I don’t know if anybody out there gets the cable network TVLand (a spinoff of Nick at Night). I suspect that I am one of about six people who do get it.
Well, if you’re one of the lucky six, this weekend they’re having an Addams Family marathon. That show is SO cool.
As a boy I loved it, though I could seldom catch it in syndication. I infinitely preferred it to The Munsters, which struck me as a gaudy, less creative knockoff of The Addams Family. In the years since, I’ve decided that I *do* like The Munsters, but The Addams Family still has a kind of sophistication and subtlety that the Munsters didn’t.
The Munsters were all established types of monsters: Hermann was a Frankenstein monster, Lily and Granpa were vampires, and Eddie was a werewolf. Then there was Cousin Marilyn, the drop-dead gorgeous ugly duckling of the family.
The Addamses, by contrast, defy categorization. Morticia is vaguely Vampira-like, but she isn’t a vampire. Lurch is vaguely Frankenstein monster-ish, but he isn’t a Frankenstein monster. Gomez and the children aren’t monstrous in appearance at all, and Uncle Fester, Cousin Itt, and Thing defy classification. The only Addams that approximates an established stereotype is Grandmama, who is a hag.
The humor on The Addams Family also is more subtle than that on The Munsters. The writers didn’t go for as many predictable jokes. Thus, for example, in one episode this weekend Morticia offered a visitor to the house a dish of brazed giraffe whereas Lily Munster might have offered a wolfsbane casserole or something. Brazed giraffe is odd and exotic without being predictable and invoking a cliche.
That seems to be the main difference between the two oddball families (both of whom got their serieses in the same year: 1964). The Munsters are a fun romp through established monster motifs (mostly derivative of the 1930s and ’40s Universal monster movies), while The Addams Family is a quirky, understated, never-quite-predictable look at a family from The Twilight Zone.
One thing both shows have going for them is wicked cool main title sequences. The Munsters’ theme has those hard-driving (for 1964) electric guitars and saxophones, while The Addams Family has the lively harpsichord and finger snapping.
Both families also are functional, despite their oddballness. The family members care about each other, the mother and father in each are in love, and everbody has a kind of quirky zest for life. Gomez Addams (played by John Astin, father of Sean Astin or “Samwise Gamgee” from The Lord of the Rings movies) in particular seems to be thoroughly enjoying life with a passion that sometimes borders on mania.
When I was a boy, one of my favorite aunts (who reminds me of a non-spooky, Texas-accented version of Morticia, if that makes any sense) once compared my sense of humor to that of Charles Addams, the cartoonist on whose work the series is based. Maybe that’s why I like the show so much.
Now if they’d just put it out on DVD. It only ran two seasons, so it wouldn’t take much work to put the whole thing out. Just two, one-season volumes. Since TVLand has started releasing DVD sets of the shows it broadcasts, maybe it’ll put this one out. If so, I’ll get my copies pronto!
I believe that TV Land is more widespread than that. It is part of Dish Network and probably most cable outfits.
Your right thought about the differences between the Adam’s and the Munsters. The Adams Family was more interesting since they didn’t just stick to traditional monsters but had fun characters like Cousin It and Thing. Fred Gwynne was funny in the Munsters but John Astin’s zany character was more fun to watch.
Though I do have a fond spot for the movie “Munsters go home” which I saw in the theater as a kid and normally watch when it is played again.
Never saw The Addams Family but I loved The Munsters. That’s probably because The Munsters are more prevalent in syndication than The Addams Family. About the only exposure I had to the Addams was their appearances as cartoon characters in Scooby Doo and I despised the “star of the week” Scooby Doo episodes so my impression of the Addams was probably warped right there. 😉
Just going by that picture… Gomez and Pat Madrid: Separated at birth? 😀
Heehee… nobody tell him I said that.
I agree. The Addams Family is far superior to the Munsters. One thread of the story line that is present in the Addams Family (that is never really developed) is that Gomez Addams is filthy rich and so he is no interested in the ordinary but the unusual and mysterious. I always found this idea interesting. Unfortunately, the storylines rarely picked up on this fact and instead, they tend to focus on the long line of creepy relatives and family members.
I always loved when John Astin would appear on another, more recent, favorite sitcom of mine: Night Court.
He played the father of the judge, a father who spent many years in a mental hospital but who, with a very Gomez-like smile on his face would often say, ‘But I’m much better now.’
The little things that they would add to the show were great, too–like Morticia going around and cutting off the roses in full bloom or Gomez setting up train wrecks on his model train set.