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What the? A Munsters remake?

Check your calendar and make sure it isn't April 1st. NBC has ordered a Pilot remake of The Munsters.

I had to check it was October 1st not April 1st.

A report this week says NBC has ordered a Pilot remake of The Munsters.

This little horror comedy show ran for just two years, from 1964 – 1966, as one of two classic comedies that showcased the wonderful talents of Fred Gwynne (Car 54, Where Are You? being the other). It also had the luscious Yvonne De Carlo and loads of character comedy from Al Lewis.

At the time many American viewers fell into Munsters v Addams Family camps, with both shows taking completely opposite, and completely valid, philosphies on family life. On the one hand you had Gomez Addams’ parenting, teaching Puggsly to defend himself with the fine art of fencing, and on the other Herman Munster telling Eddie to love not to fight his enemies. Both brilliant.

Now we hear that Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) is behind a remake described as “Modern Family meets True Blood.”

Whaaaaa?

Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) is even rumoured to be considering a behind-the-scenes role in the project.

Doesn’t anybody remember the awful The Munsters Today? It ran from 1988 to 1991 and lasted for 72 episodes. Three years of ugh. Then there was Here Come the Munsters (1995) when the original cast only had cameos. There was also The Munsters’ Revenge (1981). In 2004 the brothers Wayans also threatened a big screen adaptation.

Face it. They’re just never going to improve on Fred Gwynne.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cef48Od-h0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MHiPrVfdgM[/youtube]

Source: EW.com

21 Responses

  1. I think Fast Forward’s remake of The Munsters will never be beaten.

    youtube.com/watch?v=dy_DK_2WWoo

    I can’t understand why repeats of The Munsters and The Addams Family have never made it on to one of the digital channels. The Addams Family was absolutely huge when Nine dragged it out for a run in the 5pm slot back in the late 1980s.

  2. Imagine if was made in Oz, we would have Grant Denyer,Richard Wilkins, Andrew O’Keefe, Karl Stefanovic,Steve Jacobs , Angela Bishop & Josh Thomas all up for the gig.

    Mae shows let the underutulised “talent” let loose

  3. @Jaye Really? hahaha Well.. Wysteria Lane always welcomes new neighbors and for a finale twist? They are The Munsters from the real life television show!

    *dun dun dun.

  4. Here’s a bit of trivia for you I learnt on the Universal Studio tour.

    They won’t be able to use the original house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane…because the streets now called Wysteria Lane.

    Go figure!

  5. like with any remake of a show the success is hinged upon how well the show is written and produced and also the faith that it is given by the commissioning network, ie the time slot that it is given. If they do a good job and get a good time slot this should work even for say 3 years however if they dont this will tank.

  6. If they go for a literal re-make then (yes) it will be horrid. But if this gets a BSG sort of re-invention, then you could have a very interesting show.

    Monsters trying to lay low in suburbia and just fit in – gees, sounds like something they should set in Bristol!!

  7. Who not make a movie? It worked for the Addams Family.

    Brad Garrett is the only person who could play Herman.

    I can’t think of anyone else who fits the rest of the cast…

  8. Why bother it won’t come close to the original. Never heard of Munsters Today either but I can imagine it was something horrid like The Brady Brides!

  9. My initial reaction was: Nooooooo!

    But, after I got to the bit about Bryan Fuller being involved and the tone described as a cross between Modern Family and True Blood (two of my current favourite shows, even after the disappointing third season of TB), I’m not intrigued by the prospect of a Munsters re-make.

    I’d still prefer an Addams Family remake though. The Addams Family was way cooler than The Munsters.

  10. Why am I not surprised. This is quickly becoming a new trend with USA TV shows – take an established old favourite and keep the name and characters but then change everything else. They cover all bases – getting the established fan base (who hopefully will tune in out of curiousity) and creating a new audience who either haven’t seen the original or are just interested in the genre.

    They’ve just done this recently with mixed success with “Hawaii Five-O”.

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