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Eastwick
Eastwick intertitle
Genre	Supernatural, Dramedy, Fantasy
Created by	Maggie Friedman
Starring	Paul Gross Lindsay Price Jaime Ray Newman Rebecca Romijn Matt Dallas Sara Rue Ashley Benson Jon Bernthal Veronica Cartwright Johann Urb
Composer(s)	Blake Neely
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Maggie Friedman
Running time	39-42 minutes (60 including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 23, 2009 – February 14, 2010
Status	Cancelled

Eastwick is an American television drama series created by Maggie Friedman. The series is a television adaptation of the John Updike novel, The Witches of Eastwick. The show aired on ABC and was produced by Warner Bros. The show premiered on September 23, 2009 at 10:00PM Eastern/9:00PM Central.^[1] The show followed the lives of three strangers, Roxanne, Joanna and Kat, who meet at a wishing fountain and soon become friends. A mysterious man named Darryl Van Horne had moved to Eastwick and had plans for the women, and befriended them. Even more dangerous, he unleashed their supernatural powers, and their true potential. By igniting their hearts' desires, he might just have opened Pandora's box.

On November 9, 2009, ABC declined to order any additional episodes of Eastwick, effectively cancelling the series. The remaining ordered episodes were still slated to air, starting back on November 25, 2009.^[2] However, in early December, it was officially announced by ABC that Ugly Betty would be moving from Friday nights to Eastwick's time slot on Wednesdays starting on January 6, 2010. With this move, episodes 11 and 13 of Eastwick have been shelved, and it is unknown as to whether or not they will air in the United States.^[3][4] The episodes aired in the United Kingdom first, on January 19, and February 14, respectively. After the British airing of the unaired episodes, copies of these have been found on torrent websites where viewers have recorded and uploaded them to the internet.

After the cancellation, ABC aired the remaining episodes irregularly, mainly placing it on days where repeats would mainly go, such as the Christmas break. It is uncertain whether a DVD release will be given as of yet.

Production

The series is based on the 1984 novel, "The Witches of Eastwick", and the film counterpart of the same name. While the book was created by John Updike, the series was conceived by Maggie Friedman, who wanted to create a show about female empowerment and a show that is magical but also real, just the reality will be a little heightened. ABC picked the show up early 2009. Sadly, Eastwick shouldn't be cancelled since it has the potential to reach more audiences.

The series was filmed on a Warner Bros. set, using the same town set as The WB's series, Gilmore Girls. Filming of the pilot began in August 2009, when all characters had been cast, the last one being Matt Dallas on July 30. ABC decided the show should be on Wednesdays at 10:00PM Eastern/9:00PM Central, after another new show, Cougar Town on ABC's Comedy Wednesdays.

Cast

Casting

Jaime Ray Newman was the first to land a starring role on Eastwick on February 23, 2009, alongside Veronica Cartwright who had been in the original 1987 movie also based upon the novel.^[5] On February 25, 2009, Lindsay Price became the third to land a role, with Johann Urb and Jon Bernthal both announced on March 5, 2009.^[5] Rebecca Romijn was the last of the core three Witches to be cast, on March 9.^[5] Sara Rue was cast on March 10, Ashley Benson on March 22, Paul Gross on June 13, and finally Matt Dallas on July 30, 2009.^[5]

Rosanna Arquette landed a 2-episode stint, reported on September 23, 2009 and announced for the November 18 and 25 episodes.^[6] Romijn's real life husband, Jerry O'Connell has also landed a role on Eastwick, playing a love interest for Newman's character as a widowed father of a young son with a secret.

