Really? I thought I heard rumors about that. It's actually happening?
The Great Debate: The Addams Family vs The Munsters
- Thread starter Amasov
- Start date
Really? I thought I heard rumors about that. It's actually happening?
Ooh, tough choice.
I love both shows, and for different reasons, but if I had to choose, I'd choose The Addams Family over The Munsters, just by a bit. While I love The Munsters brand of goofy pratfall comedy (and Herman in golf clothes), The Addams Family had a more slicker, wittier humor that just really appealed to me.
I think you hit the nail on the head - the humor on the Addam's Family was much more subtle. However, as another poster pointed out, the writers of "The Munsters" did have social commentary in mind - the writers were Jewish, and the show was supposed to represent (according to what I've read) an "alien" (read: Jewish) culture trying to exist in an American city - different look, different values and customs, and good naturedly trying to assimilate.
Closes the gap maybe, but the Creature From the Black Lagoon still don't beat Carolyn Jones in skin-tight black.
I prefer the Addams Family.
http://www.grudge-match.com/History/feud2.shtml
Here's an old poll about the subject. The Addams Family won.
http://www.grudge-match.com/History/feud2.shtml
Here's an old poll about the subject. The Addams Family won.
Definitely The Addams Family.
The main reason that both original series were cancelled after two-year runs was because this always was a great debate. Viewers were fans of one show or the other, and generally refused to watch the other. The Munsters had higher ratings than The Addams Family, but not high enough to save it from cancellation. (This was before demographics were used to monitor the success of a program; that could have spared The Addams Family--and really have fueled a feud.)
The Munsters had an on-screen chemistry between Fred Gwinne and Al Lewis that was not matched by anything on The Addams Family, but it could not overcome the Marilyn problem. Marilyn Munster was originally conceived to be a normal-looking teenager--Eddie's older sister--but the network executives insisted that a twentysomething actress portray Marilyn. Whether it was the age of the character, or the mere fact that a normal-looking character did not fit the theme of the show, the quality of the program was hurt by it.
For the record, I was an Addams Family fan. I watched The Munsters only when my only alternative was to try to complete an impossible-to-complete (by the professor's design) assignment in Physical Chemistry.
The Munsters had an on-screen chemistry between Fred Gwinne and Al Lewis that was not matched by anything on The Addams Family, but it could not overcome the Marilyn problem. Marilyn Munster was originally conceived to be a normal-looking teenager--Eddie's older sister--but the network executives insisted that a twentysomething actress portray Marilyn. Whether it was the age of the character, or the mere fact that a normal-looking character did not fit the theme of the show, the quality of the program was hurt by it.
For the record, I was an Addams Family fan. I watched The Munsters only when my only alternative was to try to complete an impossible-to-complete (by the professor's design) assignment in Physical Chemistry.
This!
As one person said on the DVD extras, "The Addams Family was really the only show on television at the time where you felt the parents were madly in love with each other and actually had sex!"
