I just watched a new show called Witches of East End and I am totally in. I love it. “But Mallory,” you may be saying, “why didn’t you tell me you were going to watch that show? It was not on your list of new shows premiering!” You’re right, I’ve been a baaaaad TV blogger. I kind of forgot it was premiering and then I did my post for new shows this week on Monday instead of over the weekend and it premiered on Sunday so whoops I missed it, my bad. I also forgot to tell you that Eastbound & Down is back. So sue me. I’m sorry to all 4 of you who may depend on me for your TV knowledge.
Anyway, so here’s the scoop on Witches of East End. Obviously it’s about witches. If that’s not your thing, move on. I quite enjoy shows with supernatural elements, you may not, it’s all good. But you have to be cool with the witches to begin with for this show to be for you. If you liked Charmed, you will probably like this show. It sort of has elements of that show (witchy sisters, discovering powers later in life) but I felt that overall it had a more fun vibe. It’s like Witches of East End is definitely going to have a ton of fun with these witches – good, soapy fun!
See they’re fun! And…on fire??
So the premise is that these two grown sisters are still living with their mom (for whatever reason) and they don’t know it but they’re witches. Well the one daughter suspects she has special powers like dreams coming true and making things happen with her mind, but she doesn’t know. We find out when their aunt suddenly shows up in town that they’re all witches and there is a curse on their family. For their aunt, she can transform into a cat and accordingly only has 9 lives, several of which she’s burned through by now. For their mom, her curse is eternal life and motherhood in that she has her daughters, they grow up practicing witchcraft, then it ends up killing them. And then she gets pregnant again. Having not given birth, I can only imagine how awful it must have been for her to go through labor over and over again. And many of those times, according to her, were pre-epidural and pre-soap. Guessing somebody had some nasty infections based on that soap comment.
Someone who can shift into the form of the mom hates this family and is trying super hard to kill them all dead, for good. The first episode of this show is incredibly well done. Please don’t let the fact that it airs on the Lifetime network turn you off of it. It’s light years better than that atrocity with Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List. Here are the characters so you (and I) can keep them straight. I’m tired of referring to them as “The Mom”, “The Aunt”, “the daughters”, etc. Let’s put some faces with some names, and also figure out where we have seen these people before!
Joanna Beauchamp, the mother of the witch daughters
You may recognize this actress from 3 episodes of Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, or Law & Order: Criminal Intent…I don’t recognize her from those things, but you might.
Ingrid Beauchamp, the firstborn daughter
She has a very familiar face and she’s been in a bunch of things, none of which really stand out to me. You’ll probably watch and think that she just seems very familiar.
Freya Beauchamp, the younger daughter
This is Jenna Dewan-Tatum, aka Channing Tatum’s wife (lucky bitch), who you may recognize from Step Up but probably only recognize as being Channing Tatum’s wife. She’s been in other things but let’s face it – once you hear Channing Tatum, no other information is necessary. Okay fine she was on the short-lived The Playboy Club and she’s been on American Horror Story.
Dash Gardiner, Freya’s super rich fiance
I most recognize this actor from his 682 episodes on Days of Our Lives, but he’s also appeared on Brothers & Sisters, The Mentalist, and GCB.
Killian Gardiner, Dash’s brother who Freya is having super hot sexy dreams about
His face is unfamiliar to me, as it probably is to you.
Wendy Beauchamp, sister to Joanna, aunt to Ingrid and Freya
You might know her from Twin Peaks. I feel like her most iconic role was Sherry Tinsdale on Gilmore Girls, which is hilarious since she was in like 3 episodes. She just made such an impression. (Christopher got his life together for SHERRY, but not LORELAI? WHAAAT???) She’s been all over TV, so you may know her from something else entirely.
Adam the detective
Doesn’t have a huge role but had to include him for the familiar face thing – Grey’s Anatomy, Mistresses…he’s familiar.
Hudson Rafferty, quirky guy in the library
This is my favorite familiar face because he was Andrew on Buffy! So funny.
So those are the people that stood out to me in the first episode. I absolutely recommend giving this show a chance. It’s not one of those “give it a few episodes to find itself” shows. It’s one that if you don’t like the first episode, then it’s not for you, because it is so fun! If you do like it, keep watching it and let’s discuss its awesomeness in the comments!
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