Characters

Main characters

• Roxanne "Roxie" Torcoletti (Rebecca Romijn) is the bohemian working mother of Mia Torcoletti, a widow who shared a love with a younger man named Chad. People in Eastwick suspected Roxie of killing her husband, Danny Torcoletti, but it's obvious that she loved Danny as she had kept his clothes in a drawer in her bedroom. Roxie's powers include premonition, getting visions of the future in which Roxie tries to work out and sometimes has to stop the calamity from happening, but soon discovers that she can't change destiny. She also displays vocal persuasion, in which she accidentally uses to make something bad happen, such as the death of Gus and the choking of the fake psychic, But in recent episodes she found she can read minds. When Chad dies, she is torn and tries to follow the signs Chad had forewarned in a dream, and gets uninvited to his funeral because the people of Eastwick think she is cursed, as does Roxie. Roxie owns an art store, where she creates and sells artwork, and has had several visions of the man who lives upstairs, Jamie, killing her. After Bun and Eleanor convince Jamie he is the son of Darryl and that he must be killed by Roxie, Jamie attacks Roxie and kidnaps her, taking her to the middle of the woods and attempts to bury her, however his attempts are thwarted by Kat and Joanna.
• Joanna Frankel (Lindsay Price) is a shy reporter who has a dramatic crush on her ex-colleague, Will St. David, and her best friend is Penny Higgins, as well as Roxie Torcoletti and Kat Gardener. When she worked at the Eastwick Gazette, she found it hard to impress her employer, Clyde, until she caught the local Reverend, Father Dunn, at a whorehouse, which made front page news. This sparked anger in Father Dunn, who then sought revenge towards Joanna. Later, he gets his revenge by locking Joanna in a coffin and putting it on the bonfire on Halloween, leaving her to burn to her death, until she is saved by Kat and Will. Her powers include hypnotism, where she controls men to do what she wants with her hypnotizing eyes, but doesn't work on women, and telekinesis, to move objects with her mind. Joanna is fired from the Eastwick Gazette when she runs a story about Darryl Van Horne which appears to be false. She is scared of heights. Her ex-fiance comes to Eastwick, and instead of going on a date with Will, Joanna has sex with him. Will soon finds out and is upset and angry, but moves on to Kat Gardener. Joanna and Kat originally fall out, but Joanna soon lets go of Will and allows Kat to date him. Joanna gets angry at Max, who replaces Joanna at the Eastwick Gazette, however she ends up falling for him, though he has a hidden secret she is unaware of.
• Kat Gardener (Jamie Ray Newman) is a mother of five, married to Raymond Gardener who appears the stereotype of the lazy, drunken husband. Kat is unhappy in her relationship with Raymond, and after Kat got scared that Raymond kidnapped the kids, she decides to divorce him. However, she changed her mind and set up an agreement with Raymond that the two would try bird-nesting, that they would separate and their kids would live with them both for periods of time. Kat displays the powers to manipulate Mother Nature, and when angry or upset, she can cause natural disasters, and has also shown the power to heal. Kat's secret ambition was to sing on top of a piano like the way Michelle Pfeiffer's character did in The Fabulous Baker Boys, which she did during the "crazy moon", where she accidentally set the place on fire, and kissed Joanna's sweetheart, Will. Kat also saved Joanna from being burned alive by making it rain. Kat is also a nurse at the Eastwick Hospital. Kat also discovered that she could not drown and finds herself attracted to the new neighbour, who happens to have a creepy son named Gene.

Series synopsis

Season one began airing on September 23, 2009 and introduces three women - Roxanne Torcoletti, Joanna Frankel, and Kat Gardener. They hardly know each other, but meet at a wishing fountain and make three different wishes that interlink and bring trouble to the town of Eastwick. A man named Darryl Van Horne has moved into the town and has an unusual interest in the women and soon befriends them and teaches them about their magical abilities. During the season, we are introduced to Bun Waverly and Eleanor Rougemont, who seem to have a past with Darryl, and a mysterious third woman in the photo of them appeared missing. Eleanor also reveals that she was the one who killed Darryl, formerly known as Sebastian Hart, but with Darryl walking around alive, Joanna and Penny investigate the mystery.

Reception

Eastwick opened with initially mixed reviews. Metacritic has given the series 50 out of 100 based on the pilot episode, based upon 21 critical reviews, and a user score of 8.5 out of 10 based on 70 votes.^[8] Entertainment Weekly gave the pilot episode a B, stating the show "plays like Desperate Housewives if the Wisteria Lane ladies liked prestidigitation instead of poker." Variety was also favorable by saying "the pilot represents a polished product that neatly introduces an array of characters and establishes Eastwick as a project with no small measure of potential."^[9] Boston Globe gave the show a more positive review: its writer still compared it to Desperate Housewives, but said, "Desperate Housewives is frustrating because it can’t seem to decide what it is: murder mystery, silly farce, or realistic look at domestic woes. Eastwick is allegory and knows it, so it can be plausibly silly and over-the-top, and hint at real issues - women in the workplace, gender politics at home - without trying too hard ... I’ll take witch hazel over wisteria any day."^[10]

According to Tiffany Connors on the New York Post, Eastwick is the best new fall show of 2009, giving it a Grade A-, the highest score for any of the new shows she graded.^[11]

Eastwick has recently been compared to both Gilmore Girls and Charmed, two of which were previously The WB shows. Since Eastwick is filmed on what previously was the Gilmore Girls set, there are multiple similarities between the town of Eastwick and Stars Hollow. The three female witches, one with the power of premonition and one with the power of telekinesis, hold similar powers to those possessed on Charmed.

