NBC Dusts Off Munsters Remake

 

Just a day after news broke that CBS is looking to remake Bewitched, TV Guide reports that NBC is revisiting plans to revive The Munsters. There’s some good news, though: Bryan Fuller, creator of Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies, remains at the helm.

The network ordered the pilot last fall, but ultimately passed on the project, which was described as “Modern Family meets True Blood.” But new NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt now wants to return to 1313 Mockingbird Lane, so Fuller’s “edgier” take on the 1960s comedy is back in development.

Airing from 1964 to 1966 on CBS, The Munsters was a satire of classic movie monsters and contemporary sitcoms that centered on a family of monsters that considered itself a typical working-class household. It starred Fred Gwynne as the Frankenstein’s monster-esque Herman, Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife Lily, Butch Patrick as their werewolf son Eddie, Al Lewis as Lily’s sarcastic father Sam Dracula (aka Grandpa), and Beverley Owen then Pat Priest as Lily’s “plain” niece Marilyn.

Following an attempt to revive the show in 1981 with a made-for-TV movie, a sequel of sorts called The Munsters Today aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991, featuring new actors as the family members, who it was explained had been in suspended animation in Grandpa’s “Sleeping Machine” for 22 years. The characters also appeared in the 1995 TV movie Here Come the Munsters, which featured cameos by all of the original cast except for Gwynne, who died two years earlier, and 1996′s The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas.

Fuller’s remake is an hour-long show featuring the original characters. He’s expected to explore the Munsters‘ origins, something not addressed in the original series.