# Addams Family or Munsters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 1999, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743 "1999-09-10T19:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/81 "2018-03-06T05:51:18Z")
Mary Kay and Johnny were really married, though, but they were technically the first. Just out of curiosity, I looked up the first non-married actors that shared the same bed. First appears to be the Flintstones. Second was Bewitched and third was the Munsters. Bewitched first showed Darrin and Samantha sharing a bed on October 22, 1964. The Munsters first showed Herman and Lily sharing the same bed in the episode “Autumn Croakus,” which aired on November 26, 1964. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/82 "2018-03-06T08:14:12Z")
> [@BobBitchin](#): > > I love both. > > But if pushed…the Munster’s win by a couple of cool car lengths.(and a motorcycle too IIRC) > > Gotta love Grandpa and Drag-u-la:cool: Speaking of[Zombies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqQuihD0hoI) :D. Although I prefer the\* Addams Family\*, Munsters did inspire cooler music (I mean, _M.C. Hammer_? Come on!) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/83 "2018-03-06T15:32:02Z")
Addams Family (I too make the “mail’s in” sound when I bring in the mail.) Also, it was fun to watch Gomez playing with his trains. Still, I liked Eddie Munster’s pet–Spot the dragon, who lived under the staircase. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/84 "2018-03-06T15:52:00Z")
The shows are more alike than partisans for either willingly admit. They both have the same basic concept of a “different” family that doesn’t think of themselves as different. (You might also recognize this from The Beverly Hillbillies.) Both shows had a lot of corny gags and recycled those corny gags from episode to episode. The chemistry between Gomez and Morticia is often held up as superior to that between Herman and Lily, which is arguably true. That, however, misses that the relationship between Herman and Grandpa is actually the engine that drives much of the humor in The Munsters. There is no analogous relationship between any of the Addamses. I like both shows about equally well. The Addams Family gets a boost from the great 90s movies with Raul Julia, the only Munsters movie I ever saw had the TV cast and was essentially just a longer version of a TV episode. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t an improvement on the original the way the Addams Family movies were. Both shows had TV revivals with different casts. These are nearly forgotten and best remain so. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/85 "2018-03-06T16:15:27Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Not even close. The first TV couple to sleep in the same bed was Johnny and Mary Kay Stearns on the 1947 show _Mary Kay and Johnny_ on the Dumont Network. > > [Who Was the First TV Couple to Sleep in the Same Bed? | Snopes.com](https://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/marykay.asp) One problem with that: > [@](#): > > Unfortunately, not even kinescopes of Mary Kay and Johnny have survived, so it exists only in the memories of those who saw the program during its original run half a century ago. Memories are notoriously unreliable, which is why Paul “TV Geek” Goebel refuses to accept Snopes’ answer. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/86 "2018-03-06T18:29:44Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > One problem with that: Memories are notoriously unreliable, which is why Paul “TV Geek” Goebel refuses to accept Snopes’ answer. I have no problem with that. Snopes is not the only source that Mary Kay and Johnny were the first couple to share a bed on TV. The show ran for 300 episodes over three seasons and on three networks, so even if there is no surviving film, I accept people’s memories of this as reliable. And since I’ve never heard of Paul Goebel and have no idea who he is, I give exactly zero fucks for his opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/87 "2018-03-06T19:59:37Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Snopes is not the only source that Mary Kay and Johnny were the first couple to share a bed on TV. And all of them rely on nothing but people’s memories. Do the words “[Mandela Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory#Collective_false_memories)” mean anything to you? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/88 "2018-03-06T20:02:29Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > And all of them rely on nothing but people’s memories. Do the words “[Mandela Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory#Collective_false_memories)” mean anything to you? I’m familiar with the term. I’m curious, though, why I should give a wet shit about this guy’s opinion on the matter. He doesn’t have any films either. Why should I put greater weight on his pronouncements than on the memories of people who at least actually watched the show? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/89 "2018-03-06T20:18:55Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I’m familiar with the term. I’m curious, though, why I should give a wet shit about this guy’s opinion on the matter. He doesn’t have any films either. Why should I put greater weight on his pronouncements than on the memories of people who at least actually watched the show? Denizens of a message board dedicated to fighting ignorance are supposed to know better than accept answers for which there is absolutely no solid evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/90 "2018-03-06T20:48:16Z")
There’s a difference between “no evidence” and “less evidence than we would like”, and memories are evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/91 "2018-03-06T21:08:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There’s a difference between “no evidence” and “less evidence than we would like”, and memories are evidence. Right. Memories may not be give firm confirmation of a fact, but they are unequivocally evidence. No reason has been given for why Goebel doesn’t believe this evidence. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/92 "2018-03-06T22:24:28Z")
Comparing the two series is like comparing the cartoons in _ **The New Yorker** _ to _ **MAD Magazine** _—two completely different kinds of humor. They were both funny, but in very diverse ways. Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were brilliant comic actors, just like John Astin _et al._ were. In terms of sheer bizarreness, though, I’d have to say the Addamses had the edge over the Munsters. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743/93 "2018-03-06T22:26:41Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > And all of them rely on nothing but people’s memories. Do the words “[Mandela Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory#Collective_false_memories)” mean anything to you? No. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addams-family-or-munsters/16743.md?page=4)