Post by ~*~Kit_The_Kat~*~ on May 4, 2004 14:40:04 GMT -5
circa: 4/19/04 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Simply charming
By Ara Jansen
WHEN Brad Kern tucks his four-year-old son into bed, he weaves stories of three young witches named Piper, Phoebe and Paige.
As the executive producer and writer with the hit television series Charmed, he's got storylines aplenty to bring to life. And while Kern's son has never seen the show, he knows all about the lives of its three main characters almost as well as they come to life in the studio where the series is made.
So when dad comes home from work one day to find his child mixing a potion in the kitchen he shouldn't be surprised. That's got to be better than spinning pirate stories and having him run off to the South China Sea with a cutlass and a parrot.
Now in its sixth season (and recently signed on for a seventh), Charmed is the story of three San Franciscan sisters who also happen to be witches. And while the weekly show is about the craft and the life of a witch, more importantly it's about the power and bond of family and the daily fight between good and evil. While the average person may not be battling a demon named Javna in their loungeroom, they are certainly making choices and confronting their own demons in various guises.
"I certainly believe there's more to the world than what we see," says Brad Kern about his own philosophy. "I believe there's something else out there, some kind of power or powers that are beyond what's before us. To me it's like the light spectrum, there are things we can see, things we can't but know are there and possibly other things further on from that. I believe there's magic and power out there."
A California native in his early 40s, Kern began writing professionally for Remington Steele (1982-1987) and worked his way up to supervising producer for the final season. His other credits include being part of the writing staff for Hill Street Blues, he was supervising producer for Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also executive producer for the award-winning police drama New York Undercover, where he added director to his title in the show's fourth season. He moved from NYU to Charmed and has been with the show since the first episode.
A typical day for Kern means rising about 4.30am to write, being at the studio by 8am, working on the set all day, heading home to write and falling into bed about 11pm, given production doesn't go late. So the precious other time available to him, he jealously guards for his wife and son and extended family, who seem to have grown proportionally to Charmed's popularity. Happily he enjoys relative anonymity on the streets of Los Angeles where he lives.
Apart from his technical expertise, Kern has also tried to imbue his work with a sense of his beliefs about power, life, death and consequence. Consequence is a major theme in Charmed: the consequence of the sisters' choices, both as women and as witches.
"In a cop show, if you're a cop and you are fighting bad guys and you see life and death. You constantly ask why and you are forced to explore evil. When a bullet only grazes you, it's hard not to believe maybe someone is looking out for you. I've always believed that," Kern says.
Without suggesting for one minute that the show should be seen as elementary witchcraft lessons, Kern hopes viewers and fans use it as an opportunity to explore their own sets of beliefs, spirituality or religion. And after six years, it's also part of Kern's job to keep the cast and crew motivated and bring plenty of positivity to everything the show does.
"Iraq withstanding, my belief in people to choose the positive path over the years is increasing, not decreasing. Not to compare real life with television, because I would never be that arrogant, but the girls are constantly being tested by evil and they have to trust but also have to define what's good in the face of obstacles. We are constantly being tested and right now the world is being tested in a very overt way. But I do believe there's more positive energy in the world than negative. Our show believes in duality and you have the choice in what you believe."
With more than 10 million viewers worldwide, what's interesting is Charmed's audience. Who would you pick as a typical Charmed fan?
According to Kern, they're women aged 32. There's also a strong contingent of 12- to 17-year-old females and it's this group which Kern says he keeps in mind when striving to keep the show's messages positive and responsible. But there's also a largely undocumented number of male fans, who Kern suggests are unwilling to publicly admit their love for the show.
"A doctor who was giving me a fitness test recently told me he didn't watch television. Half way through the treadmill test he asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I worked on Charmed, his eyes nearly fell out of his head. He said 'don't tell my wife I watch it!'. I think there's a lot more men watching it than admit it."
