NBC and Bryan Fuller remaking The Munsters

[nvek86]

The first member of the family has been cast (or is at least very close):

http://tvline.com/2012/03/20/mockingbird-lane-eddie-izzard-nbc/

Well, I can honestly say I would have never expected this, but I can see this working very well.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Yes, I'm with you on both counts. Anyway, Eddie in anything can only be a good thing.

 

[Lonemagpie]

If it's true about Eddie Izzard, I'd at least watch the pilot, even though I think the project is doomed, and shouldn't be a drama, etc etc...

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Uh oh, this is the first solid sign this show may be a trainwreck...

Izzard will play Grandpa, the Munster family patriarch, a powerful, ancient vampire with an irrepressible twinkle in his eye. He can shapeshift into rats, wolves, and other creatures at will, but he’s also dapper and charming in a fedora; he is a Don Juan-type womanized with penchant for flashy, sexy outfits.

Sure why not, make Grandpa sexy. But to make that plausible, you need to cast a sexy older guy who's still in great shape, say Stephen Lang. Don't cast some homely fat old guy, it'll just be a sad joke! Maybe they want this to be a mean-spirited joke, but ugh, I'm not up for that. This show should be funny, but not cruel to the characters.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Perhaps the idea is that he relies on his hypnotic powers.

 

[KB24]

Why does there always have to be a ladies man crutch? Wouldn't this be a better reverse on the Marilyn character than Grandpa anyway? His potions and fun powers and late nights were often off camera, and it was better that way. You didn't know how Grandpa got his jones, but you knew he did.

Marilyn, however, could be great if done properly. She could be totally hot but vain and stomping her foot, she could be the dumb Kelly Bundy type who doesn't know why guys don't like her after meeting the family. She could also be the focus of the show, the normal one who tries to be well adjusting in a zany family, and it is screwy, but life has its moments and its all in good fun lovin'.

Or she could be the one who is the sexy maneater and be just as off center as the family.

My point is I agree there are so many other ways to take this fresh rather then just the tubby middle aged crisis for laughs. If they aren't thinking that far beyond the basics for the pilot, honestly, I'd say they have a little more writing to do before they think about casting.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Old guys have been around long enough to get past/hurdle the fact the they look like shit and still pull well enough... Or they go live in a hovel like Gargamel.

On House of Lies, Veronica Mars has been fornicating with her 60 something year old boss for couple episodes now, but this week we got to meet her mother and discover that there is something ultimately withholding and damaging about her non-present father... Skip to the end of the episode and Veronica Mars has her sad face on, a few tears slipping out as her old old old (old enough to be her father) boss does her from behind, and then when he's finished, she gives his a congratulatory hug, asking the codger "Are you proud of me, are you, are you proud of me?"

Meanwhile over in Being Human, some pretty boy vampire did bad, and the girl from Dollhouse with the funny nosejob, spent some hours skinning him with a pear knife. This didn't kill him. It was never supposed to kill him. but so much pain... To heal, this vampire needed blood, and a lot of it, so his friend, the star of the shown gets these two cruising barfly slappers to open up, but before the hero lets these doomed party-girls into his sick friends bedroom, he cranks up the hypnosis, saying "Now, I just want to prepare you, I think it is only fair that I warn you, my friend, he is the most beautiful man in the world. The most beautiful man in the world, so try not to over react or be shocked by his beauty... The most beautiful man in the world.."

Yeah, so that all ended badly too.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Charity Wakefield To Play Marilyn In NBC’s ‘Munsters’ Reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Guy should play Grandpa and ad-lib all the dialogue while wearing a Frankenstein mask and French maid's costume with fishnet stockings.

Charity Wakefield To Play Marilyn In NBC’s ‘Munsters’ Reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’

Wow! Does she look boring or what. I don't think KB24 is going to be getting his Kelly Bundy wish...

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I was expecting someone hotter. She's kind of generic looking.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Uh oh, this is the first solid sign this show may be a trainwreck...

It's nothing of the kind.

 

[KB24]

Hehe, I'm a she! And I've never heard of this girl, so I guess they are going with the same old same old instead of trying something worthwhile.

Again, I think these castings looks totally broad and they should have put more on the paper before even thinking real people. Either this pilot is going to be the kind that they toss out and start over, or it's going to be like Wonder Woman and never get out the gate.

Either way, they could have just saved their money but airing the original in the timeslot!

Seriously. Why not just have a retro night? It's what they expect people to pay on Hulu for complete seasons, why not give it a whirl in a dead slot? They really have nothing to loose, as opposed to if a pilot bombs.

 

[Kelso]

I was expecting someone hotter. She's kind of generic looking.

That's probably the point. She's meant to be the normal person in the family. Anyway, she's still more attractive than most of the people I encounter.

And casting Izzard as Grandpa is inspired.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Seriously. Why not just have a retro night? It's what they expect people to pay on Hulu for complete seasons, why not give it a whirl in a dead slot? They really have nothing to loose, as opposed to if a pilot bombs.

This is why my TV is seldom tuned to one of the networks, but frequently tuned to Me-TV.

 

[KB24]

^ Exactly. I watch nothing new. Antenna TV, This, Retro, Pub D Hub. I Think Hallmark Channel is getting smart and having an overnight with Bob Newhart and Mary Tyler Moore. All of SyFy's changes and bull and you can still find The Twilight Zone.

I doubt we'll ever see this pilot!

 

[stj]

Izzard is a real talent, not a "fat homely old guy." The problem with a militant religion of youth is that you will inevitably be excommunicated from the church. Grandpa's love life might get messed up in execution but casting Izzard is the first sign the show won't be a train wreck.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Well, I would've said that Fuller's involvement was the first such sign but Eddie being involved helps too.

 

[stj]

^^^Well, I see your point.

Yet, Fuller was dumped from Dead Like Me. Wonderfalls failed to get an audience. Pushing Daisies started strong but faded after the writers' strike. The guy has got to be both desperate for a permanent (as it gets) job, as well as tired of fighting with the execs. Fuller's an original but Mockingbird Lane is still a remake. And, no, reworking it isn't the same as doing your own thing. If Fuller's doing their thing (using a property that they hope has some marquee value,) are we getting the real Fuller?

 

[Harvey]

The "real Fuller?" This is a guy who got his start writing for a pair of Star Trek spin-offs in their later seasons, and then moved on to writing a movie-of-the-week that was an adaption of Carrie (and not the first adaptation of the novel, clearly). He's dabbled in three original series of his own, but that's hardly been the mainstay of his career.

I like Izzard, though. He's almost enough to get me to tune in.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I have the feeling that he wants to do his own thing with this, and that's why we've got the title change. I wouldn't be surprised if he works in character name changes as development goes along, so that it's completely divorced from The Munsters by the time it sees the light of day. Or the light of night, or whatever.