Mockingbird Lane Halloween Special

Mockingbird Lane, emerges onto television screens as a Halloween Special on Friday, October 26, 2012.  Plenty of buzz surrounded this project.  After all, Bryan Singer remains the man behind House M.D.  as well as The Usual Suspects and of course the first two X-Men movies.  What might he do with what is essentially a remake of The Munsters?  For those who don’t remember, this 1960s sitcom centered around the conceit of classic Universal monsters living as a family in an American suburb.  Grandpa was Dracula, his daughter Lily married to the Frankenstein Monster, their child Eddie a nascent wolf man…er, boy.  Then there was Cousin Marilyn, who resembled a seemingly ordinary girl.

As of October 12, the new version functions as  a pilot.  If it should do well, a new show might appear in the near future on NBC.  There’s even a tumbler page devoted to the event.

Described as a drama that retains the humor, Mockingbird Lane refers to the address of the spooky old home where our not-quite-human family resides.  The central notion is that Herman (Jerry O’Connell) is an artificial construct made by Dracula (Eddie Izzard–who also appeared in Shadow of the Vampire) because no man was good enough for his beloved daughter (Portia de Rossi).  Incidently writer/producer Brian Fuller describes Herman as “essentially a zombie in a constant state of decay.”  Young Mason Cook plays Eddie.  No word  yet on whether he’s still a werewolf.  Charity Wakefield is cousin Marilyn.  Whereas de Rossi trades her trademark blond for long raven locks, Wakefield turns her brunette hair for platinum.  Other details–Eddie is a cub scout and his scout leader is evidently quite smitten with Lily (well, who can blame him?).  And in a plot turn right out of Bewitched, there’s a nosy neighbor (Beth Grant) spying on the Munsters, certain something is up!

Oh, and from the trailer, we see they still have Spot.  Their pet.  He’s a dragon.  Butch Patrick, the original Eddie, has a role as yet unrevealed.  The writer, Brian Fuller, has previous credits including Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me.

Here you can see the trailer for the new special:

Certainly has an edgier look than the original, as well as a bigger budget! So what do you think?  Does it hold promise?  Is this an abomination?  Will you check it out?  And am I the only one reminded on some level of Young Dracula?

 

By david

David MacDowell Blue blogs at Night Tinted Glasses.  He graduated from the National Shakespeare Conservatory and is the author of The Annotated Carmilla. and Your Vampire Story (And How to Write It) as well as a theatrical adaptation of Carmilla.

6 comments

  1. I haven’t actually seen any of the Mockingbird Lane episodes yet. I didn’t know it was on the air already. LOL…time flies. It looks pretty decent though. I’ll have to check it out.

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