REVIEW 'JACKED FROM BIG SHINY ROBOT BLOG:
I’ll be completely honest, when I first heard about a Munsters reboot, I was pretty dubious, especially since they were going to take the series in a much darker direction. Then I learned that Eddie Izzard was not only cast as Grandpa Munster, but he was completely behind and in support of the project, and that definitely piqued my interest — which waned again upon learning that Jerry O’Connell was to play the lead of Herman Munster. Finally, it was announced that NBC decided not to option the show and were only going to air the pilot as a special in front of a Halloween episode of Grimm. Needless to say, I approached the airing of Mockingbird Lane with a lot of apprehension, not only because I was on the fence as to whether it was going to be good or not, but mainly because if it WAS good, there weren’t going to be any more episodes. Well, this emotional roller coaster finished with my latter fear being fulfilled, and I am rather sad that it is very unlikely we are going to see any more episodes of this wonderful show that really captured the comedic elements of the original, all the while updating it for a modern audience.
As Mockingbird Lane begins, we see a Boy Scout type group of young boys camping in the woods, when they get attacked by a werewolf who we soon learn is young Eddie Munster (Mason Cook) who wakes up in the bushes not knowing what has happened. Days later, in a hope to hide Eddie from the reality of what he is becoming, Marilyn Munster (Charity Wakefield) buys a decrepit house on 1313 Mockingbird Lane (the home of the hobo serial killer, whose victims are still buried inside the walls of the house). As the family settles in, it becomes apparent that Herman and Lily Munster (Jerry O’Connell and Portia de Rossi) are at odds with Grandpa Munster (Eddie Izzard) regarding how they should inform Eddie about the changes he is going through, with Grandpa insisting on telling him the truth, and Herman and Lily wanting to keep him in the dark in order to retain his innocence for a little bit longer. Not to mention that Herman’s (very much the Frankenstein’s monster as in the original) heart is starting to give out, and Grandpa’s idea to fix this problem involves Eddie’s new scout master, who is not only a match for Herman, but also a future tasty morsel for himself as he has decided to start ‘drinking again’. The episode ends with Eddie coming to terms with being a werewolf, being given a pet dragon to watch over him, and a sense of disappointment knowing that we probably won’t see any more of what could have been a really fun and excellent series.
Mockingbird Lane is VERY much the Eddie Izzard show, as he is given the best lines, and definitely comes across as the main character. Anyone who is a fan of his stand up should be familiar with his sarcastic and pitch perfect timing in delivering his one liners, and he delivers here in spades. The rest of the characters are fun and are presented well, and, thankfully, Jerry O’Connell has a muted presence and, ironically, seems very human, in his role.
The writing is sharp and witty with plenty of quotable sound bytes you’ll find yourself repeating days later, the special effects, while nothing spectacular, are pretty good for a basic TV series, and Bryan Singer does a fine job of directing. In short, this show is really fun, interesting and a hell of a lot better than a lot of the crap the networks have spewed out so far this season, so it’s really frustrating that this pilot might be all we ever get to see, as the writers and actors should be given a chance to see where they can go with these characters and story. I have heard that there is a slight chance that the network execs might decide to give the show a second life if the ratings for the one-shot are good, but I’m not putting much faith in that.
Instead, I will very happily visit my DVR every so often to watch what could be a great series, and hope that NBC sells off the rights to SyFy or FX and we get the continuation of the misadventures of what should be America’s new favorite creepy neighbors.
I’ll be completely honest, when I first heard about a Munsters reboot, I was pretty dubious, especially since they were going to take the series in a much darker direction. Then I learned that Eddie Izzard was not only cast as Grandpa Munster, but he was completely behind and in support of the project, and that definitely piqued my interest — which waned again upon learning that Jerry O’Connell was to play the lead of Herman Munster. Finally, it was announced that NBC decided not to option the show and were only going to air the pilot as a special in front of a Halloween episode of Grimm. Needless to say, I approached the airing of Mockingbird Lane with a lot of apprehension, not only because I was on the fence as to whether it was going to be good or not, but mainly because if it WAS good, there weren’t going to be any more episodes. Well, this emotional roller coaster finished with my latter fear being fulfilled, and I am rather sad that it is very unlikely we are going to see any more episodes of this wonderful show that really captured the comedic elements of the original, all the while updating it for a modern audience.
As Mockingbird Lane begins, we see a Boy Scout type group of young boys camping in the woods, when they get attacked by a werewolf who we soon learn is young Eddie Munster (Mason Cook) who wakes up in the bushes not knowing what has happened. Days later, in a hope to hide Eddie from the reality of what he is becoming, Marilyn Munster (Charity Wakefield) buys a decrepit house on 1313 Mockingbird Lane (the home of the hobo serial killer, whose victims are still buried inside the walls of the house). As the family settles in, it becomes apparent that Herman and Lily Munster (Jerry O’Connell and Portia de Rossi) are at odds with Grandpa Munster (Eddie Izzard) regarding how they should inform Eddie about the changes he is going through, with Grandpa insisting on telling him the truth, and Herman and Lily wanting to keep him in the dark in order to retain his innocence for a little bit longer. Not to mention that Herman’s (very much the Frankenstein’s monster as in the original) heart is starting to give out, and Grandpa’s idea to fix this problem involves Eddie’s new scout master, who is not only a match for Herman, but also a future tasty morsel for himself as he has decided to start ‘drinking again’. The episode ends with Eddie coming to terms with being a werewolf, being given a pet dragon to watch over him, and a sense of disappointment knowing that we probably won’t see any more of what could have been a really fun and excellent series.
Mockingbird Lane is VERY much the Eddie Izzard show, as he is given the best lines, and definitely comes across as the main character. Anyone who is a fan of his stand up should be familiar with his sarcastic and pitch perfect timing in delivering his one liners, and he delivers here in spades. The rest of the characters are fun and are presented well, and, thankfully, Jerry O’Connell has a muted presence and, ironically, seems very human, in his role.
The writing is sharp and witty with plenty of quotable sound bytes you’ll find yourself repeating days later, the special effects, while nothing spectacular, are pretty good for a basic TV series, and Bryan Singer does a fine job of directing. In short, this show is really fun, interesting and a hell of a lot better than a lot of the crap the networks have spewed out so far this season, so it’s really frustrating that this pilot might be all we ever get to see, as the writers and actors should be given a chance to see where they can go with these characters and story. I have heard that there is a slight chance that the network execs might decide to give the show a second life if the ratings for the one-shot are good, but I’m not putting much faith in that.
Instead, I will very happily visit my DVR every so often to watch what could be a great series, and hope that NBC sells off the rights to SyFy or FX and we get the continuation of the misadventures of what should be America’s new favorite creepy neighbors.
