHTER : " I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH DOCTOR DOOM ! "
This changed the dynamic of the show considerably because Shannen´s character Prue had been the oldest sister, a role which Holly´s character Piper had to fulfill now. And Alyssa´s character Phoebe, who had always been the plucky and irresponsible youngster of the group became kind of a mentor for Rose´s character Paige trying to get her to avoid all the mistakes she herself made. Like the regeneration on DOCTOR WHO the show gained new life and went on to become a world wide success that is still in reruns which makes it difficult for a new version to compete with.
So while the departure of Shannen Doherty may have been for the best it´s difficult to find out the real reason for this. There are stories that both did it with Julian McMahon who played Cole but most sources say that while Julian WAS with with Shannen Alyssa was dating co star Brian Krause. I tried to unravel this as best as I could but keep in mind that as somebody who was not there when it happened I have no inside intel and have to rely on outside sources. So this is probably not the whole truth.
Somebody on the internet compared CHARMED to CHARLIE´S ANGELS and in that scenario Holly Marie Combs is Jacklyn Smith ( stayed thru the duration of the show ), Lisa Rom is Farrah Fawcett ( left the show and probably regretted it later ), Shannen Doherty is Kate Jackson ( hated the sexy one and got fired by Aaron Spelling. Also, the one nobody wanted to see in a bikini ), Alyssa Milano is Cheryl Ladd ( the sexy one ) and Rose McGowan is Shelley Hack / Tonya Roberts ( the forgetable replacement ).
Now I found the following on a chat so I don´t know how accurate it is. Since I didn´t write it it´s in italic type except for the parts I added. I DID take the liberty to cut parts and shorten or lengthen it for a better fit.
CHARMED started out as CHARLIE`S ANGELS with witchcraft, and a vehicle for Shannen. Spelling assured Shannen that none of the drama surrounding BEVERLY HILLS90210 would affect the show and her star status. And that the production would make this her vehicle. Spelling was a master at promotion, everyone turned in curious to see a spelling show with Shannen at the helm. Holly was a new actress with small credits, having been a supporting cast member on Picket Fences. Holly was brought in as a friend for Shannen, upon her request. Shannen´s input was asked in the earlier stages of development, including the casting process for her sisters. Then the last minute replacement of Lori Rom ( who quit after shooting the pilot episode ) by Alyssa threw everything off.
Shannen's lead status slowly changed according to the viewers who tuned in to see Alyssa and her big tittes ( not my words ) after a few seasons.
It was then retooled to give Alyssa the love story and other plots to keep male viewership, and Shannen felt her suggestions and requests for storylines and direction was minimized because Alyssa " popped " and production took advantage of her sex symbol status. Shannen felt her contractual agreements weren't being honored and her courtship between Spelling had waned. She felt the three actresses should work towards a less " soapy " alternative. Earlier episodes show this transition from a crime / supernatural drama into a camp soapfest. Shannen felt that her time on the series was at an end, and requested to be let go from her contract. She did feel the show wasn't as good as it could have been.
Now there are two conflicting stories. In one version Shannen went to Spelling and said that he either fired Alyssa or she would walk which resulted in Shannen leaving the show. In another Alyssa was the one that gave the ultimatum. The crew was not overjoyed with Shannen leaving because while they didn´t love Shannen, they preferred her over Alyssa.
Alyssa and Holly were at odds over what they should do. Alyssa felt the show was fair at giving storylines and wanted to keep the trajectory of the viewership. Holly felt obligated to and a sense of friendship with Shannen Doherty and wanted to ban together to work towards a mutual ground with production. Because of this tension, there were some hard feelings around, mostly between Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano.
Alyssa's contract of course had been renegotiated as well as Holly's and that is why the two stayed longer. Rose came around this time, and CHARMED survived the shake up with all cast feeling happy about that.
