Trailer: MOCKINGBIRD LANE (NBC)

You probably already know that NBC are having second thoughts about their remake of The Munsters, retitled Mockingbird Lane. Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) and Bryan Singer (X-Men) are behind this show, but it looks unlikely to get picked up for mid-season. However, having spent $10m developing it, NBC will broadcast the pilot as a "Halloween special" on 26 October, and if ratings are incredible maybe NBC will rethink their position. They have all the actors under contract until July 2013, too.

Until then, here's the first 30-second promo that aired on NBC recently. It all looks pretty slick and pleasantly cartoon-y (that dragon's straight out of Shrek), although I think it's a creative misstep to turn Herman Munster into Jerry O'Connell with a few unsightly stitches. Portia de Rossi (Arrested Development) playing Lilly Munster could be a masterstroke, and it looks like Edddie Izzard's having a ball as a funkier vampire Grandad. Having read the entertaining script earlier this year, I'm optimistic about this pilot, but I guess we'll see how it came together soon enough.

Given the box-office failure of Tim Burton's Dark Shadows this summer (another supernatural family-based horror-comedy), maybe NBC have gotten cold feet over the whole project? Maybe Fuller's script just didn't come together during filming? There are reports that Fuller (writer) and Singer (director) had very different artistic visions for the show, so maybe the compromises undermined everything? Or perhaps, in a rare instance of network forethought, NBC don't think a show like this will be successful enough on a weekly basis?

Mockingbird Lane will air on Friday 26 October 8/7c, NBC.