Witchy women, from left, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and Cher in the 1987 film of The Witches of Eastwick. (Warner Home Video)

The words "John Updike" and "network TV series" seldom appear in the same sentence – even if the distinguished U.S. author's novels about middle-class angst and infidelity can be the high-toned equivalent of a prime-time soap. Looks like that could change, though. According to today's Variety, ABC has given the green light to a pilot for a series based on The Witches of Eastwick.

Updike's 1984 best seller, about a trio of New England women who find empowerment through sorcery, was originally the basis for a 1987 Hollywood film starring Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher. Now it's being refashioned for the small screen by Dawson Creek's scribe Maggie Friedman. No word on who will be playing the witches, or their Mephistophelean mentor – embodied in the film by a typecast Jack Nicholson.

This is just the latest of several attempts to transform the book/film for TV – NBC and Fox both launched pilot versions, in 1992 and 2002 respectively, that never took flight. Maybe this effort will break the hex and finally bring Updike to prime time – if you don't count his vocal cameo on The Simpsons, that is.

– Martin Morrow