Seasonal ratings

Ratings

Eastwick premiered with 8.53 million viewers, coming second in its timeslot, beaten only by CSI: New York.^[12] Excluding only Lost premieres and finales, Eastwick produced ABC's highest viewers and young adult numbers in the time period with regular programming in almost 2 years - since October 17, 2007 and October 24, 2007, respectively.^[13]

The September 30, 2009 episode dropped 1.91 million viewers from the pilot, and scored 6.62 million. Though it dropped in ratings, other shows that night also dropped the same amount.^[14] Growing from its week-ago series debut by 8%, Eastwick won its time period among Women 18-34, beating CSI: NY in the hour by 12% (2.8/8 vs. 2.5/8).^[15]

The October 7, 2009 episode was opposite CBS' time-period veteran CSI: NY, ABC's freshman Eastwick earned second place in the 10 o'clock hour, defeating NBC's Jay Leno for the 3rd week in a row among Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.7/5), but placed No. 1 in its hour with Women 18-34 (2.0/6-tie) for its 2nd consecutive telecast.^[16]

The October 14, 2009 episode beat out NBC's Jay Leno in Adults 18-34 (+15% - 1.5/5 vs. 1.3/4) and for the 3rd week in a row across each of the key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). It also grew its audience week to week in both Adults 18-34 (+7% - 1.5/5 vs. 1.4/4) and Adults 25-54 (+5% - 2.1/5 vs. 2.0/5).^[17]

The October 21, 2009 episode defeated NBC's Jay Leno in Adults 18-49 (+13% - 1.7/5 vs. 1.5/4), and was also seeing bumps from first-reported numbers through DVR playback, surging by 1.1 million viewers and by an additional 4-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.^[18]

The October 28, 2009 episode continued to beat NBC's Jay Leno in the 10 o'clock hour, leading by 20% this week among Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.5/4), and built its Adult 18-49 audience by 13% over the prior week (1.8/5 vs. 1.6/4), tallying its best number in 3 weeks. It also saw bumps from the first-reported numbers through DVR playback, surging by 1.0 million viewers and by an additional 4-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.^[19]

The November 4, 2009 episode continued to beat NBC's Jay Leno in the 10 o'clock hour (3 weeks in a row), leading by an even wider margin of 23% this week among Adults 18-49 (1.6/4 vs. 1.3/4), and saw bumps from the first-reported numbers through DVR playback, averaging an additional 1.0 million viewers and a 4-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point increase from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.^[20]

After the show was cancelled, ABC stopped advertising the show, meaning less viewers were highly likely.

The November 25, 2009 episode fell hard in ratings, mainly because of it being the day before Thanksgiving Day, in which all programmes that night took a hit in their ratings, also achieving season, or series, lows. It managed to pull 3.65 million in overnight ratings, but rose in final numbers to 3.89 million.^[21]

The December 2, 2009 episode was up week to week by 17% in Total Viewers (4.2 million vs. 3.6 million) and by 18% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/4 vs. 1.1/3). The ABC freshman drama ranked No. 2 in the hour with Adults 18-34 (1.1/3-tie) and among key Women: W18-34 (1.6/5), W18-49 (1.7/5-tie) and W25-54 (2.1/5). It saw bumps from the first-reported numbers through DVR playback, averaging an additional 1.0 million viewers and a 4-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point increase from the initially reported Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.^[22]

Previous versions

There have been two previous unsold pilots for television adaptations of The Witches of Eastwick. The first adaption was an for NBC in 1992,^[23] starring Julia Campbell as Jane Hollis, Catherine Mary Stewart as Sukie Ridgemont, Ally Walker as Alexandra Spofford, Michael Siberry as Darryl Van Horne, and Jan Rubes as Fidel (Carel Struycken's character in the film).

The second unsold pilot was for Fox in 2002,^[24] starring Marcia Cross (of Desperate Housewives fame) as Jane Spofford, Kelly Rutherford as Alexandra Medford, Lori Loughlin as Sukie Ridgemont, and Jason O'Mara as Darryl Van Horne.

Awards and nominations

International airdates

Country / Region	Network(s)	Premiere
Canada	A	September 25, 2009
United Kingdom	Hallmark Channel Sci-fi	November 24, 2009[26]
Italy	Mya	February 8, 2010
Australia	Nine Network	TBA
Greece	Star Channel	2010

References

External links

• Eastwick at the Internet Movie Database
• Eastwick at TV.com
• "List of Eastwick Episodes". TVGuide. http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/eastwick/297513.