I know the yet-to-be named characters first appeared in Charles Addams’ wonderfully weird cartoons in The New Yorker. But how did they go from there to television? Did Addams pitch the idea for the series to ABC himself? Did a suit at the network hit upon the idea one day while reading the magazine? Or were Charles and/or ABC approached by a third party who realized the comedic potential of such a project?
David Levy was a programming exec at NBC when he approached Addams in 1962 about adapting the strip for TV. I’m not sure whose idea it was to have Addams work as closely as he did in development (like coming up with the character names). That wasn’t generally how it worked back then; all the network usually wanted from a creator was the license. But Addams’ name was literally in the title.