Tag Archives: Mockingbird Lane

TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season

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The Television Critics Association is back for its winter tour. It’s the time of year when the major networks and their shows talk about their fall performance and preview what’s to come midseason and beyond. Of the big four networks, NBC was up first today and man-o-man was the Peacock’s chairman of entertainment Bob Greenblatt happy to see a sea of press because this marks the first time in a long time that his network has something positive to really talk about. NBC’s had a great fall as they currently find themselves the #1 network in the adults 18-49 demographic and #2 in total viewers (still trailing CBS). “What a difference a year makes, right?” he exclaimed toward the crowd packed with press and critics. “I’m going to bore you with statistics because I’m not sure when I’m going to have the chance to do this again.” The major stats are as follows: for the first half of the season, NBC is up 24 percent and 19 percent in the 18-49 demo and total viewers, respectively. The net can thank the ultimate Monday pairing of The Voice and Revolution for their recent success, as well as high ratings for Sunday Night Football and their surging sitcom Go On. In 2012 FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly accused the heads of the other major nets of having their heads up their asses. Greenblatt responded directly today with the most publicist quote to come out of his panel: “I can guarantee you, we don’t have our heads up our asses,” he said.

Greenblatt and NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke used the rest of their time to discuss specific shows, new ones and old. Jump after the break for the bullet-point breakdown. Continue reading TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season →

Bryan Fuller’s NBC ‘Munsters’ reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’ is dead

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Since we saw it coming, I’ll be brief. Pushing Daisies creator imagined a modernized Munsters reboot starring Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily, Mason Cook as their son Eddie, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn. Ultimately network brass decided not to move forward with the making of the series called Mockingbird Lane. But instead of throwing out the expensive pilot directed by Bryan Singer, NBC aired it as a Halloween special in late October. On a Friday night at 9, a respectable 5.4 million viewers tuned in and the episode scored a 1.5/5 rating in the adults 18-49 demo. With decent ratings and additional scripts already written, those who enjoyed the sneak peek at Fuller’s vision for The Munsters hoped that NBC would give it a chance on their schedule. Today Fuller broke the bad news in a single tweet:

“I tweet with a heavy heart. NBC not moving forward with #MockingbirdLane. From producers and cast, thank you all for enthusiasm and support.”

It wasn’t meant to be. But for Bryan Fuller it’s on to the next one: he’s hard at work producing another NBC drama Hannibal that stars Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lector in the role made famous by Anthony Hopkins in the classic 1991 film Silence of the Lambs.

TV reminder: NBC airing Bryan Fuller’s ‘Munsters’ reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’ as Halloween special tonight at 8PM [Update: The ratings are in…]

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If you were anticipating the bold Munsters reboot from Bryan Fuller, I have some bad news to report. NBC has decided not to go ahead with making the series. However, the network will air the pilot that was shot. The Peacock did not specifically state why they ultimately decided to pass on the show; instead the network’s Entertainment President Jennifer Salke released the following statement:

“This exciting new take on a memorable series will definitely blow out conventional wisdom and create its own legacy. Teaming this new show with a terrifying episode of Grimm makes the perfect pre-Halloween fright-fest.”

Mockingbird Lane stars Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily, Mason Cook as their son Eddie, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn.

Tune into tonight at 9PM to catch an hour-long glimpse into Bryan Fuller’s imaginative, contemporary take on the classic 1960s sitcom. Rumor has it that if it does well in the ratings NBC may opt to pick it up for next season, but by planting it on a Friday night (aka where most shows go to die) I don’t see that happening. With Mockingbird Lane off his plate, the Pushing Daisies creator is now focusing solely on his upcoming midseason drama for NBC Hannibal.

Watch a trailer after the break.

Update: The ratings are in and they look like this. The pilot Halloween special drew 5.4 million viewers and scored a 1.5/5 rating in adults 18-49. Not too shabby. But is it enough for NBC to continue production on more scripts that have already been written? Don’t hold your breath. Continue reading TV reminder: NBC airing Bryan Fuller’s ‘Munsters’ reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’ as Halloween special tonight at 8PM [Update: The ratings are in…] →

Bryan Fuller opens up about ‘Munsters’ reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’

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In a recent interview with EW, Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller shed light on his most recent TV project Mockingbird Lane. Here are some choice quotes from the extensive interview that can be read in full right here.

Fuller on the inspiration behind the Munsters reboot: “It started when I was at the Tim Burton exhibit in New York and he had all these monster family portraits. And I thought there should be a show about a family of monsters. But any show about a family of monsters is going to be calling back to the original show about a family of monsters. We are reinventing The Munsters because if we didn’t everybody would just say, “You’re ripping off the Munsters!” So why not just make it official?”

On why he decided to change the name of the show from The Munsters to Mockingbird Lane: “The script is such a dramatic departure from the tone and style of the original show. If we continued to call the show The Munsters, people are just going to to think we’re doing The Munsters. We’re doing a reinvention and re-imagination of this property. I love the Universal monsters. I love The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy. There’s so many great characters we can run through this metaphor of family storytelling that it just felt it was ripe to do as a one-hour dramedy. Having all those elements to play with, the toy box is really, really full.” (Note: the title is a direct reference to the Munsters’ address: 1313 Mockingbird Lane.)

On what viewers can expect in the pilot: “There’s some great stories going forward in the series. Any story you can tell onParenthood we can run through a Universal monster prism and tell it in a very twisted, off-kilter way. What I love about the pilot story is it’s about a family who loves each other and they have a child [Eddie, the werewolf] with a disability and they’re trying to craft a path for that child so he can have a happy life — they just happen to be monsters. And, unlike in the original, we’re going to see our monsters do monstrous things.”

Fuller’s grand vision for the show: “We want this show to be an American Harry Potter. To have that sense of a magical world that you get to go to with your family and find stories told in a fantastical way that are instantly relatable. It’s an American Horror Story that the whole family can watch.”

Since the pilot is still being tweaked, no actual footage has been released from Mockingbird Lane…until now, that is. EW got their hands on a still that reveals the Munsters‘ mansion. “We wanted [the mansion] to have feeling of the original,” Fuller comments. “We wanted a house in the neighborhood that children would walk past faster than other houses.” The image looms above.

Mockingbird Lane, starring Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, comes to TV this fall on NBC.

[Via EW]