Unless you were alive in the 1960s, you may not know much about the classic series, The Munsters. While there may be some older millennials who were allowed to stay up past 8 p.m. and catch the hilariously spooky family series during its syndication on Nick at Nite in the 1990s, more than likely, most young folks watching the boob tube during prime time these days haven't even heard of the show.
But soon everyone will be acquainted with the notorious Munster family when the show returns to prime time television.
NBC announced on Thursday it would revive the half-hour comedy series, which originally aired on CBS from 1964 to 1966. Seth Meyers has been tapped to produce the show alongside co-creator Jill Kargman, Deadline reported.
The Munsters Theme Song pic.twitter.com/bf14YOFo1g
— 80s Halloween Slasher🥀 (@SlasherOfHorror) August 8, 2017
The reboot comes a few years after NBC's Mockingbird Lane, an hour-long drama based on The Munsters that aired in 2013 and starred Jerry O'Connell, Portia de Rossi, Eddie Izzard and Charity Wakefield.
The original series followed the lives of the family, headed by Herman Munster—originally played by Fred Gwynne—as they tried to navigate life in the fictional middle-class town of Mockingbird Heights. Despite considering themselves to be an average American working-class family, their appearances—based on classic monster tales like Frankenstein and Dracula—and odd behavior often resulted in interesting yet hilarious interactions with their neighbors.
The Munsters reboot is just another signal of television's current obsession with nostalgic TV following the news of several other shows slated for revivals this year. Just last week NBC announced it would reboot another cult classic, Miami Vice, which was considered one of the biggest crime dramas of the 1980s.
NBC hasn't revealed premiere dates for either of the rebooted series. However, the network will air another former TV phenomenon, Will & Grace, as a part of its fall lineup come September. The catch: The show will return completely amiss of its controversial series' ending.
The series followed the lives of four single friends—two gay men, Will and Jack, and their heterosexual gal pals, Grace and Karen—and ended with the show's main characters, Will and Grace, finally getting married and having children with their respective spouses. But one of the reboot's co-creators, Max Mutchnick, recently told Entertainment Weekly that the show will pick up as if the marriages and children never happened.
Another reboot set to premiere on ABC will also pretend as if situations in the series finale didn't happen. Roseanne, which ran from 1988 to 1997, will return with the complete original cast, including John Goodman, who played Dan Conner, even though he died from a heart attack on the last episode of the show. The reboot, which is set to air in 2018, will continue following the blue-collar family as they live paycheck to paycheck.
It's unclear what state viewers will see The Munsters in when the show premieres on NBC. The finale episode, which originally aired on May 12, 1966, ended with the youngest Munster, Eddie (Butch Patrick), getting a home visit from his teacher.