Simply charming
By Ara Jansen
WHEN Brad Kern tucks his four-year-old son into bed, he weaves stories of three young witches named Piper, Phoebe and Paige.
As the executive producer and writer with the hit television series Charmed, he's got storylines aplenty to bring to life. And while Kern's son has never seen the show, he knows all about the lives of its three main characters almost as well as they come to life in the studio where the series is made.
So when dad comes home from work one day to find his child mixing a potion in the kitchen he shouldn't be surprised. That's got to be better than spinning pirate stories and having him run off to the South China Sea with a cutlass and a parrot.
Now in its sixth season (and recently signed on for a seventh), Charmed is the story of three San Franciscan sisters who also happen to be witches. And while the weekly show is about the craft and the life of a witch, more importantly it's about the power and bond of family and the daily fight between good and evil. While the average person may not be battling a demon named Javna in their loungeroom, they are certainly making choices and confronting their own demons in various guises.
"I certainly believe there's more to the world than what we see," says Brad Kern about his own philosophy. "I believe there's something else out there, some kind of power or powers that are beyond what's before us. To me it's like the light spectrum, there are things we can see, things we can't but know are there and possibly other things further on from that. I believe there's magic and power out there."
A California native in his early 40s, Kern began writing professionally for Remington Steele (1982-1987) and worked his way up to supervising producer for the final season. His other credits include being part of the writing staff for Hill Street Blues, he was supervising producer for Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also executive producer for the award-winning police drama New York Undercover, where he added director to his title in the show's fourth season. He moved from NYU to Charmed and has been with the show since the first episode.
A typical day for Kern means rising about 4.30am to write, being at the studio by 8am, working on the set all day, heading home to write and falling into bed about 11pm, given production doesn't go late. So the precious other time available to him, he jealously guards for his wife and son and extended family, who seem to have grown proportionally to Charmed's popularity. Happily he enjoys relative anonymity on the streets of Los Angeles where he lives.
Apart from his technical expertise, Kern has also tried to imbue his work with a sense of his beliefs about power, life, death and consequence. Consequence is a major theme in Charmed: the consequence of the sisters' choices, both as women and as witches.
"In a cop show, if you're a cop and you are fighting bad guys and you see life and death. You constantly ask why and you are forced to explore evil. When a bullet only grazes you, it's hard not to believe maybe someone is looking out for you. I've always believed that," Kern says.
Without suggesting for one minute that the show should be seen as elementary witchcraft lessons, Kern hopes viewers and fans use it as an opportunity to explore their own sets of beliefs, spirituality or religion. And after six years, it's also part of Kern's job to keep the cast and crew motivated and bring plenty of positivity to everything the show does.
"Iraq withstanding, my belief in people to choose the positive path over the years is increasing, not decreasing. Not to compare real life with television, because I would never be that arrogant, but the girls are constantly being tested by evil and they have to trust but also have to define what's good in the face of obstacles. We are constantly being tested and right now the world is being tested in a very overt way. But I do believe there's more positive energy in the world than negative. Our show believes in duality and you have the choice in what you believe."
With more than 10 million viewers worldwide, what's interesting is Charmed's audience. Who would you pick as a typical Charmed fan?
According to Kern, they're women aged 32. There's also a strong contingent of 12- to 17-year-old females and it's this group which Kern says he keeps in mind when striving to keep the show's messages positive and responsible. But there's also a largely undocumented number of male fans, who Kern suggests are unwilling to publicly admit their love for the show.
"A doctor who was giving me a fitness test recently told me he didn't watch television. Half way through the treadmill test he asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I worked on Charmed, his eyes nearly fell out of his head. He said 'don't tell my wife I watch it!'. I think there's a lot more men watching it than admit it."
that article is great! man i'd love to meet brad kern one day...even though he annoys me sometimes with the show...he is so talented and i do look up to him, seeing as how it is my dream to do what he does... write and direct and produce for movies or tv....it'd just be great....but yea...cute article!
