3 times a charm? Let's hope so for ABC's attempt to bring another adaption of the 1984 novel by John Updike, The Witches of Eastwick, to life on television with Eastwick, premiering Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009. Now, you probably recall the 1987 film featuring Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jack Nicholson. But, what you might not know (I didn't), that a television adaption had been attempted twice before. In 1992, NBC took a shot at it with The Witches of Eastwick. And in 2002, FOX tried their hand at it with Eastwick. Neither went beyond their respective pilots, even though they both had strong casts.
For some bizarre reasoning, the names of the characters are changed for this series. Has it been too long for folks to remember the novel or film? A sequel to the novel came out in 2008, The Widows of Eastwick. Are the characters re-invented altogether?? Screenwriters just looove to muck around with original works ... I still don't get why. Or ... and I like this one the best ... is this a way to break some curse to getting this adaptation on TV??? Only ratings will tell.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 September 2009 18:30
Debuting tonight, Sept. 10th, 2009, on the CW is the television adaptation of the popular young-adult vampire love story, The Vampire Diaries. Now, I made a rookie boo-boo in referring it earlier as a Twilight-ish tv show. I have seen the promos periodically, since I watch reruns of Two and a Half Men every day, where a human girl and a male vampire ramble in their minds about their attraction to each other. I "assumed" (tsk-tsk, Michael) that this was the CW's mad grab to take advantage of the HUGE success with the Twilight novels and films. Until I began researching the new series (a thousand apologies Ljane) ...
Before the teen Twilight rage, there actually was (is) another series of novels written for young adults called, The Vampire Diaries by author L.J. Smith. Ljane (help spread the word, Lisa Jane wants to be called, Ljane!) is a New york Times Bestselling Author for her Night World series of novels (not be confused with the novel I actually own, Nightworld by F. Paul Wilson). The Vampire Diaries began way back in 1991 as a trilogy, then Ljane was pressured by fans to write a fourth, and now she is in the middle of a sequel trilogy (awesome for fans, and old dudes like me who don't want to see another genre TV series cancelled anytime soon).
Ion Television re-enters the cable network series arena for only the 2nd time in four years with the award-winning Canadian thriller, Durham County. And Canadian television now earns my WTF? award (I just made it up, dunno if I will make this official, yet) for American Delayed Television Series for 2009, finally toppling Brit's reign for the last few years. Durham County just finished airing it's season two finale Aug. 17th, and is likely to run a third. So, if you never heard of the series, don't feel so bad, neither had I. Heck, I have never seen ION, even though it's among my DirecTV channel line-up. What's even stranger to me, is Durham County reminds me of the Showtime series, Meadowlands (or Cape Wrath as known to the Brits), which I really enjoyed but was cancelled after a single 8 episode season. Durham County began two months earlier than Meadowlands, so if anything this is THE original story (and I seem to be the only one online who notices the simularities between the two shows, but no worries ... there are plenty of differences). Only 6 episodes per season for Durham County, so I am not sure how Ion will handle them, but it premieres to us Americans tonight - September 7th, 2009, alongside reruns of CBS's hit Criminal Minds.
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