NBC not moving forward with 'Mockingbird Lane'

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 was cast as 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.