Shannen left with her rights intact to receive royalties and percentages from the show, and she didn't care if they let her go. She had money still coming in from the series run, and the DVD sales. So in all, she made a lot of money. Also, her reputation remained intact as well, she felt that her time on CHARMED showed that she could be professional.
And that´s all for anything else you have to consult the CHARMED FAQs .
BEYOND THE CHARMED LIFE : OF MISTRESSES AND HACKTIVISTS
Since the bonus part of this post will be all CHARMED I should probably cover the other series she was in. After WHO´S THE BOSS she played Jennifer Mancini on MELROSE PLACE which I initially watched because of all the hot babes like Daphne Zuniga, Marcia Cross ( she had a storyline where she went crazy which in tv terms means " nymphomanic ", what a performance ! ), Stacy Haiduk or Lisa Rinna ( her lips are sexier than Angelina Jolie´s ). Later on I watched it because of Alyssa and her brother Dr. Michael Mancini on the show whom I always called Wylie Coyote because he always had very elaborate plans to get what he wants.
In those shows the guys and girls are always trying desperately to get together with a certain partner only to loose interest and start betraying them with somebody else as soon as they have accomplished their goal. In any case, the life lesson that I learned from Wylie is that when you start lying you stick with it. Because even if you would tell the truth people would not believe that now you are telling the truth and what you said earlier was a lie. So even if they find out you lied you have to say you didn´t. Because if you were not lying but it looks like you are lying because there is some proof against you what would you do ? You would say that you are not lying. Which is the only thing you could do. And in the end lying is always better than telling the truth. Just ask any politician.
Speaking about politicians on SPIN CITY she played Meg, the daughter of New York mayor Randall M Winston Jr who was always causing trouble for Michael J Fox´s character who was the mayor´s chief political adviser.
I would have liked to see more episodes of the show but in Germany it was shown closed to the public by putting it in ridiculous time slots.
First it was shown at two o´clock after midnight and then at five o´clock in the morning when nobody could see it. Later on it was shown in the afternoon during the weekends. They always do that with american hit shows like NORTHERN EXPOSURE or SEINFELD so that they don´t get good ratings and later can proclaim " Those shows may be a big hit with the uneducated americans but we germans are much more sophisticated than these stupid cowboys and not so easily entertained. " And then they go and copy every american show there is and do a horrible version of it.
Anyway, Alyssa reprised her role in 2001, the mischievous little minx.
Alyssa was on MY NAME IS EARL but since I didn´t watch many episodes ( my mother can´t stand it ) I can´t say much about it. I found the initial idea interesting - somebody trying to fix his bad karma by making a list of all the people he wronged and then putting things right - but the show is just too " redneck " for me. In lack of a better term. I know that some people get off on this kind of comedy but as someone who comes from the lower levels of society I know that just because you are poor doesn´t automatically mean you are uneducated or stupid. Was she Earl´s wife ?
Another sitcom with Alyssa I missed was ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED. I´m not even sure if it was shown on german tv. Either it ended up the same way as SPIN CITY or it was shown on one of the cable channels you generally don´t watch like Comedy Central. It lasted - what - 6 episodes ?
The same goes for MISTRESSES. Except the six episode part, they had at least two seasons. But so far I have only seen some clips with Alyssa from the show via the internet so I don´t know anything about the quality.
Before we come to the link / video section there is the comic connection part we have to do. Yes, there is a comic part since this is still a comic blog - appearances may be deceiving. The obvious ones are that Alyssa played the daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger in COMMANDO ( which was called PHANTOM COMMANDO in Germany ) and Arnold also played Robert E. Howard´s CONAN who was adapted as a comic by Marvel comics which was for the most part illustrated by the incomparable John Buscema.
Also her love interest on CHARMED, Cole, was played by Julian McMahon who also was Doctor Doom on what are now considered " the good " Fantastic Four movies and whom I first saw in this Danii Minogue video.
