Witches of East End Information

Witches of East End is an American fantasy drama television series based on the novel of the same name by Melissa de la Cruz. Lifetime announced its intention to film a television pilot of the series in autumn of 2012, with filming taking place in Macon, Georgia and Wilmington, North Carolina. On January 31, 2013, Lifetime confirmed that they were ordering ten episodes with the intention of airing Witches of East End later that same year. The series stars Julia Ormond, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Rachel Boston, and Mädchen Amick. The series premiered on October 6, 2013.

Overview

The series stars Julia Ormond as lead character Joanna Beauchamp, a witch and mother of Freya Beauchamp and Ingrid Beauchamp, who are part of the next generation of witches. Mädchen Amick co-stars as Joanna's mischievous witch sister Wendy. The series is loosely based on the book's plot, with one change being that Freya and Ingrid are unaware of their magical powers or heritage.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Julia Ormond as Joanna Beauchamp, Wendy's sister, Ingrid's and Freya's mother
• Jenna Dewan-Tatum as Freya Beauchamp, Ingrid's sister
• Rachel Boston as Ingrid Beauchamp, Freya's sister
• Eric Winter as Dash Gardiner, Freya's fiancé and Killian's brother
• Daniel Di Tomasso as Killian Gardiner, Dash's brother
• Mädchen Amick as Wendy, Joanna's sister, Ingrid's and Freya's aunt

Recurring cast

• Tiya Sircar as Amy Matthews
• Virginia Madsen as Penelope Gardiner
• Tom Lenk as Hudson Rafferty, Ingrid's best friend
• Jason Winston George as Adam, Ingrid's love interest
• Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Leo Wingate
• Kellee Stewart as Barb
• Brianne Davis as Caitlin
• Anthony Lemke as Harrison Welles
• Joel Gretsch as Victor

Production and development

Development

It was revealed on July 19, 2012 that Lifetime had picked up Witches of East End as a pilot for its 2013 season, along The Secret Live of Wives. The show would be executive-produced by both Maggie Friedman (Dawson's Creek and Eastwick) and Erwin Stoff (The Matrix), and produced by Fox 21.

However, on December 17, 2012, Jenna Dewan and husband Channing Tatum announced publicly that the actress was expecting their first child.

On January 31, 2013, Witches of East End was picked up by the cable network Lifetime. The drama was announced to be composed of ten episodes to begin with and was scheduled to shoot and premiere in the course of 2013. Of the project, Rob Sharenow, executive VP of programming for Lifetime Networks, had to say "We've been thrilled about Witches of East End and its powerful premise since the moment we bought the property, and our friends at Fox 21 helped develop it for television. This is one of the most exciting ensemble casts we've seen and the whole show is fresh, original and just right for Lifetime."

Casting

On August 30, 2012, it was announced that Julia Ormond had landed a main role on the show, as Joanna Beauchamp. On September 14, 2012, the role of Freya Beauchamp was officially given to Jenna Dewan. A few days later, on September 17, 2012, the lead male role of Dash Gardiner was attributed to Patrick Heusinger. And on September 19, 2012, Rachel Boston and model Daniel Di Tomasso were announced to have earned the two remaining main roles, respectively Ingrid Beauchamp and Killian Gardiner. Finally, as announced on September 25, 2012, Nicholas Gonzalez would portray detective Matt Torcoletti. On October 9, 2012, two guest star announcements were made- Mädchen Amick and Glenne Headly would join the cast of Witches of East End - the first one as Wendy (Joanna's sister) and the second as Penelope (the Gardiner brothers' mother). Tom Lenk was later given the role of Hudson Rafferty, Ingrid's gay best-friend, as announced on October 16, 2012.

Casting however underwent a few changes. Indeed, as revealed by Nicholas Gonzalez himself on his Twitter account, a few days after the pick-up announcement, the actor was dropped from the show, and on June 6, 2013, it was announced that Patrick Heusinger's role as Dash Gardiner would be recast, for creative reasons. On June 26, TVLine revealed that Eric Winter would replace Patrick Heusinger as Dash Gardiner. On July 9, the recurring role of the detective Adam (formerly Matt Torcoletti) was attributed to Jason George. On July 12, Virginia Madsen replaced Glenne Headly for a multi-episode arc as Penelope, Dash and Killian's mother. On August 12, Freddie Prinze Jr. booked a guest role on the show, as Leo Wingate, with a possibility that it could become recurring. On August 14, Anthony Lemke was cast as recurring Harrison Welles.

Filming

Filming the pilot episode began on October 16, 2012 in the port town of Wilmington, North Carolina, where several scenes were shot. On October 29, 2012, the crew moved for a week to Macon, Georgia, where they filmed the wedding scenes for the pilot at the historical Hay House. On Monday 5, 2012, the crew returned to filming in North Carolina for a final day of shooting.

When the network Lifetime announced Witches of East End was going to be a series, it was also revealed that filming the rest of the series would happen in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, instead of continuing in Wilmington, NC. Later on, the filming period was announced as going from July 16 to October 21. Maggie Friedman announced on twitter on June 10 that she was scouting locations for the series, trying to "find Fair Haven".

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired		DVD release date
			Season premiere	Season finale	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	1	10

Episodes

Season 1 (2013)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (million)
Viewers = 1.93	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }}	Viewers = 1.93	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }}	Viewers = 1.69	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }}	Viewers =	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }}	Viewers =	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }}	Viewers =	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }}	Viewers =	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }} </ref>	DirectedBy =	WrittenBy =	OriginalAirDate =	Viewers =	ShortSummary =	LineColor = 438D80 }}

Reception

Critical reception

Critical reaction to Witches of East End has been mixed, with a score of 50 on Metacritic and 61% for the first season so far on Rotten Tomatoes with a consensus saying "Although it's ridiculously soapy, Witches of East End is often campy fun; it's a supernatural spectacle that's entertaining despite its silliness."

Diane Werts of Newsday gave the show a positive review, saying "What's utterly clear is that the starter hour picks up steam whenever loose-cannon Amick bops around -- although Ormond does a nice job of grounding its shenanigans in a semblance of reality." She finishes her review giving the pilot a B rating. Allison Keene from The Hollywood Reporter also praised the premiere, claiming "Witches of East End is up against a number of other supernatural shows, and there becomes a question of saturation. Fortunately or unfortunately, we aren't at that point, yet. It seems there's plenty more room at the table, and there, Witches of East End currently looks like the most fun." Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times also gave the show a glowing review, starting off by negativelly reviewing the "humorless" witches on shows such as the 2013 debuts of Sleepy Hollow and The Originals, then going on to say Witches of East End is a welcome relief to those series. He further applauds the casting and characters, saying "thanks to zippy repartee among the stars. Ms. Amick is hilarious, and Ms. Dewan Tatum and Ms. Boston make a pretty amusing pair of mismatched sisters." He ends the review with "there is a lot of heavy fare on television on Sunday nights. If "Witches" can retain its wry tone, it will be a satisfying alternative for viewers looking for a lighter way to end the weekend."

Ratings

Witches of East End premiered on a Sunday night with a disappointing 1.93 million viewers. The premiere rated lower than the June 23 premiere of Lifetime's other new show Devious Maids, but to be fair, Witches of East End faced a lot of tough competition and ended the night being the number two scripted drama on cable, behind Boardwalk Empire on HBO.

Week two saw the show equal its performance with 1.93 million viewers despite the return of The Walking Dead and its talk show Talking Dead breaking records on AMC. The show remained the second highest-rated cable drama of the night again, behind The Walking Dead.

In week three, the show dipped lower to 1.69 million viewers.