The cast of Mockingbird Lane, which is now kaput. Or is it?
© NBC
As much as a reboot of the very of-its-time Sixties monster series Munsters seemed like a bad idea when it was announced 25 months ago, and despite the fact that the initial go-round on the project faltered and stalled for a year, and even ignoring the fact the casting, once the production made it that far, was peculiar--intriguingly peculiar, but still peculiar--I never suspected that a series bruited by TV genius Bryan Fuller that with his branding would be guaranteed to be smart and quirky would actually collapse and fail to go to series.
But that's what happened--or so it seems. The NBC suits are said to have passed on the hourlong pilot for Mockingbird Lane, though they have elected to air it as a Halloween special on Friday, Oct. 26. And that very visible airing (unlike the burying other unsold pilots have received) may be the key to Mockingbird's future.
Perhaps we can glimpse part of the problem from the logline for the pilot: Herman, a Frankenstein's monster made up of different people's body parts, needed a heart transplant from a living donor to survive. If you're thinking that playing that for comedy is vintage Bryan Fuller, you're right. If you're thinking that a storyline like that should create some major dissonance with the whole concept and tenor of the Munsters--which, remember, was a very goofy sitcom involving monsters trying to live amongst normal people (its closest cousin in terms of strange folk living among normals is The Beverly Hillbillies)--you'd be right again.
Fuller originally denied reports on Deadline that the network had passed, Tweeting that "NBC just informed me the Deadline article regarding #MockingbirdLane was Dead Wrong." As late as last Friday he was telling people not to count out a series order, with the Halloween pilot airing a perfect and unusual opportunity to garner fan support and create a push for a green light.
"Such a different show merits a different way of getting it out to the audience," Fuller said. "There's been tremendous support to get it out there and get people to see it, and have them make up their own minds." Contracts with the actors don't expire until next summer, so if enough viewers come on board, Mockingbird could still go into production for a fall 2013 debut.
It could happen. After all, Fuller's past series have specialized in making dead things not dead anymore in one way or another--now he just has to make it happen for his own pilot. More seriously, Bryan Fuller makes intelligent, provocative drama that unlike anything else that's being put out, certainly by the broadcast networks. Everyone should watch Mockingbird Lane on the 26th, if only to support the idea of Bryan Fuller making as much strange television as he can.
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Comments
I will watch Mockingbird Lane, because of the Bryan Fuller touch, rather than any nostalgia about The Munsters. The Munsters was something I watched solely due to the novelty factor of the series.
I’m not sure that camp fares well these days. But, in the past, I would have been willing to bet cash that “reality” TV shows would never survive, let alone become the “chewing gum on the sidewalk” of TV series — impossible to always avoid, and annoying. So, what do I know.
Great. It sounds like they’re trying to take something from my childhood / early teen years & turn it into edgy dreck. Herman needing a new secondhand ticker ? Sounds like real laugh – riot material straight from the Obits page.
Think I’ll pass…..
I think everyone who loved the Munsters should avoid this like the plague. It isn’t the Munsters and it should be called something and quit misrepresenting it as such. how many agree with me.