Those Witches of Eastwick are back!

I still remember going to see “The Witches of Eastwick” at the theater – actually, it was an ‘Open-Air theater’, remember those? – and mostly, I think, enjoying it.

Ya see, I couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen years old though at the time (I don’t even think we were there to see “Eastwick” – it might’ve just been the support film to “Lethal Weapon”) so my enjoyment of the film can pretty much be tied to Michelle Pfeiffer. “Yes mum. That was a cool movie. That old chick was so hot”. I don’t think I understood what or who Jack Nicholson’s character was, why Veronica Cartwright was vomiting up all that shit, and why three pretty ladies would fall for the old guy with the crooked smile but by-and-large, it seemed fun. It had to be. And maybe one day, I’ll know what was going on in it.

Returned to it a few years later and realized there was a lot more going on in the film than I originally spotted (not surprisingly). It’s actually a very clever, devilishly cheeky and very black comedy. And yes, Michelle Pfeiffer a.k.a That old Chick was still hot. Damn hot.

Three modern-day “witches” (Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer) yearn for Mr. Right in a New England town. Is the arrival of a wealthy and irresistible Daryl Van Horne (Nicholson) a coincidence – or the women’s unconscious sorcery at work?

The film was based on a book by John Updike. I’ve never read the book, so don’t know how the film compares, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear they’re very different – and that’s why someone wants to bring ‘the real book’ to the screen, in this case the ‘TV’ screen.

Maggie Friedman (“Dawson’s Creek”) is penning a pilot for a potential “Witches of Eastwick” series for ABC.

It isn’t the first time Warner Bros has tried to get a TV series up of the property.

In 1992, Carlton Cuse and Jeffrey Boam were behind a “Witches of Eastwick” pilot for NBC. That version starred Catherine Mary Stewart, Julia Campbell, Ally Walker and Michael Siberri. FOX also did an “Eastwick” pilot. That one would’ve focused on the teenage sons of the original witches. Lori Loughlin, Marcia Cross and Kelly Rutherford starred. It goes without saying that neither pilot was picked up.

And as yet, this one hasn’t been either.