On the DC side of things she has done the voice of Aimee Brenner on DC SHOWCASE PRESENTS : THE SPECTRE and SUPERMAN / SHAZAM ! : THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM and Poison Ivy on an episode of YOUNG JUSTICE.
She has also created a comic called HACKTIVIST which was published by ARCHAIA and which has returned for a second volume because of the big success of the first story. Now more and more actors do their own comic book and in the case of Alyssa Milano she had an idea but didn´t want it to be diluted by a tv studio so she went to a comic book company instead. Which in my opinion is way better than when comic book companies bring writers who are successful at writing tv shows in to do monthly comics. Only to have those writers realize that writing a tv show is nothing like writing comics. Anyway, Alyssa co - writes the book with Jackson Lanzig and Colin Kelly and the art is done by Marcus To and Ian Herring. The " Hollywood pitch " for the series would be What if Anonymous was just one guy who tried to change the world through social media in secret ?
Some comic people are bugged when actors or people from the world of television make comics but it is understandable and you hear from most that they do it because it´s a freeing experience and a change of pace.
Which makes sense. When you do a tv show everybody and the janitor´s dog tries to get involved because they all have such big egos. When you make a comic you have much more control over your idea because it´s shared by a relatively small number of people. Somebody compared doing a comic to writing a movie, then shooting it and acting in it. But I would say it goes even beyond that. Because when you are making a movie it ends with the casting, the lighting and the set decoration. You can choose the camera angles but that´s about it. With comics that is where it starts. Doing comics is not only like shooting a movie but also deciding if it´s in black and white or color, if it´s shown in a theater or on tv or on a wall with forty monitors. You can have hundred artists draw the same scene and it never looks the same while if you have the same actor play the same scene a hundred times the differences will not be that great.
Also the budget is not a problem. If you can draw it that´s it. You can draw one spaceship or an whole armada the only difference it makes is that it takes more time to draw an entire armada. Unless you use the old " copy paste ". But in comic books your imagination is the only real limit.
Making comics is easy because when you boil down to it all you need is a pencil and paper. So that´s pretty low maintenance compared to all the things you need when you are making a movie or tv series. Granted, the regular life of a guy who makes comics is less than glamorous, just ask Terry Hopper about it. But those actors already have the glamour part so they want to get the part where they can express their ideas unfiltered.
For more on HACKTIVIST you can read this to learn what it´s all about , check out the interview with COMIC BOOK RESOURCES or go to this article which includes videos. One of them is short and you can find the long one in the bonus round which will include more videos about HACKTIVIST.
To start off the video section of the day here´s the first part ( thanks to the restrictions on YouTube ) of the unaired CHARMED pilot episode with Lori Rom. After seeing it I´m not sure if the show would have had any success without Alyssa Milano and I´m glad they got rid of Detective Prettyboy. If you want to compare the performances of both actresses here´s the link to a video with scenes from both versions of Phoebe.
I posted the link to the article about Alyssa´s HACKTIVIST comic with the videos above because I knew I would need all the slots in this section for Alyssa´s appearances on late night shows. This one is from the JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW where looks absolutely stunning in this green dress.
This was on the 15th of April 2010 so she is promoting ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED. Like our first clip you can find this on YouTube in parts.
Here is Alyssa with a nice window on ARSENIO HALL on the 4th of December 2013 as one of the judges of PROJECT RUNWAY ALL STARS.
I kept the best for the last as Alyssa is almost spilling out of her top in this video. Too bad the poor girl is freezing so much she has to cover herself up with a bunny - and no, that´s not a set up for a lewd joke.
We all knew that THE LATE LATE SHOW with Craig Ferguson was low budget but apparently they can´t even afford to pay their heating bill. So my hat´s off to Alyssa who was a real trooper and held on. To the bunny.
With all the posting and putting the post back into the draft folder then splitting it up and reposting it I have lost all orientation if it´s now the turn of a girl or a guy from the casting shows so I chose this one to express my true feelings for Alyssa Milano. Happy birthday, girlfriend.
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