Fuller called it a "backdoor pilot." In other words, it's a pilot that didn't get picked up for series and, barring some extraordinary circumstance, won't. In the old days, failed pilots used to get shown in the summer months as an anthology series kind of thing. That doesn't happen any more.
Decent but, given the high budget and the fact that ratings tend to drop after the first ep of a series, unlikely to move the network to greenlight. At best (and I think still unlikely), it might convince them to go back to the drawing board for a more 'family friendly,' less effects laden, half-hour sitcom.
To be fair, I think it did pretty good with the 18-49 demo (NCIS skews old, as we all know). But even so, that's probably not enough to save it.
Actually, looking that numbers again. It did no better in the 18-49 demo than "Dateline NBC" and "Blue Bloods," two shows that skew pretty damn old. If NBC can get the same ratings with (the very cheap) Dateline as with a big budget genre show, it's pretty damn unlikely they'd take a chance on this.
You actually need to get picked up as a series before you can get canceled after a few episodes. Why waste more money on something that didn't take off. You should honestly be happy they bothered airing the pilot at all.
Actually, didn't it happen, back in the 70s, to a number of classic shows on CBS? I think shows like Hogan's Heroes and Green Acres were cancelled by accident, in that they were thrown into a group of "rural" programs that were eliminated from the network lineup. As for Mockingbird Lane, I loved it. Yeah, there were some more graphic scenes that I could have done without, but overall, the show was darkly funny. As has been said before by others, I like the casting just fine, and they all did well in their roles, but Eddie Izzard flat out owned it. I just about pissed myself, laughing at the brides remark. That was pure Eddie.
Well, Green Acres was a "rural" show, produced by the people who made the Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction. It was even set in the same universe. Thought its tone was much different.
Thought it was wonderful - the most entertaining thing I've seen on TV in ages. Izzard owned the damned thing. Brilliant. Herman's introduction was a great sight gag. Making him look like the Universal Frankenstein or going any more retro with this than they did would be beyond stupid. Sounds like there's a chance... But then, I'd watch a "faithful" revival of The Munsters about...twice. I'd watch Mockingbird Lane every week.
Honestly, sometimes I hate being on this board... By "accidental," I was referring to G-Man's response to my references to other shows that got six episodes or less before cancellation, not the cancellation itself, which of course wouldn't have been a fucking "accident." And yes, I'm perfectly aware that the show would have to be picked up first to get the same chance the other shows got, which I thought was the point when I wrote "I would like the show to get the same chance." I'm not a fucking moron.
Same here. I would watch it every week, if for nothing else than to see Eddie Izzard take the piss out of everything.
Goddamn he was fun to watch. But then, he's the only member of the family not at all conflicted by his nature. He just loves being a monster.
I had mixed feelings going into this. Not because I thought it would be anything less than wonderful (with Bryan Fuller involved I expected to - and did - love it), but because only getting one episode of your new favorite series feels like a pretty big tease. And that's basically how I still feel. I'm glad I watched it, but now I'll be even more ticked if they don't order this damn thing to series ASAP, and I was already pretty disappointed about it.
"NBC brass are said to be lukewarm at best on the show’s creative direction"... Didn't they see Pushing Daisies? That would have told them precisely what to expect. Mockingbird Lane has exactly that charm, only darker (which honestly PD could have used, it could get too cloying.) They probably are scared at the grim humor, but I was instantly captivated by this pilot episode. I don't like much on broadcast anymore, but I'd watch this. Give us more, you NBC dopes! Might as well just quote the whole thing... With a decent DVR boost, I could see the show getting a second chance. I don't think it needs any recasting, O'Connell is fine, the role is very different from the original Hermann but that's Fuller's perogative. The writing could be sharper. This pilot didn't have the snap of PD and dragged a bit at times, not enough to bother me, but I noticed it. There is plenty of potential here for a great ongoing series. Stuff like Lily not being vampy enough is easy to fix with some character development. Another factor is whether Mockingbird Lane boosted Grimm. Its 1.9 on Friday is up significantly from last week's 1.5.
I rather enjoyed this and would like it to continue. I enjoyed how dark it got, though that could be a bit much for NBC. Too bad too, Izzard was great, and I enjoyed de Rossi too.