Showtime adds its own Frankenstein project to all those other Frankenstein projects

Determined not to be left out of the current craze for Frankenstein projects, even as the once-young and vibrant idea is brutishly tossed into the lake of oversaturation to drown, Showtime has picked up a new Frankenstein project from Skyfall’s Sam Mendes and John Logan—“Frankenstein project” in the sense that it stitches together various revived ideas, and in the sense that Frankenstein is in it. The duo’s Penny Dreadful will find Dr. Frankenstein and his monster commingling with various other famous, famously public domain literary figures such as Dracula’s Van Helsing and Dorian Gray, as their paths cross in Victorian London—like The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Once Upon A Time meets the “psychosexual thriller” necessities of being on Showtime. The series has already been praised by the network’s David Nevins as “a wholly original television show.” As he spoke, the portrait in David Nevins’ home grew ever more withered.