Starring Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price, and Jaime Ray Newman, Eastwick is an adaptation of John Updike’s popular novel about Witches in suburbia. And as a primetime network show, it’s exactly what you would expect from that premise: Desperate Housewives with magic powers.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with that either. The show’s pilot is well crafted and entertaining but never really transcends those two adjectives. Following three women, Roxie, Joanna, and Kat, as they start to learn that they may have powers that they don’t fully understand. The pilot follows them around individually, doing the usual character building that’s necessary for the first episode of a series. Joanna is timid and in love with her journalist co-worker. Kat is a doormat for her husband. Roxie is a bohemian artist who’s looking for a rich man to fund her talent.
Eastwick tries to be dramatic at times, with Kat’s character having to deal with mental abuse from her husband and Rebecca Romijn’s character having to break up the near rape of her daughter. The drama never hits like it should, though, as the characters at this point, are hard to feel anything for. They’re molds more than people.
We also meet Darryl (Paul Gross), who connects in one way or another with each of the girls for a proposition by show’s end. We don’t know the full extent of his character by the time the credits roll, but we know something’s up with him.
It’s hard to know if the show will be a hit. Surely Romijn’s name alone will help. Having only seen the pilot, though, there doesn’t seem much to be excited about. Eastwick is a typical network comedy with hints of drama and just a little bit of magic.
