It’s officially over for NBC’s Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane. The project’s creator/executive producer Bryan Fuller made the announcement earlier today on Twitter. “I tweet with a heavy heart,” he wrote. “NBC not moving forward with #MockingbirdLane. From producers and cast, thank you all for enthusiasm and support.”
This marks the end of Mockingbird Lane‘s two-year journey. The project was originally developed by NBC’s previous regime during the 2010-11 cycle. Fuller’s script was one of very few Bob Greenblatt kept in play when he took over the network in January 2011. It was redeveloped and, in November 2011, it was ordered to pilot, which was subsequently rolled to June because of difficulties with casting. The pilot landed Bryan Singer as director and eventually assembled a cast led by Jerry O’Connell as family patriarch Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily, and Eddie Izzard as Grandpa. The pilot was lauded for its visual style but NBC brass felt the high-concept premise — a show about a family of “monsters” — didn’t quite work. The network unofficially passed on the pilot at the end of September but opted to air it as a Halloween special, in part to offset its high cost, said to be pushing $10 million. The special did a so-so 5.4 million total viewers and a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 in the Friday 8 PM slot, giving Fuller and the project’s fans a glimmer of hope that NBC may pick it up to series. Multiple additional scripts had been written, and there was speculation that the project may be reworked to focus on Grandpa and cousin Marilyn (Charity Wakefield). But I hear among top NBC brass the decision not to go forward with Mockingbird Lane had already been made, and it has now become official.
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