Mayfair Witches is the second TV show in the Immortal Universe that AMC is building around Anne Rice‘s books – Interview With The Vampire was the first. This show is based on the novel trilogy Lives of the Mayfair Witches and was created by Esta Spalding (The Last Letter from Your Lover) and Michelle Ashford (Operation Mincemeat, Masters of Sex), but this season roughly covers The Witching Hour. The series stars Alexandra Daddario, Harry Hamlin, Tongayi Chirisa, and Jack Huston.

Premise: The show follows Neurosurgeon Dr. Rowan Fielding as she learns she is the heiress to a dynasty of powerful witches haunted by a sinister spirit that has haunted her family for generations.

Review: I could have written this review within minutes of seeing the finale but I held off. If this wasn’t a highly anticipated show for me, in particular after the astounding Interview adaptation, this would have stung less.

The show made a lot of great moves when adapting the book, like merging characters, and casting the actors that they did but it quickly goes downhill because the writing is average at best. It looks even worst because the show is supposed to be in the same universe as Interview With The Vampire. So not only the show looks bad in comparison with Interview but it also looks bad on its own merit. Maybe it’s also a budget issue but I don’t think so, the writing is just weak. I even stopped watching the after-show interview with Spalding by episode four because her intention for each episode didn’t really match with the episode I’d just sat through. I kept hoping for the show to get better but it never really did, it stayed very average. Average in the sense that I might even want to rewatch the episodes.

As solid as the casting is, these actors might not be able to make miracles with writing like this. Not all of their scenes were top-notch acting wise but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt. Changes to the source material aren’t always a bad thing, and I still like a lot of what they’ve changed but it seems like they got lost between concept and execution.

I am glad that they were renewed for a second season but they need to course correct asap! Please!

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