Alyssa Milano's Charmed Future
by Lauren Kanter
Playing the same TV character for six years can get
a little boring. Unless you're Alyssa Milano. As Phoebe Halliwell
on the WB's Charmed, Milano's gone through more than enough costume and
personality changes to keep the magic alive for her. "When you're a little
girl and you're in this business, which I was at 7 years old, that's what it's
all about — playing dress-up," Milano says. The witchy woman — who has
turned into a mermaid, a mummy and the Queen of the Underworld, just to name a
few — really spices things up on Sunday, when she goes undercover as a
dominatrix assassin. TV Guide Online asked Milano to borrow Phoebe's
premonitory powers to foretell the future of Charmed.
TV Guide Online: Charmed was recently renewed for its seventh
season. Will that be the last one?
Alyssa Milano: We're all contracted for eight years. But I think we all
feel like we want to go out on top. So if our ratings are as strong as they are
this year, we'll probably go for an eighth season. And if it starts to slip,
we'd all decide to end after the seventh season. It's a tricky thing to know
when the right time to end a show is.
TVGO: A lot of shows are struggling with that now. What do you want for
Phoebe before the show ends?
Milano: She's been through so much with love that, clearly, I'd love some
sort of storyline where she's in a stable relationship. And that's so much fun
for me to play, as far as just the romantic-comedy stuff. We did an episode
this year where we saw Phoebe's future, and she was pregnant, so I don't know
what they're going to do with that. Although I would not be looking forward to
wearing that weird latex belly. Holly Marie Combs wore that belly and it
was stinky! It didn't matter what you had on as far as perfume or clothes on
top of it — you could smell it a mile away.
TVGO: Are there any shows that have wrapped up in a way that you think
really worked well?
Milano: When you watch a show and you get so invested in the characters and
the people, I think it's really important to end a show how the audience wants
it to be ended. Tie up all the loose ends. It's kind of like the reward for the
fans for sticking in there as long as they have. Who's the Boss? is a
perfect example of it not ending the way it should have — because everyone
wanted Tony and Angela to get married and they never did. And I think that's
taking something away from the fans who have invested so much time and energy
into caring about these people.
TVGO: What do you think Charmed fans would like to see?
Milano: I think definitely Piper and Leo being back together. I know that
they're really invested in that relationship. They all wish Cole, my demon
boyfriend [played by Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon], would come back,
too. But I don't think that's going to happen, since he's busy on his own show
now.
TVGO: How will you spend your hiatus from the show?
Milano: I will be taking my first field trip as a UNICEF ambassador. We're
going to Angola. [I'll be doing] everything from vaccinating children to
rallying kids to get back in school.
TVGO: How did you get involved with that?
Milano: I contacted them about six months ago, when I took a trip to South
Africa. I lived there for three months and did a lot of humanitarian work in children's
hospitals and townships. When I got back to the States, I started volunteering
in a children's hospital and I needed to find an outlet. UNICEF just seemed to
be the way to go after much research. I contacted them and they were happy, and
now, I'm happy.
TVGO: And now for your obligatory Shannen Doherty question. Do you ever
look over your shoulder worrying Shannen might pull a Scare Tactics
trick on you?
Milano: [Laughing] That's funny. No, but I have had the fear of
being Punk'd!
TVGO: Paging Ashton Kutcher...
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