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Continued...

Brian Krause

Brian Krause alternatively captivated and bored us as good guy and Whitelighter Leo. Leo came into the sisters’ lives as a handyman who really knew how to wear a pair of jeans, but over time revealed himself to be their guardian angel, that he was almost a hundred years old, and that he had fallen in love with Piper. The two eventually married, separated, married again, and had two problematic sons. And over eight seasons, Krause never lost his way with denim.

Since appearing in Charmed, he has been in an episode each of CSI: Miami, Mad Men and The Closer, but Krause’s real home is now in TV and straight-to-DVD movies of all kinds, including a delightful line in modern-era dinosaur movies: Warbirds (pterodons in WWII!) and Beyond Loch Ness, AKA Loch Ness Terror (“Your little lake that you love so dearly is about to become a feeding ground for a race of carnivorous prehistoric reptiles.” Cool!) . Among Krause’s other horror work is the teen mean girl slasher flick Devil’s Diary (2007) and the appalling dummy creepiness that is Triloquist (2008), while in sci-fi he has given us genetic manipulation gone mad in last year’s Growth as well as news of an impending Apocalypse in 2012: Supernova.

Coming up for Krause is horror/thriller Cyrus -- in which he plays the eponymous serial killer, with chilling conviction -- out in theaters this August, as well as teen romantic comedy You’re So Cupid -- in which he plays the eponymous god with genial charm -- out on DVD this September (pretty funny, given Charmed’s final storyline). He also has four movies of various genres in post-production, and is currently filming what can only be a movie of the Mutant Animals Attack! oeuvre, Camel Spiders.

Post-Charmed Grade: B
Geek Rating: 75%

Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan played newfound relative and social worker Paige Matthews for five years, right through until the series ended. In the most contrived plotline perhaps, ever, the witch/Whitelighter hybrid that was this Halliwell half-sister was found after Prue died to complete the Power of Three that made the “Charmed Ones” so powerful. McGowan was well-suited for the role as snarky, compassionate and whimsical Paige, and carried her real-life independent spirit and affinity for outlandish outfits through to her character.

Since Charmed, McGowan has appeared in a several proper box office movies, including The Black Dahlia (2006) and both parts of the 2007 Grindhouse double feature, Robert Rodriguez’s great Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarentino’s equally awesome Death Proof. She also donned an Irish accent in the film made of famed IRA-snitch Martin McGartland biography Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008).

McGowan was signed on to appear as the fur-bikinied one herself in a Robert Rodriguez remake of Barbarella, but this no longer looks viable. (Hey, who really wanted a Barbarella remake anyway?) However, we will see her opposite Atlantis’s Jason Momoa in 2011’s Conan, now in post-production, and boyfriend Rodriguez has her tapped to star in his planned cinematic reboot of Red Sonja.

Before either, however, McGowan reprises her Planet Terror role of Cherry Darling in a new Rodriguez Grindhouse production Machete, out in September, and her romantic thriller Dylan’s Wake will be released straight to DVD this November.

Lest we forget, McGowan also played a plastic surgeon in a clever story arc on Charmed cohort Julian McMahon’s Nip/Tuck last year. And her name is attached to a filmed version of Sylvia Plath’s ode to suicide, The Bell Jar. So, y’know. From the ridiculous to the sublime.

Post Charmed Grade: A-
Geek Rating: 75%

Julian McMahon

For five glorious years, Julian McMahon thrilled us as Cole, the bad demon-turned good guy-turned Source of All Evil on Charmed. Even when we hated Phoebe and her excessive wardrobe changes, Cole still *ahem* charmed us with his finely chiseled features and big, er, talent. Whether good or evil or somewhere in between, Cole’s obsessive love for Phoebe was positively Edward Cullenian, and it was a sad day indeed when, at last, he was killed in that alternate universe where Phoebe stayed evil and he still didn’t get what he wanted.

Since leaving Charmed in 2005, Australian McMahon has been active on both the big screen and small. He played Sandra Bullock’s husband in 2007’s mind-trippy Premonition, showed up in quirky 2008 straight-to-DVD romantic comedy Meet Market and, of course, appeared as the smooth criminal Doctor Doom in The Fantastic Four and its sequel (and attendant computer game… plus an episode of Robot Chicken).

