The Addams Family premiered on 18 September in 1964. The Munsters premiered just six days later.
This means The Addams Family was on Friday nights and The Munsters was on Thursday nights. The networks (ABC and CBS) seem to have been careful not to compete with each other. What’s more, it appears that neither show was copying the other. But the creators of The Munsters were partly inspired by the Charles Addams cartoons.
When I was a kid, I liked both shows. But I preferred The Munsters. This is hardly surprising. It’s a kids’ show. Herman is effectively a kid (as all the best TV dads are). Of course, things were different when I revisited them as an adult. My prior favorite was so broad and silly that it just didn’t connect. But I love la famille Addams to this day. And frankly, I don’t think any of the films quite capture it — even though many of them are wonderful in their own ways.
Our societal opinions about the shows are the same as mine. The Munsters did much better in the ratings. But over time, it’s The Addams Family that everyone loves.
It is true that Rob Zombie made a filmed version. And he did a good job! He really understands the source material. But that doesn’t mean it’s terribly enjoyable. Meanwhile, there have been a number of excellent Addams Family films.
Note: Don’t talk to me about Wednesday. I started watching it. The opening at the pool was great. The rest?! The show seems based more on Jenna Ortega’s red carpet appearances than on the original show. The producers clearly had an idea of what they wanted to do and so they grabbed some existing intellectual property to sell it.
I’ve owned The Addams Family: The Complete Series on DVD since it came out. But you don’t need to. The entire show is available on Archive (season one and season two). Unfortunately, I can’t embed it. It defaults to the Russian language track. So go there, download the AVI files and you should be good.
Here is an embed with the first episode “The Addams Family Goes to School.”
The Addams Family DVD cover via IMDB under Fair Use.
Both have terrific theme songs. A lotta shows at the time were westerns with theme songs as generic as heck. It’s no wonder these did better in reruns — the theme songs would hook any kid, they’re great! I loved them both. And the goofy makeup, and just how utterly silly they were.
The movies of Addams aren’t ideal, but holy smokes, is Joan Cusack just a goddess. I bust out laughing every time I’ve ever seen her in anything; good Lord is she a treasure. She’s not even doing double-takes; she’s doing quadruple takes, where you can see her spinning eight ways from Sunday. She’s f***ing gold. I love John, but he’s only terrific; Joan is extraordinary. May she live forever!
I’m telling your wife!
This is an opportunity to highlight an overlooked gem, War, Inc. She is particularly good in it.
I tend to forget The Munsters theme but I do love it. It’s basically a surf tune. But so beautifully performed with an orchestra. And that hyperactive bass! Google tells me it is Carol Kaye. Of course, that’s what I was assuming. If a song was recorded in the 1960s in LA and featured an electric bass, it was probably her. The only evidence I have is that she did work a lot with Jack Marshall, who composed the tune. Hey! We need a biopic about Carol Kaye!
I would LOVE a biopic about unknown studio musicians! Like Kaye, or Merry Clayton (who was called in the middle of the night to deliver vocals on “Gimme Shelter,” and who absolutely makes that song shiver with fear). Do it “Short Cuts” style, telling the different intertwining stories — it’d probably be better than “Short Cuts.” Much better than another biopic about somebody who got rich and famous and that was Tough, but they Learned Lessons.
If me and Joan Cusack announced to my wife, tomorrow, that we were gonna run away together, my wife would plead, “no! Choose me, instead!” And it wouldn’t be me she was pleading to.
There is a great scene in “In & Out” (written by the guy who wrote “Addams Family Values,” Paul Rudnick), where Joan has a reaction bit. She’s just been dumped at the altar; Kevin Kline announces that he’s gay.
Cusack has a reaction that I’ve never seen before, anywhere. Her face scrunches up as she does a slow burn for about two seconds, and then she EXPLODES. It is gold! It’s utterly nothing nobody else has ever done. And nobody else ever could. She is the absolute best of the best.
You would think they would make these kinds of biopics. I watched the one about Queen and it was dreadful. If it came out today, I would assume it was written by a LLM. I think Kaye would make an outstanding subject. Maybe the problem is her. Maybe after she dies there will be a film.
The Queen one was so bad! Irredeemable — except for one thing. Big movie theater speakers. Queen was a loud band and is heard best played very loud. I’d go see a Led Zeppelin biopic for the same reasons, even though I know it would suck.
I heard a thing about Addams Family the other day, don’t know if it’s true, but it sounds true. The show’s producers wanted Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch, to be nonspeaking. He convinced them he should do his “you rang?” voice. It sounds true because it’s perfect Hollywood — studio idiots almost missing one of the best jokes that an actor could do! Most production bigwigs are real dipshits.
I hadn’t heard that. Sounds reasonable. Sadly, he was dead by the time they did the one commentary track on the DVD release! (Maybe it was two…)
She’s a great physical actor. I think she’s a lot like Jim Carrey
This is such a great description of almost all biopics: “got rich and famous and that was Tough, but they Learned Lessons”!