Morticia. By a mile.
the addams family, and the munsters
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I watched The Munsters on either TV Land or Nick at Nite back in the '90s. I was very young then, but even then I didn't find the show very funny. I just watched it because the characters so closely resembled the monsters from the Universal horror movies, which were (and are) some of my favorites.
My only exposure to The Addams Family as a child came via the two theatrical films. Which, to be honest, I loved. I still like them a lot. Raul Julia is great, but I particularly liked Christina Ricci's wonderfully creepy, and of course hilarious, Wednesday Addams.
Which is kind of why I could never get into the old show. It's funny enough, but what bothers me most is how happy, cheerful and normal Wednesday is. I liked the character so much more when she had more overall morbidity mixed with a genuine sense of menace. A couple other characters are substantially less creepy and funny than they were in the movie, IMO, chief among them Uncle Fester. But my dad has the DVDs of the old show and we watch them occasionally. Gomez and Morticia are really the only characters whose portrayal works for me both on the show and in the movies, though.
My only exposure to The Addams Family as a child came via the two theatrical films. Which, to be honest, I loved. I still like them a lot. Raul Julia is great, but I particularly liked Christina Ricci's wonderfully creepy, and of course hilarious, Wednesday Addams.
Which is kind of why I could never get into the old show. It's funny enough, but what bothers me most is how happy, cheerful and normal Wednesday is. I liked the character so much more when she had more overall morbidity mixed with a genuine sense of menace. A couple other characters are substantially less creepy and funny than they were in the movie, IMO, chief among them Uncle Fester. But my dad has the DVDs of the old show and we watch them occasionally. Gomez and Morticia are really the only characters whose portrayal works for me both on the show and in the movies, though.
MeanJoePhaser
Admiral
Has anyone mentioned the New Addams Family that aired on Fox Family Channel in the 90's?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Addams_Family
It was pretty awwwwful. Though (my wife) Morgan Fairchild guest starred as Cousin Pretentia (she was pretentious, of course).
And I had forgotten there was a Munsters "sequel" series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Munsters_Today
Both shows had more episodes than the original (New Addams just one more).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Addams_Family
It was pretty awwwwful. Though (my wife) Morgan Fairchild guest starred as Cousin Pretentia (she was pretentious, of course).
And I had forgotten there was a Munsters "sequel" series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Munsters_Today
Both shows had more episodes than the original (New Addams just one more).
I think they're both great in different ways; I don't feel any need to compare them any more than I feel a need to compare Adam West's Batman and Kevin Conroy's. They were trying for two different things, so I don't see them as being in competition. Ricci's Wednesday was certainly very effective in her sheer creepiness, an unforgettable performance. But that kind of malevolence just didn't fit the more playful tone of the sitcom, and Lisa Loring's Wednesday was just so cute.
And you should've seen her grown up. There was a pretty bad reunion movie shot on videotape in the '80s, bringing back all the surviving cast, and the grown-up Lisa Loring was pretty hot.
I love both versions of Gomez; again, they're not trying to do quite the same thing, and each actor brings his own unique qualities to the role. As for Morticia, I never cared for Angelica Huston in the role.
I have a bit of trouble with the movies. They're entertaining, but a little too morbid for my tastes. The TV Addamses were just a bunch of eccentrics, maybe with certain weird interests that would be codified these days as unconventional fetishes (beds of nails, electrocution, etc.). They were basically harmless. But the movie Addamses are pretty unmistakably murderers. The films just go a little too far for my tastes.
And of course the Thing was much cooler in the series. The effect may have been cruder, just an actor's hand sticking out of a box (usually Ted Cassidy's hand, but sometimes that of future ILM effects genius Richard Edlund when Cassidy was on camera as Lurch), but it had a much greater air of mystery to it. What's on the other end of that arm? How does it fit into the box? How does it travel between boxes? That simple effect hints at all sorts of arcane mysteries about the Thing itself and the space it occupies. But the movie's Thing was blatantly just a severed hand running across the floor. Sure, there's some mystery to how it was animated and how it sensed things, but the larger mysteries hinted at by the TV Thing were replaced by something far more literal and obvious. Sometimes less is more.
There was a good deal of satire in The Addams Family - not subtle, by any means - and The Munsters was a more straight-ahead situation comedy. As a kid, it was great having two shows like that on at the same time (I was one of those 1960s kids who built model kits like this and this - very wrapped up in the whole "monster mania" fad).
The Munsters did have an immigrant vibe - even to Marilyn, whose good looks parodied the idea that 'she's so skinny--never attract a man like that' that really did exist among some immigrant groups.
