There are no new ideas in Hollywood they say, just re-treads of older material that sometimes neither needs a remake nor stands the test of time. Mockingbird Lane was NBC's attempt to remake The Munsters, a show that was corny and not all that great during its original run. This version was re-imagined by Brian Fuller who has had cult success with previous shows Dead Like Me and Pushing Daises. (Cult success usually means critical favorite that is ratings challenged) His version of The Munsters is sans the laugh track and black and white. It's macabre "humor" in bright colors, kind of like a mix of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands meets his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...wait Burton already combined those two into that Dark Shadows remake. Ugh...see nothing original.
Anyway, Fuller doesn't go the corny jokes or silly one liners here, there are just undertones of subtle humor that lives firmly on the dark side. Like at the beginning of the show where a group of scouts are attacked by a werewolf but miraculously no one actually gets killed or seriously injured. That's because you don't kill children in the 8pm hour of television. The whole show walks that line from Grandpa, who makes no bones about being a vampire and eating people to Herman who needs a new heart, so why not take the new scout masters. Add in to that the main storyline of deciding to tell Eddie he's not so much going through puberty as he is officially becoming a werewolf, every 30 days. It's an hour of a sitcom trope enshrouded in weirdness. Case in point, Grandpa and Marilyn try to tell Eddie about the circle of life while watching a lion kill a deer and the lion is killed and eaten by Grandpa as a full on Bram Stoker vampire not some glistening in the sunlight Twilight twink. You don't see that on tv everyday and it's probably one of the reason NBC passed on this pilot, that and the pilot's reportedly $10 million cost, which seems to have been spent on CGI effects, something the show would need on a regular basis in order to maintain interestingness. Costs aside, it's probably good that NBC passed on the show. As a one off it's a pleasant Halloween show diversion that could just as easily have been a 2 hour movie of the week special they could re-show every year or make a new one for this time of year but trying to sustain this type of story and weird humor on a weekly basis would be challenging as has been proven with past shows like Twin Peaks, Pushing Daisies, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Brimstone (anyone?) to name a few. Only cult status has given them much life. The ratings for this one time airing weren't exactly spectacular so I don't see NBC changing it's mind, though they may think about once a year October movie special, which could probably work.
All in all it wasn't a terrible pilot, at most it was mildly entertaining, but felt like a pilot as things were set up and some things were left untold, since that is what you would use a series for. Jerry O'Connell was like an all-American version of Herman. Portia de Rossi was more enchanting witchy than vampiress Yvonne de Carlo. Eddie Izzard was a good evil scheming Grandpa. Mason Cook was like an innocent nerdy type as opposed to a husky Butch Patrick. And Charity Wakefield seemed to be channeling Marilyn Monroe as a 50's housewife as opposed to the originals smart brainy Marilyn. A likeable cast, still trying to find a hit tv show as their IMDB pages can attest. NBC has been mired in last place among the networks and outside of Sunday Night Football and The Voice doesn't have much to hang it's hat on. I do give them props for trying something quirky if not especially different from what is already on tv. With several of their shows in their last seasons they are going to need shows and hopefully they will keep trying the different instead of the expected ordinary and maybe they may just hit on something that works (hopefully) or end up getting passed in the ratings battles by Univision or heaven forbid the CW.
Anyway, Fuller doesn't go the corny jokes or silly one liners here, there are just undertones of subtle humor that lives firmly on the dark side. Like at the beginning of the show where a group of scouts are attacked by a werewolf but miraculously no one actually gets killed or seriously injured. That's because you don't kill children in the 8pm hour of television. The whole show walks that line from Grandpa, who makes no bones about being a vampire and eating people to Herman who needs a new heart, so why not take the new scout masters. Add in to that the main storyline of deciding to tell Eddie he's not so much going through puberty as he is officially becoming a werewolf, every 30 days. It's an hour of a sitcom trope enshrouded in weirdness. Case in point, Grandpa and Marilyn try to tell Eddie about the circle of life while watching a lion kill a deer and the lion is killed and eaten by Grandpa as a full on Bram Stoker vampire not some glistening in the sunlight Twilight twink. You don't see that on tv everyday and it's probably one of the reason NBC passed on this pilot, that and the pilot's reportedly $10 million cost, which seems to have been spent on CGI effects, something the show would need on a regular basis in order to maintain interestingness. Costs aside, it's probably good that NBC passed on the show. As a one off it's a pleasant Halloween show diversion that could just as easily have been a 2 hour movie of the week special they could re-show every year or make a new one for this time of year but trying to sustain this type of story and weird humor on a weekly basis would be challenging as has been proven with past shows like Twin Peaks, Pushing Daisies, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Brimstone (anyone?) to name a few. Only cult status has given them much life. The ratings for this one time airing weren't exactly spectacular so I don't see NBC changing it's mind, though they may think about once a year October movie special, which could probably work.
All in all it wasn't a terrible pilot, at most it was mildly entertaining, but felt like a pilot as things were set up and some things were left untold, since that is what you would use a series for. Jerry O'Connell was like an all-American version of Herman. Portia de Rossi was more enchanting witchy than vampiress Yvonne de Carlo. Eddie Izzard was a good evil scheming Grandpa. Mason Cook was like an innocent nerdy type as opposed to a husky Butch Patrick. And Charity Wakefield seemed to be channeling Marilyn Monroe as a 50's housewife as opposed to the originals smart brainy Marilyn. A likeable cast, still trying to find a hit tv show as their IMDB pages can attest. NBC has been mired in last place among the networks and outside of Sunday Night Football and The Voice doesn't have much to hang it's hat on. I do give them props for trying something quirky if not especially different from what is already on tv. With several of their shows in their last seasons they are going to need shows and hopefully they will keep trying the different instead of the expected ordinary and maybe they may just hit on something that works (hopefully) or end up getting passed in the ratings battles by Univision or heaven forbid the CW.
(One side note, when they show a full view of the house from outside, if you look slightly to the left of the house you can just make out what I'm pretty sure is the Golden Gate Bridge. Cause you know San Francisco is where the weirdos come to roost. I should know, I live here.)
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