Tuesday, October 23, 2012

MONSTER SHOP BULLETIN: MUNSTERS REBOOT PILOT TO BE AIRED AS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH By John Rose

The Mad Doctor
In a previous post we mentioned that a dramatic-themed, darker reboot of The Munsters, titled Mockingbird Lane, was being developed at NBC, to be headed by Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies fame.  Now, 2 years and 10 million dollars of development later, NBC is reportedly unhappy with the final product, but is currently trying to save face by airing the now-finished Mockingbird Lane pilot as a Halloween special.

The new family on the blockCreepy, spooky, mysterious, kooky... and really dark

The cast of Mockingbird Lane features Jerry O'Connell as Herman, Portia de Rossi as Lily, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, Mason Cook as Eddie and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn.  When a "baby bear attack" signals the onset of werewolf puberty for Eddie, the Munster family quickly relocates to the titular Mockingbird Lane, in a house deemed the "Hobo Murder House" by the locals, due to the fact that a serial killer who once murdered hobos on a regular basis lived there.  We could go on about what else is to happen, but here's NBC's official description for the show:

Buying a house these days is a nightmare, so Herman and Lily are shocked that no one scooped up the rambling Victorian mansion at 1313 Mockingbird Lane that was the site of a series of grisly hobo murders. Settling into their new place, they’re quickly onto the mission at hand: to gently ease Eddie into the reality of his werewolf adolescence. But it’s not always so easy to accept that your child is a little “different” from the rest of the kids. Meanwhile, Herman, who works as a funeral director, is suffering from a heart condition. Since he’s made up mostly of spare parts, he knew his makeshift heart would eventually give out. No worries though, because Grandpa, who is pretty good at procuring body parts, is on the case. All Herman cares about is finding a new heart with the same capacity to love Lily as much as he has for so many decades.

As can be seen, Fuller definitely had his own plans to remake the goofy monster clan into something more serious-minded and scarier than the usual round of monster puns.  Though one review of the pilot is already unimpressed with ML, we at the Monster Shop have chosen to remain neutral on this pilot until we have actually seen the final product (at which time we will provide a full review), but to our eyes, the visuals (check out our link below to see NBC's official preview) seem more drawn from the Addamses than the Munsters.  Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel...

Mockingbird Lane is due to air this Friday, October 27th, at 8 PM (7 PM Central). Check your local listings for time.  More information can be found here.