There was nothing like it on TV back in 1964. The macabre situations, the strange characters, the alluring Morticia (played by Carolyn Jones), her manic husband Gomez (John Astin), the strange children Wednesday and Pugsley. And the bizarre disembodied hand (Thing) and the hairy Cousin Itt and Kitty Cat, the family lion. And, of course, the giant butler, Lurch (Ted Cassidy). Who can forget the harpsichord music and the snapping fingers (still played at NHL games)?
They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re all together ooky,
The Addams Family.
So, I gotta ask: What’s your take on the MUNSTERS?
Never cared much for THE MUNSTERS, Drongo.
“I love it when you speak French.”
Ah, yes, Jeff. Morticia could turn Gomez on with just a phrase.
Was Christina Ricci a recast. Doesn’t look like her.
Lisa Loring played Wednesday in the TV episodes, Patti.
Rightttttttttttt. What was I thinking?
You were thinking the films, Patti…so, in a sense, Ms. Ricci was a recast. But Raul Julia couldn’t ever quite make us forget about John Astin.
While Fred Gwynne was as the father also the standout performer with THE MUNSTERS, TAF was the superior series, by me, too (though I preferred, and prefer, the Charles Addams cartoons to this series or its extensions). Both TAF and THE MUNSTERS were fortunate in their theme songs…
The Charles Addams cartoons are classic, Todd. I used to buy an Addams Family calender every year just for the cartoons.
Todd is right about the theme songs. The one from the MUNSTERS is such a fine slice of mid-60’s music.
Vic Mizzy, who wrote the theme to the ADDAMS FAMILY, died in October. The snapping fingers are quite an effective earworm.
The cartoons are indeed classic.
And everyone instantly recognizes the theme to THE ADDAMS FAMILY, Drongo. It’s become part of our cultural DNA. Especially the snapping fingers.
The cartoons by Charles Addams were brilliant. I read them in The New Yorker, and my aunt and uncle had all the collections, so as a lad when we went to visit I was able to read them over and over.
The 1964 – 1965 television series was a pale imitation, for the most part lame, the humor derivative of all earlier half-hour network situation comedy, the thin humor bolstered with laugh-track driven dialogue and tired sight gags. The subtlety and rich humor of Addams drawings was washed away in the conversion to television with it’s lowest common denominator audience profile. I had the misfortune of watching several episodes of this program, as I had a friend who (never having seen the source material) who liked it. The Munsters was even worse. Thankfully, I was exposed to only a couple of episodes.
I suspect you liked it because you were young and impressionable, George, but I’m surprised you like it now, I have to assume you’re overcome with feelings of nostalgia. Next I suppose you’ll be praising Car 54, Where Are You?
No, I’m not a fan of CAR 54, Rick. But I am a fan of THE ADDAMS FAMILY. The cartoons and the TV show are really in parallel universes. In the cartoons, the family members were never named. Charles Addams had to come up with names for his characters for the TV show and did a memorable job. The premise of the TV show was silliness and when I’m in a silly mood, I pull out an ADDAMS FAMILY DVD and get a chuckle.
Well, there was one aspect of THE ADDAMS FAMILY that was refreshing, and only THE DICK VAN DYKE show in its time seemed to be almost offer this to the same degree…the married couple, as one writer noted some time back noted, at the heart of the series both respected and were obviously sexually attracted to each other.
After so much I LOVE LUCY and even THE HONEYMOONERS’ rather unfortunate family dynamics, this was a good bit of modeling…
Good point, Todd. And the first TV sit com to show the husband and the wife in the same bed was THE FLINTSTONES.
Yikes! I can’t take I LOVE LUCY or THE HONEYMOONERS even in small doses. Maybe it’s an age thing, but I find those two shows unwatchable.
One program from that time period that I’ll give a try sooner or later, is M SQUAD. Did George review it? It looks fascinating.
Art Scott is presently working his way through all 119 episodes of M SQUAD, Drongo. I may make a run at it when I have time over the summer.
After lots of thought and a little deciding what “favorite TV show” means, I’ve come up with three:
NOVA
NATURE
MASTERPIECE THEATER
Ok, they’re all PBS shows originating in various places, but these were shows that, for a couple of decades, I rarely missed and often videotaped. MYSTERY (before the exclamation point, I think) was also a favorite.
Of the old network shows, I liked MY THREE SONS pretty well, PERRY MASON is still a favorite, and M*A*S*H was very, very good. I also liked IT TAKES A THIEF pretty well, at least the first two seasons. I liked VEGAS but mostly for the red 1957 T-bird he drove.
I think I went with THE ADDAMS FAMILY because Patti went with LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, Rick. It seemed like the idea was to pick a TV program from your youth that was a favorite. A few years after THE ADDAMS FAMILY, I was head-over-heels in love with Diana Rigg of THE AVENGERS. And, I went through a MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. phase, but I liked THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E. more (for obvious reasons).
I posted this, with a lot of other shows and thoughts, just now at my blog. (end pathetic cry for visits)
THE AVENGERS was brilliant at the time. Do you think it would seem silly or pretentious or naive now? I’ve always been afraid to go back.
I have a DVD set of the Diana Rigg episodes of THE AVENGERS, Patti. Like you, I almost dread to watch them for fear that they won’t hold up to my memories. I am still haunted by an episode called “The House That Jack Built” where Diane Rigg is trapped in a creepy house by a crazed killer.
From a strict definition as stated by you, I guess of them all maybe I’d pick THE LONE RANGER. Certainly a western, at that time period.
Loved THE LONE RANGER, Rick! Great pick!
Patti – I think THE AVENGERS holds up better than U.N.C.L.E, but then I wasn’t a fan of that show.
The later MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E episodes were very weak, Rick. That’s a series that went downhill fast.
Good choice. This show had an edge, while the Munsters were just silly.
You’re right, Evan. There was always a sense that more was going on in THE ADDAMS FAMILY than you saw on the screen.
Don’t like Car 54? Don’t like The Honeymooners? Probably hate Mom, apple pie, and the flag, too.
The Addams Family reruns these days and I’ve watched them. They’re still amusing and Carolyn Jones is still gorgeous. I never cared for The Munsters; too goofy and not aimed for anyone over the age of nine.
I pretty much share your views of THE ADDAMS FAMILY and THE MUNSTERS, Bob.
I’ll agree with Rick…THE AVENGERS mostly holds up pretty well, albeit the juvenile sexism that, having put (both Mrs. Gale and) Emma Peel on par with Steed, decided they neeed to put her Back in Her Place (part of the reason Rigg left the series) grates a bit, and the Linda Thorson episodes suffer a bit from the lack of parity. But they remain witty and imaginative when I see them, which U.N.C.L.E. often doesn’t, and I SPY is a very mixed bag (and often a threadbare one), as well. The 1960s British espionage drama series (given DANGER MAN/SECRET AGENT & THE PRISONER, as well) average better thus than the US offerings, though they all as a class average better than many other sorts of drama (as we toss in the more antic THE WILD, WILD WEST and I SPY and the slowly wearing down MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, among others).
These days, I think I prefer CHUCK to SPOOKS/MI-5.
“The House that Jack Built” is one of the best.
“The House that Jack Built” still haunts me, Todd.
Ah, I meant to write GET SMART! rather than the second I SPY above.