I was excited to watch a screener of the pilot to Lifetime's new show Witches of East End, as it is based on an intriguing book series by Melissa de la Cruz and features a wonderful cast. Just landing the always-excellent Julia Ormond for the show marks another wise step in Lifetime's current mission to expand their original drama offerings. The channel's recent breakout hit Devious Maids brought a feisty and quickly lovable group of female characters to life with shamelessly tawdry and soapy plots, and Witches joyously does the same with a supernatural twist.
In fact, fans of Charmed will likely find much to enjoy in the cosily familiar genre hallmarks that are layered luxuriously in the story of the Beauchamp family - mom Joanna (the elegant Ormond) and her two daughters, free spirited romantic Freya (a sultry Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and geek-chic librarian Ingrid (Rachel Boston). They live in the close-knit town of North Hampton, adjacent to Long Island, providing a pleasant "small town of quirky characters" feel to the show.
For complicated reasons, Joanna has chosen not to tell her two daughters that they are actually immortal witches, so in the pilot, the girls get themselves into trouble by edging ever closer to the truth and the dangers inherent in their legacy. Bringing some welcome laughs to the proceedings is Madchen Amick as Joanna's sassy, long-estranged sister Wendy, who is bemused by the choice to leave Freya and Ingrid in the dark about their true natures.
Freya and Ingrid face other challenges when it comes to their personal lives. Freya is torn between her impeccable, blue-blood fiance Dash (Eric Winter) and his mysterious-newcomer brother Killian (Daniel DiTomasso). Meanwhile, Ingrid flirts with the local cop, Adam (Jason George), but their relationship seems equally threatened by her shyness as it is by the inevitability that she will be involved in legally questionable witchy hijinks.
Witches' pilot is quickly paced, mixing love, lies, suspense, and spells with an easy "charm" that is infectious. The special effects look terrific and add a warmly enticing aspect to the show. There are juicy scandals and shocks enough to fill the pilot near to overflow, and a cliffhanger that is sure to keep viewers on the hook for the next episode. If Witches can keep this fantastic balance of cutely comfy witch genre elements and saucy melodrama going, it will be another rousing success for Lifetime.
Witches of East End premieres on Lifetime on October 6 at 10/9c. Do you plan on watching? What are you hoping to see in this new supernatural drama? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Thanks for the review Virginia, glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great fun show. Can't wait
ReplyDeleteA new guilty pleasure !
Thank you, @DarkUFO . I was excited to see the pilot :)
ReplyDelete@Sharon Seymour, definitely a guilty pleasure - what Lifetime specializes in. Glad to see them taking the quality up a notch with their more recent drama series offerings.
ReplyDeleteI hope its not gonna be too sopy. :D We really need now a good Witches themed series.
ReplyDeleteWas hoping it would be somewhat dark. Is it like more Eastwick vibe or Charmed?
ReplyDeleteAnd great review. :)
I hope it's more like Charmed than Eastwick. First, Charmed has a monster-of-the-week format which I personally prefer. Second, Charmed is light and funny at the same time. Third, Eastwick had a lot of boring, pointless episodes.
ReplyDeleteSee I'm hoping for exactly the opposite, serialized is definitely the best way for a show to go even if they have mini plots for each episode I prefer the main story told season long. Charmed would have been so much better being more serialized.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling this will be serialized like Eastwick and Lifetimes own Devious maids but I thought I'd ask.
But then, I always see people complain if a story is dragged too much like it was on Desperate Housewives. Don't get me wrong, story arc format can be effective if they keep resolving a fraction of a mystery each episode (a format which Charmed also adopted sometimes), but look at Eastwick (or The Secret Circle), it wasn't effective at all. People get bored if it's dragged. Even I personally think DH was effective in being a story arc show, but people still complained.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, some shows with effective Story Arc format: Arrow, True Blood, Devious Maids (this is my new addiction), Person of Interest. Witches of East End can be on this list if they know how to handle it (but I still prefer it if they do the monster-of-the-week format).
I am also very interested in seeing how complex the overall mythology is, @Ben. The book series has a pretty in-depth world to draw from, and the pilot is promisingly accurate to the first novel. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the props, @CGS !
ReplyDelete@Feekk and @CGS, excellent points about the strengths and weaknesses of previous witch shows and the pros and cons of the serialized format. I thought the Witches of East End pilot had touches of both Charmed and Eastwick (the former is a wonderful classic, and I really did enjoy the latter before its untimely cancellation). The sisters aspect of the show reminds me a lot of Charmed, while the small town setting is very Eastwick. The mythology is closer to Charmed, and the romance parts are perhaps a bit more overt and sexy than either. I did think that there were aspects of the Witches of East End pilot that were quite dark, and the humor was not hokey. It all came together well in the first episode.
I agree that either a serialized or a M.O.T.W. format can be excellent if the writers know the right way to do it. I'm guessing more serialized, based on the several complex storylines that are all left hanging in the pilot.
Great review, so excited for the show to start! I loved Eastwick from Maggie Friedman so I know this show will be just as good! Thanks for sharing the review!
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they can combine both, like X-Files did. They do the monster-of-the-week in some of the episodes int he middle of the season and a continuing storyline(s) at the beginning and end of a season. I think Person of Interest does this. Correct me if I'm wrong though.
ReplyDeleteCool, I like small town settings a lot, and you do make it sound like it's the serialized format. I'm sure there will be subplots and plots that are 2-3 episode arcs but if they leave a lot of big plotlines unexplained that probably means it will be more serialized than not which is exciting. :)
ReplyDeleteI used to watch Charmed after Angel on TNT and recently started it again on Netflix, I like some of the stories they do, but the way they write it the supernatural plots are always hokey and never explored, which is a shame. I always find myself wishing some of the cooler demons or witches will survive until the next episode at least.
I see your point of view, and at times I've felt like that but actually I think TSC did my favorite form of serialization, some arcs took all season but there were lots of arcs starting and resolving within the span of a few episodes which I liked a lot, however as much as I enjoyed it the mythology was greatly lacking, which I hope is different with this.
ReplyDeleteThanks, @Gavin Hetherington! I'm very intrigued to see where the show will be going over the course of the season. Looking forward to watching. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat Review. Just a question: Can you can tell me whether or not they are introducing the same Norse mythology as the books?
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always!!!
ReplyDeleteI will definitely give this show a go.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I hope as the series progresses they will introduce that. I find it utterly fascinating in the books.
ReplyDeleteThe "soapy" element in concerning. I have been waiting for a good witch TV series for quite some time, but the fact that this show is on Lifetime probably means wronged/battered women, rape story lines and soapy melodrama abound.
ReplyDeleteSerialized shows can produce compelling story arcs that episodic/prodecural series cannot. However, your concern is less about format and more about pacing. If the show is helmed by a talented crop of writers and producers, the pacing should be nice and tight. Otherwise it may become an issue.
ReplyDeleteA correction for the reviewer; Northampton is ON Long Island, not adjacent to it. It's not usually considered to be part of the hamlets and villages that makeup The Hamptons on LI, but it certainly is on the East End of Long Island...hence the title of the series
ReplyDelete