Bryan Singer – Mockingbird Lane

Back in 2012 Bryan Singer directed a spin-off show of the original ‘The Munsters’ an American sitcom from the 1960’s. Although the original was a comedy, this series was set to be a drama with a darker undertone, taking the original characters- Grandpa, Lily, Herman, Eddie and Marylin, a loveable family with a twist- they are monsters, who lived at 1313 Mockingbird lane. In the original plot, Grandpa as Dracula builds a Frankenstein like monster for his vampire daughter Lily who becomes the father of the family, Herman. Their son Eddie goes through werewolf- like changes during puberty and their niece Marylin is the odd one out because she’s actually normal.

The new take on the show has the advantage of 40+ years of film upgrade including costume design, special effects and CGI but also comes with a reboot of the more humanised characters and a more dramatic feel. However, with this comes a heavy price tag per episode and with an unclear picture of the intended audience (seeing as most people are unlikely to remember the original series) it is unsurprising that NBC didn’t renew past the pilot episode, instead it was aired as a Halloween special. Singer directed the pilot and it was produced by his company Bad Hat Harry Productions with Bryan Fuller (writer of Pushing Daisy’s and Hannibal) as executive producer and writer. Singer and Fuller proved to be a winning combo for this Munsters makeover, it having received rave reviews leaving fans wanting more. It is described it as a glimpse into a horror-meets-fantasy world giving the audience an eccentric, spooky and funny hour of film and achieving a respectable 7.5/10 rating on IMDB plus even a few award nominations.