But McMahon is probably most noted for his role as plastic surgeon (and sex god) Christian Troy on F/X’s smash hit Nip/Tuck, the sixth and final season of which wrapped in March this year. Coming up for McMahon are several movies, including Red, based on the Warren Ellis graphic novel, due out this October; Faces in the Crowd, a thriller also starring geek sweetheart Milla Jovovich, currently in post-production; and his name is attached, with Gillian Anderson’s, to the proposed film of Mark Behr’s best-selling examination of apartheid, The Smell of Apples.

Post Charmed Grade: A+
Geek Rating: 60%

Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano played Phoebe, flighty youngest Halliwell sister, for the entire eight season run of Charmed. Phoebe was the character who underwent the most development: from spiritual slacker to successful advice columnist who could be seen on billboards all over San Francisco (with which her gift for premonition assuredly helped). She gained wicked kung fu skills, and engaged in an Epic Romance with the awesomely complicated and demonic Cole Turner, only to find a less intense one at the end of the series with a Cupid named “Coop.” Phoebe was also the sister with the biggest bevy of changing outfits, which all seemed to be competing to see just how naked Alyssa Milano could get on prime time network television and still remain on air.

But, all good, half-naked things must come to an end, and life after Phoebe has definitely been eventful for Milano. She indulged her love of baseball by appearing on TBS for the 2007 playoffs at Fenway Park, as well as during the NLCS at Chase Field, and also by writing a book, Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic, published in 2009. (Aw, Tony Micelli would be so proud!) She also has her own successful sport-related clothing line, touch by alyssa milano.

In terms of acting credits, Milano has been cast as the lead in a slew of series that barely made it out of development (Reinventing the Wheelers, Single With Parents, Romantically Challenged…). She did, however, put in ten good episodes of My Name is Earl, and one of ABC’s Castle, in which she played Nathan Fillion’s ex-girlfriend. And, because an After the Fall wouldn’t be complete without it, Milano has provided a voice in a DC comic-based cartoon, DC Showcase: The Spectre. (For once, it's not Justice League).

Film-wise, she has the 2007 independent film The Blue Hour to her name, and 2008 brought us the Lifetime original mafia caper Wisegal (in which she brings the Brooklyn accent with no little gusto), and crime thrillerPathology (in which she stars with Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia, plus Q -- and Charmed’s Odin -- himself, John de Lancie). In 2009 she turned her hand to some political satire in the Funny or Die web short The Uncler, and added a touch of reality show disdain when she took part in another Funny or Die clip, Alyssa Milano’s Evolution: Jersey Shore.

Upcoming for Milano, at some as yet unspecified date, is romantic comedy My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (opposite Christopher Gorham, Jake from Jake 2.0 -- possibly better known as Henry from Ugly Betty), Michael Landes (first season Lois and Clark Jimmy Olsen, looking so hot) and Buffy’s Tom Lenk. She will also appear in 2011’s romantic farce Hall Pass, with Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate.

But in the meantime, how about all those commercials, huh? Milano is everywhere! And surely there isn’t a Charmed fan in the world who doesn’t want to read that baseball book of hers? Surely?

Post Charmed Grade: A-
Geek Rating: 15%

Cast Post-Charmed Report

After Charmed, TV and DVD movies seem to be the order of the day with just about the entire cast, although Dorian Gregory seems to be having a little trouble finding his feet. Julian McMahon and Rose McGowan are the real standouts -- McGowan, in particular, has remained true to her roots, playing weird characters and being crazy and awesome -- though Milano’s diversified portfolio is to be admired, Combs’s determination to spend time with her family is honorable, and Brian Krause’s very varied performances have shown him to be a skilled actor of tremendous range.

In other Charmed cast news, magical prodigy Billie (Kaley Cuoco) and Piper and Leo’s time-traveling son Chris (Drew Fuller) have gone on to bigger and better things. The former, of course, can be seen as hot girl next door Penny in The Big Bang Theory and the latter as hot soldier Trevor on Army Wives. Also, Prue’s murdered first season love, stodgy Inspector Andy Trudeau (Ted King), spent five years subsequent to his Charmed death as tortured bad guy Salazar on General Hospital, and got to have simulated sex with Kim Catrall’s Samantha on Sex in the City. (Not that there aren’t plenty of other actors that can make that claim, including King’s fellow Charmed alum Jason Lewis.)

Oh, and Ivan Sergei, who played Paige’s eventual husband Henry Mitchell, was in an episode of Warehouse 13. And things just don’t get much bigger and better than that.

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Further Reading

Geek Speak's Charmed review by Rachel Day

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