Lifetime picks up 'Witches of East End'

Julia Ormond, Jenna Dewan-Tatum and Rachel Boston star

By Daniel Fienberg Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 6:11 PM

Jenna Dewan-Tatum

Credit: John Shearer/AP

FX has given a series order to "Witches of East End," bases on the best-selling novel by Melissa de la Cruz.

The 10-episode supernatural drama series will premiere later this year.

The series focuses on Joanna Beauchamp (Julia Ormond) and her daughters Freya (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and Ingrid (Rachel Boston), who live a peaceful life out on the seaside Long Island town of East Haven. When Freya becomes engaged, Joanna has to let her daughters know that they're the latest in a long line of powerful witches. Or something.

The series also stars Madchen Amick ("Twin Peaks").

The pilot was written by Maggie Friedman ("Dawson's Creek") and directed by Mark Waters ("Mean Girls"). Amusingly, Friedman also worked on ABC's "Eastwick," based on the apparently unrelated "Witches of Eastwick."

"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," blurbs Lifetime Networks EVP of Programming Rob Sharenow. "This is one of the most exciting ensemble casts we’ve seen and the whole show is fresh, original and just right for Lifetime."

Lifetime has the seventh season of "Army Wives" and the second season of "The Client List" set to premiere on March 10. Also set to launch later this year is the ABC transplant "Devious Maids," from "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry.

Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.