Subtitles : Mayfair Witches (2023)

Storyline

I'm a fan of the books, more so 'the witching hour' than the latter two of this series, and certainly when it was initially announced that this would be made in to a tv show i had high hopes. As the previews appeared and the cast was given my hopes began to fade, then it became clear who was writing and producing it and I pretty much realised that this would diverge into some sort of feminist essay on strong women - afterall, Anne Rice did write the story based on the inheritance of a line of women within a family, where men pretty much played second fiddle....It is with much regret after watching the first episode that my fears have come to reality, whilst Alexandra is an entirely adequate actor, i'm not sure she embodies Rowan, she has neither the maturity or activing gravitas to carry off the complex role, though to be fair, the screen play appears to be utterly lacking any element that made the book/s compelling so perhaps Alexandra will indeed prove to be adequate for the job.The biggest issue I see so far is the absence of Michael, whose character is very important in the book, i mean, those of us who did read it and have a sense of the story beyond what they are doing in the show, will know that without Michael, much of what happens further along in the story simply isn't possible. Where is Michael, i don't really need to ask why he isn't making an appearance, because afterall, do women really need men, let alone women as powerful as this family of witches? Evidently no.Let me move on to Lasher, if memory serves me, Lasher in the books is portrayed as being a man of such beauty that he is irresistable to both men and women, he is beautiful and compelling and mischevious and smart - regrettably this seems to be another case of miscasting.... i'm sure this actor is also adequate, but he is not beautiful, and his acting so far seems more like a short fat boy who likes mcdonalds a little too much who is peeping through peoples windows with an ever so strange expression on this face. I'll say no more because i don't want to be rude without cause, but this chap, well he is no Lasher.The remainder of the cast are a bit meh, Carlotta could be interesting, Deidra is played by an actress who hasnt' worked for years and it shows, and as for that LA Law guy showing up to play the other male lead, well, again, a very poor choice indeed.Would it be fair to say tv shows rise and fall based on the cast and the story? If that is indeed true, and despite now living in a world where people like the Kardashians and desperate housewives pass for entertainment, it seems to me that The Mayfair Witches will just end up on the same 1 season scrap heap of shows that were so poorly written and acted that they have no where to go but in the bin. I see AMC are busing on a cancel frenzy as of yesterday, something tells me this show will be included within a week or two....You can't take a book as complex as The Witching Hour, and the characters as developed as Rowan and Michael, and the rest of the Mayfair family, and use them as a vehicle for feminism and mediocre writing and lazy story telling. You cannot give the jobs to actors whose talent is at best middling, and you certainly cannot butcher the story to such an extent that the only part of it that is recognisable after a single episode is the characters name.I imagine if you've never read the book it may be that this show looks interesting, and good luck to those people I suppose, but to those of us who are fans of Anne's work, i'm fairly sure she will be rolling in her grave to see what has been done to her story - and we aren't even going to go near talking about Interview with the vampire, because sometimes as our mothers teach us, if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all.This had so much potential, but sadly someone approved this as a story that had little to nothing to do with the original story, and I am not at all convinced I will bother watching it any further and I imagine I am not going to be alone.