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The Charmings aired from March 1987 until February 1988 on ABC.
Snow White ( Caitlin O'Heaney and later Carol Huston) and Prince Charming ( Christopher Rich) fell asleep in the Enchanted Forest and woke up in 20th century California in this slightly off-center continuation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. According to the legend the beautiful couple threw Snow's wicked stepmother , Queen Lillian ( Judy Parfitt), into a bottomless pit and lived happily ever after. Unfortunately the pit was not really bottomless, just very, very, deep, and when the furious Queen managed to climb out she cast a spell so powerful that even she couldn't control it. Everybody-Snow White, The Prince, their 2 young sons, the dwarf, the magic mirror, and even the Queen herself-fell asleep for centuries.
They all woke up in 1987 in Van Oaks, California , and found themselves coping with the modern not--so-quaint world of America suburbia. The handsome Prince, still in his tights and referring to his "castle" ( a suburban home), became a writer of children's stories; Snow , a dress designer; and their young sons Thomas and Cory ( Brandon Call, Garette Ratliffe), schoolchildren. The dwarf Luther ( Cork Hubbert), helped around the house. Spoiling the fun was Queen Lillian, a vain, vengeful, and still powerful-in-law who lived upstairs. Jealous of the happy lovebirds, she would periodically cast spells to disrupt their plans and alarm the new neighbors, who didn't understand the new couple on the block at all. A botched attempt to send everyone back to the Forest just brought Cinderella into the 20th century, to flirt with Eric; a few magic beans carelessly thrown out produced Jack and the Beanstalk in their yard. Even Lillian's sole companion, the Magic Mirror ( Paul Winfield), which had a sarcastic personality of its own, failed to calm her down.
Sally and Don ( Dori Brenner, Paul Eiding) were the befuddled neighbors who, in true sitcom fashion, never caught on.
A review from USA TODAY
TV PREVIEW/BY MONICA COLLINS
Published on March 20, 1987
A Charming once-upon-a-sitcom
The Charmings charms despite a Grimm premise.
Maybe its the campy talking mirror or the jokes about microwaving mutton, but The Charmings is adorable.
And funny. As in ha, ha. As in weird.
The story begins...Snow White, Prince Charming ( his first name is Eric), their two kids, her wicked stepmother and a dwarf servant are suddenly catapulted from Once Upon a Time to 1987.
They wake up in California in a suburban tract house. Their first visitors? The next-door neighbors, bearing a jello mold as a welcome tolken. The prince is quite taken with the green jiggly stuff and sticks his face in it.
When the neighbor wife proudly announces her husband is "a carpet king" both Snow ( as she's know familiarly) and hubby bow at his feet.
Upstairs, Wicked One's talking mirror ( played by Paul Winfield) is still telling her bad news; Snow is fairer. The mirror suggests evil granny go out and buy control-top pantyhose.
What's so wickedly ammusing about The Charmings is that it tickles on so many levels.
On one hand, you have the " gentle alien" approach on which TV comedy has thrived-from I Dream of Jeannie to Mork. These charming characters are out of sync with time and place.
They are pure as well, snow. Each week we'll probably see them corrupted as they become accustomed to modern ways( Snow has already bought a pair of Roeboks).
Then their's the wacky household angle, another comedy staple. Snow's stepmother( played to shrill perfection by Judith Parfitt) keeps putting apples in front of her stepdaughter. The meanie walks around with a black crow on her arm.
Finally we have the fairy-tail farce. Those Grimm tales endure, carrying dark mysticle appeal. But when you see Snow White displayed against Southern California , the silliness of the story is neatly exposed with sunny stylings.
A Review from the St. Petersberg Times
NEW YORK - Ah, yes, wickedly funny these Charmings. Funnier than The Addams Family, Bewitched, The Munsters and Mr. Ed all rolled into one, but every bit as twisted, thank goodness, and a million miles away from Mr. Reality.
In a way, it's better that way.
Starting tonight at 8 p.m., locally on WTSP-Channel 10 and WWSB-Channel 40, ABC experiments with a newfangled version of an old-fashioned fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It's called The Charmings and it's a hoot.
The story begins 1,000 years ago when Prince Eric Charming and his wife Snow White are put under a miscast spell by Snow's evil stepmother, a wicked witch by the name of Queen Lillian White.
They sleep and sleep and sleep (the sitcom skips past this part) until 1987 when it's time to wake up and catch up.
We meet them as they are hunting for their own castle in suburbia. A real estate agent shows them the digs and they strike a deal. Moving in with Eric and Snow are their two children, one of Snow's dwarfs, the wicked stepmother and a jive-talking mirror on the wall.
``Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?`` asks the wicked witch.
``Don't ask,`` replies the funky mirror who raps in rhyme.
All the Charmings have had a rough first day. The prince couldn't find work, the kids were ridiculed for lying about what they did last summer (slew a few dragons with Pop, of course) and Snow just doesn't fit in.
It is decided, with the help of their neighbors, to head to Neiman Marcus and buy a few goods.
The next morning, Snow is seen dancing in her Reeboks and pink jogging outfit to a Madonna tape, the dwarf's new duds make him look a lot like Don Johnson, and the prince has swapped his tights for a three-piece suit.
To be sure, there is reality in The Charmings, but there is also a refreshing blast of fantasy. Isn't that what television is all about?
Take us away from the world's troubles and blow those blues down the tubes. Give us a wicked witch. She is nasty, meaner than Joan Collins ever was, and give us a dwarf with a Miami Vice flair, or a prince of a guy in tights, and a princess who scolds her husband for not telling her about his date with Cinderella. Then there was that tramp Rapunzel - she'd let her hair down for any man.
The writing is tight and hilarious. The characters are carefully crafted and teaming with life. Judy Parfitt is wonderfully wicked as the witch, Caitlin O'Heaney is indeed the fairest of them all as Snow, and Christopher Rich is the smoothest prince there ever was. Even the kids are cool cats in their tights.
The Charmings have arrived from 1,000 years past and boy do they have some kind of future on ABC.
An Article from the St. Petersberg Times
Disney was not amused by `Charmings' plan (Dec 25, 1987)
The Charmings, the brave little sitcom that ABC offers in sacrifice to A Different World each Thursday, has so far been kept on the schedule despite its dwarfish ratings.
But once upon a time, one of the giants of show-businessland posed a challenge to the series even before it made its debut.
The show's executive producers, Robert Sternin and Prudence Fraser, report that before the first episode aired in the middle of last season, they received a letter from Disney Studios saying, according to Sternin, ``We've seen your pilot, and there are these 4-million areas of copyright infringement we'd like to talk to you about.``
Well, not quite 4-million. And the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale is now in public domain. But the Disney folks had some concerns, Sternin and Fraser said, about a number of similarities in the look of their show to that of the Disney classic.
So there was a meeting of lawyers from the two kingdoms to make clear the differences between the animated and ABC versions. During the meetings, Sternin recalled, the Disney lawyers were surprised to hear The Charmings' attorneys refer to the series' female lead as ``Snow,`` the same way she's referred to on the hip sitcom.
`` `Snow?' gasped a shocked Disney attorney. ``You actually call her `Snow'?``
A Charmings lawyer acknowledged sheepishly, that, yes, they do call her that.
A Disney lawyer, Sternin recalled, was indignant: `` `Well, we've dealt with this character for 50 years, and we've always referred to her as `Miss White!'
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