To Kill a Mockingbird Lane

I watched the premier for, “Mockingbird Lane,” and I’m confused as to what it’s trying to be or appeal to. The original Munsters, which I’m likely the only living person to have seen and have any recollection of, was an Adams Family rip-off sitcom, the “sit” being that everyone in the family save for the cute blonde girl was a monster. They were loveable versions of famous movie monsters. There was nothing offensive about the show other than its silly premise.

Before the opening credits even roll on Mockingbird Lane, we see a werewolf slaughter a group of hapless scouts. Or at least that’s what it looks like. It’s rather hard to believe they escaped with only minor cuts and scratches. We see one child slammed against a tree hard enough that his sleeping bag explodes into a cloud of feathers. They dubbed over an, “Ouch!” for the kid, because the scene was obviously too gruesome and the audience would have no doubt left in their minds they just saw a kid get 86ed on primetime television. We find out this werewolf is a confused and amnesiac Eddie Munster, who obviously doesn’t follow the puberty rules of Teen Wolf.

Then the rest of the cast gets introduced. For some reason Herman Munster is Jerry O’Connel. The show is intended to be, “sexy,” as evidenced by the super-slow-mo catwalk struts of his vampire wife and bizarre post-coitus lying on the ceiling scene. There’s also quite a fair bit of gore usually not seen outside of Bones and CSI. We have up-close looks at the inside of Herman’s zipper-chest every five minutes, and the show ends with a guest character having his heart surgically removed and his blood drank.

The show also introduces a lonely, over-dedicated scout master who is then immediately murdered and harvested, indicating the show isn’t interested in keeping around secondary characters outside the Munster family. The only evidence of a recurring character is the suspicious neighbour who rides around in her rascal with her dog.

As it was the premier, there was some special attention paid to the special effects and some CGI, but I assume the budget won’t let them keep that up over the course of the series. I don’t understand why the show would need anything besides heavy make-up and some fake props, as that was all the original had.

Aside from a few awkward double-entendres (murder-based, not sexual) there wasn’t much comedy to be had in the series. So it isn’t a sitcom. It’s more of a lighter-hearted horror series, like a dumbed-down Buffy. I have no idea what it’s doing with itself.