NBC not moving forward with 'Mockingbird', orders full season of 'Revolution'; 'Bates' adds to cast
After nearly a two-year development period and millions probably spent, its being reported that NBC will not move forward beyond the pilot for Mockingbird Lane, the reboot of the classic 1960s sitcom The Munsters. The project comes from Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me and Pushing Daises creator Bryan Fuller, and was originally developed for the 2010-11 TV season, but was held over for the 2011-12 (being one of the few scripts Bob Greenblatt kept when taking over the reins of NBC back in January of 2011). The idea was to get the show on for a summer run, but casting issues delayed the project for months. It wasn’t until March, when Eddie Izzard was cast as Grandpa, did the pilot really begin to move forward. British actress Charity Wakefield was cast as Marilyn Munster, Lily’s niece, followed by Mason Cook (Spy Kids In 4D) who is set to play Eddie Munster. Portia de Rossi was cast at Lily and in June, Jerry O’Connell was finally cast Herman. There have been some criticisms across the blog-o-sphere about this project from the start, with most people claiming the idea was going to be a challenge to begin with. But it appears the original idea was have Mockingbird Lane resemble Fuller’s last TV show, Pushing Daises with its high-concept premise, and highly lauded visual style. It seems apparent that once the pilot was finished, the brass at NBC felt the concept did not gel as was anticipated. Meanwhile, Fuller is busy working on Hannibal, a series based on the Hannibal Lecter character, which has a 13-episode midseason order.
Mike Vogel and Nestor Carbonell have joined the cast of A&E’s upcoming series Bates Motel in recurring roles. The series, which serves as a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock horror classic Psycho, will Vogel playing Deputy Zach Shelby, described as “a completely engaging, attractive, intelligent sociopath, while Carbonell will play Sheriff Royce Romero, who has something almost sinister about him.
NBC gave the back 9 order for Revolution, their hybrid sci-fi/conspiracy/post-apocalypse series. The show debuted on September 17th and was the top drama premiere on the network in five years, opening with almost 12 million viewers. It lost only 11% of its viewers in the second week and while it still lost 9% more on the third week, NBC appears to believe that show should be leveling off into an area they are comfortable with. It also helps that their music game show The Voice is Revolution’s lead-in.
