.: Charmed Star Spells Out Secrets :.
By Daniel R. Coleridge

The task of bewitching TV viewers isn't always easy for the sexy sorceresses of Charmed. Take one scene in the seventh-season finale, when Holly Marie Combs, Rose McGowan and Alyssa Milano visited a vampiress' bat cave and zapped the hell out of her flock of flying critters. Those biting bats, of course, were courtesy of computerized special effects added in after the scene was shot.

"When we're all swatting at imaginary bats, it looks silly," Combs tells TVGuide.com, grinning. "There's no way to look cool doing that. It takes getting used to. You have to use your imagination and be very humble, because you are gonna look like an idiot, and you just have to accept the fact that, unfortunately, the more ridiculous you look, the more convincing it is on the screen."

It is fortunate that the show's trio of TV witches get to spend at least one more year feeling silly at work, since Charmed has been renewed for an eighth season. "The [WB] network owes it to us to let us wrap the series properly," Combs says. "I don't feel like the story has ended yet. There's so much we haven't done!"

Of course, Combs and Co. will never be done receiving fan attention — both the good and bad kinds — long after the series wraps its run.

"Many a person on the street [has asked] me if I can really freeze things or blow them up," Combs chuckles. "I'm like, 'No, no, let's not go there. Let's separate [television from] reality.' It's a kooky show, so there are some kooky folk who like it.

"It's sad, though, because some children are afraid of me, which is not good," she sighs. "I've turned into so many evil things on the show that they're not sure what to make of me. There are some parents who let their little, little kids watch the show, which I don't condone. Because you never know when it's gonna get too violent, gory or bloody. You never know with us!"