We've been talking about NBC reboot of "The Munsters", now titled "Mockingbird Lane" for a few months now and other than some quick casting news there's been nothing to do but talk. Until now that is.
This edition of Entertainment Weekly was home to the very first concept art for the show which includes the house, Eddie Izzard as "Grandpa", and two versions of a soon to be cast Lilly. British actress Charity Wakefield is set to co-star as Marilyn.
The pilot, written by Bryan Fuller and to be directed by Bryan Singer, is described as a reinvention of the 1960s sitcom about a family of "monsters" - vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein - and their "plain" relative (Wakefield) with striking visuals in the vein of Fuller's ABC dramedy "Pushing Daisies".
(http://i42.tinypic.com/s1u7aq.jpg)
I think I threw up a little in my mouth while reading this. Though it would be cool to have an original monster themed sitcom on tv, I will stick to my collections of the original Munsters.
I don't know why it has to ba "an American Harry Potter", other than to try to sell the concept to the network bean-counters. I don't think anything will ever replace the original Munsters, just because we don't have the talents of Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis any more, and I can't think of a pair of modern comic actors that can come close.
With that in mind, I think I'm willing to give this one a chance, but I'll watch it more as a "Munsters next generation" as opposed to a Munsters re-boot. (I know that's not the producer's intention, but it's the only way I could accept anopther version of Herman and Lily). What might ruin this version, in my humble view, is if the producers forget the basic kindness of the original characters and turn them into a bunch of faux-Addams family.
Why call it the Munsters?
We're going to do a show called 'I Dream of Jeannie'...
Oh, it' about a bachelor astronaut who finds a genie bottle on the beach and a beautiful genie inside falls in love with him?
No. It's going to have a talking Horse named Mr. Ed in it owned by a guy named Wilbur.
Stupid.
Well, the house is cool.
To paraphrase the prophet Butt-head, "This [will suck] more than anything that has ever sucked before."
If Grandpa's supposed to be Count Dracula, and he's not wearing black, then he's not Count Dracula! (Yes, I'm looking at you, "Bram Stoker's Dracula.")
Yes, the house is cool, though. But isn't it a bit gigantic? How would they ever afford the property taxes in this economy?
Looks like the Winchester Mystery House or something.
In the painting, Grandpa looks like Sean Connery as Dr. Jones. :o
Somebody tell me again, outside of stealing the names of classic characters, how this is supposed to have ANY semblance of a connection with the Munsters?
Yeah, you're a family of monsters trying to blend in to "normal" society, so you move into this house . . .
(http://img2-2.timeinc.net/ew/i/2012/04/10/mockingbird-lane_810.jpg)
Looks like once again Hollywood is trying to take my childhood memories and crap on them and light them on fire.
Quote from: Scatter on April 12, 2012, 06:14:35 PM
Somebody tell me again, outside of stealing the names of classic characters, how this is supposed to have ANY semblance of a connection with the Munsters?
Scatter, they've been doing this to Robert E Howard's characters for years! Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane... The Kane film wasn't too bad, just wasn't the character REH created. The rest....puke!!
Is Grandpa's ensemble REALLY that far off from this?
(http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=4818494265493559&id=4989b98c861a23e55051305cb87b4e5f&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.boomerangtv.co.uk%2fsites%2fwww.boomerangtv.co.uk%2ffiles%2fimagecache%2fcharacter_image%2fcharacters%2ffred_big.gif&cache=1)
Might as well have gone 'full jackass' and dressed him like Freddy.
Quote from: Sean on April 13, 2012, 12:43:41 AM
Is Grandpa's ensemble REALLY that far off from this?
(http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=4818494265493559&id=4989b98c861a23e55051305cb87b4e5f&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.boomerangtv.co.uk%2fsites%2fwww.boomerangtv.co.uk%2ffiles%2fimagecache%2fcharacter_image%2fcharacters%2ffred_big.gif&cache=1)
Might as well have gone 'full jackass' and dressed him like Freddy.
At least it's not this crap...
(http://everybookandcranny.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/dracoldman2.jpg)
I don't even like the house. There's something wrong with it... in a bad way.
Quote from: aura of foreboding on April 13, 2012, 01:11:14 AM
I don't even like the house. There's something wrong with it... in a bad way.
It looks like a fully restored Victorian House. Where's the cracks,cob webs , and dust?
And the bright greens and the gold! The gold! My God... It's disgusting. This is where Tim Burton got Dark Shadows right... the visuals. The new Collinwood looks fantastic. This... This... I don't even know.
But nothing can top the look of these new "Munsters" in terms of terribleness. I'll take the new Barnabas over these imitations any day - and I am a much bigger DS fan than a Munsters fan. This is outright awful.
Even restored and all gussied up, 1313 Mockingbird Lane still looks like a place you'd expect to be haunted. But, who knows what will actually end up onscreen. If it's that huge, it'll probably be CGI.
Quote from: aura of foreboding on April 13, 2012, 01:11:14 AM
I don't even like the house. There's something wrong with it... in a bad way.
It's too large. Where IS that 'house'----Newport, Rhode Island? Next to the Breakers?
And, isn't Marilyn supposed to save it from the wrecking ball in the pilot? Doesn't look at all dilapidated to me.
I had not heard about a Munsters reboot and looked it up on line. They're going to wear normal clothes????? Sounds like it'll be canceled before the pilot finishes airing.
We can only hope it never makes it past the pilot.
I love Victorian homes, and spooky ones especially. I do not like the architecture chosen for the new Munster home. The original is so iconic, a family even built a replica of it in Texas for their home. To be honest, the house in the concept painting looks more like a Victorian Resort Hotel, then a house. Architectural elements have been lifted from a number of places, including the Carson Mansion in Eureka California. If you look at most of the iconic horror houses (Addams Family, Psycho, Ghost and Mr. Chicken), even the largest ones looked like single family residences. The Munster's home in all it's incantations always looked like a house that could be found in a middle class neighborhood, and the joke was that the Munsters always considered themselves a regular American Family. I don't understand people who take something that has a huge fanbase, and then drastcly remake it to reflect their peculiar vision. It defeats the whole point of using a well known property, if it is no longer recognizable as that property. I'm looking forward to this new Munsters, even less than the New Dark Shadows movie.
At least they're not even calling it "The Munsters" anymore. That way, when it fails, no one can say "'The Munsters' failed." No, this ill-conceived, bastardization is what will fail.