Yes. The most memorable feature about it was the goofy horn.
Ooooo. I like the buzzard hood ornament, too.
I’ll agree that the Addams Family was probably a better show in some intellectual sense, but it always left me cold. In my experience, Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis inspired genuine affection that was lacking in the other show.
Mockingbird Lane, the 2012 re imagining of the Munsters by Bryan Singer and Bryan Fuller was quite good. It was supposed to be a pilot, but unfortunately was never picked up. I liked the explanation of the family situation- Grandpa decided that no man was good enough for his daughter, so he custom-built one that was. Eddie being a werewolf was the result of not properly investigating the origin of all the parts.
Excellent point. Herman and Grandpa inspire affection from fans of the show. From what I see, Addams Family fans don’t like the characters quite so much as they want to be the characters. Well, just Gomez and Morticia, really. Maybe Wednesday. Never heard anybody express a fantasy of being Fester or Pugsley or Thing or other supporting characters.
To me, the best part of The Munsters was Al “Grandpa” Lewis.
But all The Addams Family regulars were at least as good. Even Pugsley and Thing.
What fantasy? Ask any Doper who has met me - I am Fester! (Albeit a particularly loud Fester, sartorially-speaking.)
Well, they had Spot too.
I once knew a guy who was a dead ringer for Fester. He worked as a security guard and never went out unarmed. One Fourth of July, he ensconced himself in a lawn chair with a two-four and spent the evening setting off fireworks. It was eerie to watch. :eek:
Al and Fred had of course already worked together on Car 54, Where Are You? I think a lot of the humor from that show carried over to The Munsters.
I liked Wednesday (Christina Ricci) in the movies; the TV version not as much. On the TV show I though Thing was really innovative and fun. And Lurch! So for me it’s the Addams family.
Our local theater recently did the Addams Family musical, which for my tastes focused too much on Wednesday. I can’t imagine a Broadway musical based on the Munsters. That too tilts my vote for Addams family (are we voting again?).
I dressed up as Uncle Fester for Halloween one year.
Well, like Silenus, I bear more than a little resemblance to Fester, myself. I can’t say that I want to be Fester, though.
The Munsters was more of a goofy kids show, kind of like The Beverly Hillbillies with the Universal Monsters. The Addams Family had its kid appeal, too, but it was more sophisticated. Its wit could be biting, it was surreal at times, and the Gomez/Morticia vibe was a nice sideways wink at the grownups whose relationships weren’t exactly like Ward and June Cleaver’s. They were getting away with some shenanigans, and they knew it.
Back in the day, The Addams Family. Now… probably neither show is watchable for an indefinite period of time.
I never liked The Munsters, but with the passage of time, I will acknowledge the show had good make-up, theme music and vehicles (Munster Koach and The Drag-u-la). It also had Wolfie, who was totally cool:
The Munster bicycle was never seen in any episode, but Butch Patrick rode it around the lot. Like the cars, it was a product of Barris Kustoms.
My favorite Munster-related pic: Butch Patrick at a performance of The Munsters singing group (James Infield, Roger Yorke and William Wild) at the Hollywood Bowl in 1965. Photo by John Derek.
I beg your pardon! The Beverly Hillbillies was biting social commentary.
I only recently realized where Wednesday’s name came from; I had supposed it was some kind of reference to Tuesday Weld.
They had their moments. Such as when one of Mrs. Drysdale’s genealogist friends believed that the Clampetts first came to America prior to the Mayflower.
Pearl: “Well, Jed, the earlier your ancestors got here, the higher society you are. Them’s the rules.”
Jed: “Well then the highest society would be the Indians, seein’ as they was here before any of us.”
I said this in a previous thread: The Munsters was about people who looked like monsters, but who otherwise led normal middle-class lives. The Addams Family was about people who were truly macabre. Both thought they were normal; the difference was that the Munsters really were normal except for their appearance.
The Munsters was like The Flintstones and The Jetsons in that all three shows transplanted middle-class American values unchanged into an odd scenario. The Flintstones was about stone-aged people who were exactly like current-day middle-class Americans; The Jetsons was about people living in the far-off future who were exactly like current-day middle-class Americans; and The Munsters was about people who looked like monsters but were exactly like current-day middle-class Americans. The Addams Family was about bizarre, creepy people who lived like bizarre, creepy people in contrast to current-day middle-class Americans.
I prefer The Addams Family because the show really went with its premise, and didn’t go with the conformist idea that everyone is the same.