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EXCLUSIVE: It looks like NBC‘s Mockingbird Lane pilot won’t be going to series. There is no final decision, but I hear that the network brass are leaning toward passing on the project, a reboot of the classic 1960s sitcom The Munsters. The project from Bryan Fuller had been in the works at NBC for a couple of seasons, originally developed by the previous regime during the 2010-11 development cycle. Fuller’s script was one of very few Bob Greenblatt kept in play when he took over the network in January 2011. It was redeveloped and, in November 2011, it was ordered to pilot around the same time another Fuller-written drama, Hannibal, landed a script-to-series deal at NBC.
Like Fuller’s previous series Pushing Daisies, Munsters was to feature striking visuals mixed with all the classic Munsters archetypes. Rolled to June, the pilot landed Bryan Singer as director and assembled a cast led by Jerry O’Connell as family patriarch Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily, and Eddie Izzard as Grandpa. The pilot was lauded for its visual style but pulling off the high-concept premise — a show about a family of “monsters” — was always considered a risky proposition. In the end, I hear it didn’t quite work. Meanwhile, Fuller is busy working on Hannibal, a series based on the Hannibal Lecter character that has a 13-episode midseason order.
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okay seriously, wtf is Greenblatt doing???
Maybe he will reconsider after seeing last weekend’s box office success — hmm, maybe the premise of a family of monsters can work after all?
This wasn’t a comedy. Once again Brian Singer took the wrong tone with a property.
That’s a bit disappointing. I understand while a lot of people aren’t quite sold on the remake, or the style they were going with, but I was looking forward to it by virtue alone of that Bryan Fuller was writing it, which always catches my attention.
I do hope the whole Hannibal thing works out though, Mads Mikkelsen as Lecter seems like an absolutely brilliant piece of casting.
I saw the sizzle reel at ComicCon and was very surprised how much I liked what I was seeing. This is pretty disappointing.
If this is true, it’s a smart move for a network making too many blunderous decisions as it is with their programming. This had disaster written all over it and about time someone at that shitball network woke up and decided this was a bad idea to start.
I was thinking the EXACT same thing. With all the poor decisions made at NBC, this project seemed like it was just begging for ridicule. I’m all for being bold, but this is the kind of risk you take when you’re the number one network, not the last place network. And still, if you look at what they’ve bought so far this season, compared to what the other networks are buying, I’d still say it’s going to be a losing line up. A show about a fictional Dr. Oz? Another super hero franchise? And even more ill-conceived Smash crammed down our throats. Yawn. I’m already reaching for the remote.
NÔOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
One of THE ONLY tv remakes I had faith in, and typical NBC never gives it a chance.
They’ll green-light thoysands of L&O, court and co procedurals, but no way will hey take a risk on a high-concept re-imagining. Sigh…
Maybe they can shop it around? To bad it wasn’t a put-pilot
I hope NBC is smart enought to air the pilot as a Halloween special later this month.
That sucks. I was looking forward to seeing Eddie Izzard as Grandpa.
This was one show that would work for NBC. It’s definitely better than a lot of other crap they have on their schedule. I hope they take it to FOX or CW or F/X.
Huh? I don’t get it. This could be Universal’s answer to Disney’s reworking of its characters on Once Upon a Time, which just came back to very nice ratings for ABC. NBC, don’t you want some of that?
Instead of Disney’s Snow White, Prince Charming and The Evil Queen, you have Universal’s Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, etc, all filtered through Bryan Fuller’s creative genius, cmon, it’s even better than OUaT, it could work!
if fuller is a creative genius, why doesn’t he do something original, instead of a remake of the munsters and a remake/reboot of hannibal?
The cast and talent behind the scenes of this sounded fine,but why was the decision made to make this an hour-long dramedy? The thought of re-imaging The Munsters as a drama was just weird from the getgo.
Wow… That sucks! Was looking foward to it… Hopfully Showtime or CBS picks it up. It sounds crappy but it could work for some odd reason.
I love Bryan Fuller’s work, and look forward to Hannibal, but I admit I always had a question mark on this one.
Having said that, he and Tim Minear, to name two, need to have someone do an exorcism on whoever or whatever gets their fantastic, original shows cancelled so quickly!
My goodness, I didn’t know that Jerry O’ Connell was Herman Munster. And judging from that promo pic, he WASN’T going to be a Frankenstein type monster. What gives? It’s like making a Superman movie in which Superman parades around in a trenchcoat. No wonder this didn’t impress anyone.
Good, now Fuller and Singer are free to reboot a Star Trek series. Are you listening CBS?????
I think Bob Orci has already put in his dibs on that.
I appreciate Greenblat following Fuller’s passion with this idea. It says a lot about how much he believes in the guy. Sorry he won’t take more risk.
I like it much more than Hannibal which doesn’t feel fully understood by its own creative team. I think the overestimate the public’s interest in that story.
If only Greenblat had stood by Prime Suspect and allowed it develop. NBC might have a good show on the air.
Poor Bryan Singer, he used to be so popular but ever since superman everything he touches seems to shrivel up and die.
Thank God.
No, this was pitched as a sure thing.
Networks don’t do risky. Look at how bad this dev season has been. This must have sucked.
I’m out of the loop. When I read the headline I thought, ‘Great!’ I didn’t know how much I like that cast. I would have watched it, but I’m glad it won’t go, cause most people wouldn’t have. Those folks are better off getting attached to something with a chance.
From Bryan Fuller’s Twitte:
NBC just informed me the Deadline article regarding #MockingbirdLane was Dead Wrong. Stay tuned for updates!
https://twitter.com/BryanFuller/status/252969247960084480
Thank you gods of television.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “NBC does the right thing after it has exhausted every other possibility.”
Are some of you people kidding me? Remakes and reboots are bad ideas when there are plenty of great ones floating around that never make it to the surface because of the remakes and the reboots.
Come on, people. This was not a good idea to begin with and I’m glad it’s not going forward.
Perhaps now NBC can reinvest in something less groan-inducing.
Battlestar Gallactica.
Bingo. It’s perfectly possible for a remake to be better than the original, because it is different.
The Munsters are cursed. 16 years ago Universal gave the show to Brian Levant he wanted to do a feature and it died. Then about 8 or 9 years ago they gave it to the Wayans Bros. and same result it died. This was Fuller’s 3rd attempt at breathing new life into the old show. Forget about it. The old episodes that were made from 1964 to 1966 were brilliant and you can always watch them on DVD. Universal should colorize them. They made a Munsters Go Home movie in 1966 it was great released in theaters in color and it was hilarious.
God I love that movie.
The pilot is sadly underwhelming and has been done for a long, long time. It would have already been picked up by now. Heard the testing wasn’t great.