Movies reboot as TV shows

The gamble is not entirely new to NBC. The network saw moderate success with Katims' adaptation of the Peter Berg high school football drama "Friday Night Lights." Though the ratings-challenged show had a difficult time explaining itself to an audience -- the story centers on the issues facing a small-town community in Texas more than it does on high school football -- it found a critical following so devoted that NBC engineered a deal with DirecTV to keep the show on the air through 2011.

Katims thinks his new show will be a much easier sell. " 'Parenthood' is simpler -- it's all there in the title," he said. "It's dealing with the beauty and heartache of everyday life, specifically for parents."

As in the Ron Howard-directed film, the show will revolve around the daily dramas of a supersized adult family: four adult siblings (Peter Krause, Maura Tierney, Erika Christensen and Dax Shepard), their spouses, kids and parents (Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia). Howard will be executive producer of the series with producing partner Brian Grazer.

"Like with 'Friday Night Lights,' I think there's positive attachment to 'Parenthood,' " Bromstad said, recalling being a young mom herself when the film came out. "I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember it being a rare comment on how challenging parenthood was, but also how great."

A hard spell to cast

"Eastwick" executive producer Maggie Friedman concedes she initially found it troublesome that "The Witches of Eastwick" might be a little too memorable.

A couple of series attempts had already been made in the aftermath of George Miller's 1987 supernatural comedy-horror movie, based on the John Updike book, which starred Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer as a trio of lusty but vengeful witches and Jack Nicholson as "your average horny little devil." Pilots were produced in 1992 and as recently as 2002, with Marcia Cross, Kelly Rutherford and Lori Loughlin playing the women as mothers with teenage sons (all three are now regulars in returning series this fall).

"It was extremely intimidating," said Friedman, who had worked with ABC when she was a writer on "Once and Again." Also, the idea of a remake had already stalled out twice before, but Friedman said she eventually gave in because of her "intense interest" in magic. (She had previously written a show about a witch for Warner Bros. that never got picked up.)