Paul Gross as Darryl Van Horne in Eastwick. (ABC)

U.S. network ABC has announced it is cancelling Eastwick, the new TV show starring Canadian actor Paul Gross.

The series, based on the John Updike novel The Witches of Eastwick, has failed to conjure up good ratings, the network said.

Gross plays the mysterious Darryl Van Horne who brings together three women and appears to be manipulating them to develop supernatural powers. He gets many of the wittiest lines.

The 13 episodes that have already been created will run in their regular Wednesday timeslot, but that will be the end of the series, ABC said on Tuesday.

"We're smack in the middle of several insanely juicy stories," executive producer Maggie Friedman said after learning of the cancellation. "And so we do not get a chance to wrap things up in a bow, which is killing me."

Several fans have begun online petitions and Twitter sites in an attempt to save the show.

Gross, who became widely known for his role in Due South, is currently working on the Canadian-filmed comedy Gunless, in which he plays an American gunslinger.

His 2008 directorial effort, Passchendaele, won best film at the Director's Guild of Canada Awards.

with files from The Canadian Press