Universal Greenlights “The Munsters”

Universal Studio Group has greenlit a new live-action horror comedy TV series based on “The Munsters”, titled  “1313”, set within the ‘Universal Monsterverse’, from James Wan and Lindsey Anderson Beer:

The original 1960's sitcom depicting the home life of a family of Universal Studio monsters, was created by Allan Burns and Chris Hayward, starring Fred Gwynne as 'Herman Munster' and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, 'Lily'.

The idea of a family of comical monsters was first suggested to Universal Studios in the late 1940's by animator Bob Clampett ("Merrie Melodies", "Beany and Cecil") who wanted to produce a series of cartoons.

The project didn't see development until the early 1960's, when a treatment for a similar idea was submitted to Universal Studios by "Rocky & Bullwinkle" writers Burns and Hayward. This format was later handed to writers Norm Liebman and Ed Haas, who wrote the pilot script, "Love Thy Monster", retitled as "My Fair Munster".

A live-action presentation was filmed by MCA Television for CBS and the new series, was greenlit for 70 episodes, airing once a week in black-and-white on CBS, from September 24, 1964 to May 12, 1966.

"The Munsters" grew in popularity during decades of syndication, warranting a spin-off series, several TV films and a theatrical release.

The twist to the series was that The Munsters family, consisting of Frankenstein Herman, vampire Lily, Wolfman son 'Eddie' (Butch Patrick), 'Dracula Grandpa' (Al Lewis) and normal 'Marilyn' (Beverley Owen and Pat Priest), considered themselves typical working-class Americans of the era, with nothing unusual about their look or gothic house, situated at 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

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