It’s a good news/bad news report. Unfortunately, the bad news is that NBC has now confirmed that Mockingbird Lane, the Bryan Fuller-written-and-produced re-imagining of The Munsters, will not be produced as a series. The somewhat good news is that we don’t lose everything; the one hour pilot has been refashioned into a special, to air the Friday before Halloween.
Mr. Fuller himself tweeted this upbeat interpretation:
#MOCKINGBIRDLANE LIVES!
— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) October 11, 2012
It is perhaps a remote possibility that, should the special do well, the series still could become a reality, but that is wild speculation. Here’s the press release, which also details the episode of Grimm that will follow the special, and which will feature a Latin American folk tale:
NBC STIRS UP CREEPY CAULDRON FOR HALLOWEEN WITH A FRIGHT NIGHT FEATURING ONE-HOUR PILOT OF ‘MOCKINGBIRD LANE’ LEADING INTO HAUNTING EPISODE OF ‘GRIMM’ ON OCTOBER 26
‘MOCKINGBIRD LANE’ RISES FROM CREATIVE TEAM OF BRYAN FULLER AND BRYAN SINGER
SPECIAL ‘GRIMM’ EPISODE ALSO TO AIR ON TELEMUNDO AND mun2
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – October 11, 2012 – As Halloween nears, NBC turns Friday, October 26 into Fright Night when it premieres the pilot of the much-anticipated “Mockingbird Lane” (8-9 p.m. ET) — based on executive producer Bryan Fuller’s (“Pushing Daisies,” “Heroes”) script and directed by executive producer Bryan Singer (“X-Men” film series, “House”). The special program leads into a haunting “La Llorona” Halloween episode of “Grimm” (9-10 p.m. ET), which will also enjoy special airings on NBCUniversal’s Telemundo and mun2.
“Mockingbird Lane” is a new reimagined version of the classic 1960s comedy “The Munsters,” now as a visually spectacular one-hour drama with a darker edge and tone. The cast includes Jerry O’Connell (“The Defenders”) as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi (“Arrested Development”) as his wife Lily, Eddie Izzard (“United States of Tara,” “The Riches”) as Grandpa, Mason Cook (‘Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D”) as Eddie and Charity Wakefield (“The Raven”) as Marilyn.
“This exciting new take on a memorable series will definitely blow out conventional wisdom and create its own legacy,” said Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment. “Teaming this new show with a terrifying episode of ‘Grimm’ makes the perfect pre-Halloween fright-fest.”
In the original 1964-66 series “The Munsters,” the odd but lovable family lived on 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
In “Mockingbird Lane,” sweet little Eddie Munster (Cook) is a normal kid about to enter the horrors of puberty. Truth is, he’s about to discover that for him becoming a teenager means growing hair in truly unexpected places — as in all over his body — every time the moon is full! Eddie’s got it pretty good though. His loving, supportive, run-of-the-mill family includes his mom Lily (de Rossi), the daughter of Dracula; his dad Herman (O’Connell), who brings new meaning to “Frankenstein”; and Grandpa (Izzard), who would give Dracula a run for his money if he weren’t actually Dracula! Of course then there’s creepy cousin Marilyn (Wakefield), who’s really the odd one because she’s so completely normal.
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.
“Mockingbird Lane” is from Bad Hat Harry Productions and Universal Television. Executive producers include Fuller, Singer and Sara Colleton (“Dexter”). Singer also directed the pilot.
NBC’s acclaimed drama series “Grimm” will join with Telemundo, mun2 and Universal Studios Hollywood’s “Halloween Horror Nights” in an unprecedented NBCUniversal cross-divisional event when its Halloween episode “La Llorona” is broadcast on October 26/27. The episode, featuring Kate del Castillo (Telemundo’s “La Reina del Sur”), is inspired by the haunting Latin American legend of the same name and will be broadcast in Spanish on Telemundo from 12-1 a.m. (ET) and English on mun2 at 1-2 a.m. (ET). These airings will follow the episode’s debut on NBC at 9-10 p.m. (ET) on October 26.
The legend of La Llorona (“The Weeping Woman”) is an enduring tale from Latin American folklore that tells of a distraught mother who drowned her children and then herself. The ghost of the mother emerges from water and is forced to return to haunt and terrorize the living. In addition to the telecasts of the “Grimm” episode, Universal Studios Hollywood is currently featuring La Llorona: Cazadora de Niños (Weeping Woman: The Child Hunter) maze, as part of its popular Halloween Horror Nights event.
In the episode of “Grimm,” detectives Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) and Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby) take on the other worldly predator, believed to be “La Llorona,” which has abducted some of Portland’s children on Halloween. Kate del Castillo — star of Telemundo’s hit miniseries “La Reina del Sur” and the upcoming films “K11” and “No Good Deeds” — guest-stars as Valentina Espinosa, a mysterious detective from New Mexico on an obsessive mission to uncover the truth behind the bizarre disappearances and joins forces with Burkhardt and Griffin to intervene before it’s too late.
“Grimm” is a drama series inspired by the classic Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales. After Portland homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli, “Turn the Beat Around”) discovers he’s descended from an elite line of criminal profilers known as ‘Grimms,’ he increasingly finds his responsibilities as a detective at odds with his new responsibilities as a Grimm. The series also stars Russell Hornsby (“Lincoln Heights”) as Hank, Bitsie Tulloch (“The Artist”) as Juliette, Silas Weir Mitchell (“My Name Is Earl”) as Monroe, Sasha Roiz (“Caprica”) as Captain Renard, Reggie Lee (“The Dark Knight Rises”) as Sgt. Wu and Bree Turner (“The Ugly Truth”) as Rosalee.
“Grimm” is a Universal Television and Hazy Mills production. The series was created by Stephen Carpenter and David Greenwalt & Jim Kouf. Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner (“Hot in Cleveland”) and Norberto Barba (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) also serve as executive producers along with Greenwalt and Kouf. Marc Buckland (NBC’s “My Name Is Earl”) directed the pilot.
Mockingbird Lane, starring Jerry O’Connell, Portia de Rossi, Eddie Izzard, Mason Cook, and Charity Wakefield, will air Friday, October 26 at 8/7c on NBC.