Its apples and oranges to me. I really can't imagine my childhood without both of these in eternal reruns on WPIX Channel 11. I think with Herman, like Maxwell Smart, people tend to forget that they are simply the most extreme examples of the insanity shown in the worlds they depict. Even the competent characters often buy into the same flawed logic that their goofball leads use. They go about things more competently, but like as not things go just as or even more wrong because these were smart people doing dumb things.
I think, better than the eternal debate itself, a better question might be, what is your fave aspect of the two shows, and what was your fave scene/ep from them?
Munsters : Herman and Lily work the same part-time job, not knowing their respective ID's, and flirt. Yeah, its a wackiness ensues moment, but it works.
Addams : Gomez gets a blow to the head, that changes his personality to that of a dull normal, horrified by his household. He then gets about ten more blows to the head, as each member of the family resorts to the old standby to restore him. He changes so often, that by the time all are done, he's still dull normal, and they all think the blows had no effect.
Its apples and oranges to me. I really can't imagine my childhood without both of these in eternal reruns on WPIX Channel 11. I think with Herman, like Maxwell Smart, people tend to forget that they are simply the most extreme examples of the insanity shown in the worlds they depict. Even the competent characters often buy into the same flawed logic that their goofball leads use. They go about things more competently, but like as not things go just as or even more wrong because these were smart people doing dumb things.
I think, better than the eternal debate itself, a better question might be, what is your fave aspect of the two shows, and what was your fave scene/ep from them?
Munsters : Herman and Lily work the same part-time job, not knowing their respective ID's, and flirt. Yeah, its a wackiness ensues moment, but it works.
Addams : Gomez gets a blow to the head, that changes his personality to that of a dull normal, horrified by his household. He then gets about ten more blows to the head, as each member of the family resorts to the old standby to restore him. He changes so often, that by the time all are done, he's still dull normal, and they all think the blows had no effect.
Somehow, I never found Carolyn Jones attractive in any other role (such as Marcia, Queen of Diamonds on Batman), but as Morticia, she's captivating. I guess it's the hair, the slinky dress, and the charming, elegant, warm personality (hardly what you'd expect from a woman named Morticia).
The Munsters was created by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher of Leave it to Beaver fame, certainly an archetype of "ordinary sitcom." (Though no slight intended, LITB is great stuff, with some of the most believably written kid characters and talented child actors of that time or any time since.)
I still love both of the shows, though I've grown to appreciate The Addams Family more as an adult.
I agree with Christopher - Carolyn Jones was really only pretty to me as Morticia, whereas Yvonne DeCarlo was absolutely beautiful out of her makeup, especially in her prime.
Ironically I've always seen 'The Munsters' and 'The Addams Family' as opposites; the Munsters are a family who look like monsters but who behave largely like ordinary people and have the same ordinary worries, whereas the Addamses are a family who look relatively normal but behave quite eccentrically and seem to have few 'ordinary' worries. Both, however, are largely defined by the same loving family dynamic, though, and it's probably how they got away with being as strange as they were.
Ironically I've always seen 'The Munsters' and 'The Addams Family' as opposites; the Munsters are a family who look like monsters but who behave largely like ordinary people and have the same ordinary worries, whereas the Addamses are a family who look relatively normal but behave quite eccentrically and seem to have few 'ordinary' worries. Both, however, are largely defined by the same loving family dynamic, though, and it's probably how they got away with being as strange as they were.
Very interesting analysis. I never thought of it that way, partly because I've never watched much of The Munsters, but it's an excellent point.
In that case:
TAF: Morticia was always my favorite thing about the show, as I hinted at earlier, so I guess my favorite scenes revolve around her, like when she's feeding her man-eating plant, or when she speaks french and Gomez started kissing all up and down her arm. (I used to be jealous as hell that he got to do that and I didn't.) BTW, you guys saying Carolyn Jones only seemed attractive as Morticia are being really narrow about it. Heck, I thought she was still attractive playing Wonder Woman's mom. Or what about the movies she did in the fifties? It's not like the role of Morticia Addams made her gorgeous. She was gorgeous first, and then got the role of Morticia Addams.
Running a close second was Cousin Itt. The episodes where he showed up always seemed funniest to me.
TM: Any scene where it was strictly Herman and Grandpa interacting ruled. Great chemistry between two actors who had worked together before in another great sitcom, "Car 54, Where are you?" (something I didn't know until I had seen a string of Car 54 reruns a few years ago.)
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