Entertainment Weekly reported today that NBC has ordered a pilot for a remake of the classic 1960s monster sit-com ‘The Munsters’. With the popularity of monster shows like ‘Vampire Diaries’, ‘Walking Dead’, and ‘Being Human’, it was just a matter of time before someone decided to cash in on some of the classic horror-based programming.
The new show will be penned by Bryan Fuller. Fuller is most famous for creating shows that air for a season and then disappear into cult status. He created both ‘Pushing Daisies’ and ‘Wonderfalls’, both of which were cancelled but still hold rabid fanbases. Of his work on the new ‘Munsters’, Fuller says, “I am over the moon Eddie Munster will soon be howling at”.
The reboot of the series, penned by Fuller, will not be a sit-com format like the original show or the horrid 1987 disaster ‘Munsters Today’. Instead, the new show will be, according to an NBC spokesperson, an “imaginative reinvention of The Munsters as a visually spectacular one hour drama”.
How does one turn a colorful half hour comedy about a family of classic Universal monsters into an full length drama show that will appeal to modern audiences? The new show will feature the same characters but with some modern, and more realistic (if monsters can be considered realistic) take. Grandpa Munster will be transformed into Grandpa Sam Dracula. Grandpa Dracula can’t find a man good enough for his daughter Lily, so he builds Herman for her. Like the original show, Lily’s niece Marilyn will live with the family as the normal looking “freak” of the family. They will also have their son Eddie. When little Eddie hits puberty, his werewolf abilities begin to surface and the family is forced to move to 1313 Mockingbird Lane in a California suburb.
As much as I want to hate this show since I’m such a big fan of the original ‘Munsters’, the premise does sound interesting. I’ll have to give it at least a look to see if Fuller and NBC can actually pull off the impossible and make me like a ‘Munsters’ drama.
Meanwhile, Fuller and NBC aren’t content with bringing just one monster show to the network. Fuller is also developing a show based on Mr. Psycho Killer himself… Hannibal Lecter, while NBC is in production on yet another drama based on ‘Frankenstein’. It sounds like, now that the sparkly vamps of ‘Twilight’ have worn out their welcome, NBC is searching for the next big monster to take their place.
