Kinda where I am. Spousal unit started watching it and we’ve decided to start from the beginning together and either we’ll like it, or we’ll snark it. 
I’m not a Tim Burton fan (if he did Sleepy Hollow with Depp and Ricci, that’s the only thing I’ve liked by him), but I thought the show was decent. It falls into the usual tropes of a school setting and small town mystery setting, but Ortega is very good, I like Gwendoline Christie in it (much more than Sandman, which I didn’t mind), and it’s visually interesting.
I liked it. Wednesday and Thing were great. Weems was great. Thornhill was good. Most of the students were fine. The rest of the Addams were decent, IMO, even if quite different from the 90s movies.
One thing I didn’t quite like was Tyler’s arc – maybe the actor was too good as a likable barista, but the personality change just didn’t work for me. The only way to explain it is multiple personalities, and they didn’t really state that that was it.
Also, the Crackstone zombie didn’t fit the rest of the story. But otherwise I liked it quite a bit.
But I still liked it.
Well, he is a Hyde…as in Jekyll and Hyde.
I’m two episodes in, and I’m enjoying it for what it is: A Tim Burton misinterpretation of The Addams Family. Don’t get me wrong. I’m finding the mystery intriguing, and the casting has been spot on. I just don’t like the whole “outcast” and “normie” thing. How on earth could the Addamses consider themselves outcasts if everyone else is just like them? That was the defining characteristic of the '60s show and the '90s movie. The recent movie didn’t get it either.
He did however explain, in the police station after Wednesday was being released, that that was how it was at first,
Waking up covered in blood, at first not remembering, horrified, but then starting to remember - their primal fear, “and it was delicious”. The version of Tyler we see there is the real Tyler. Not the repentant former bully likable barista. At best Jeckyl who embraces his Hyde. His Jeckyl became just an act
Problem is that it is hard to believe Tyler was able to act and improvise his Jeckyl part that well and that consistently.
How long do we need to use spoilers?
I think 2 weeks is fair?
I’ll put that in the title unless a good argument to change that.
Please user spoiler tags until December 7
And that day will live in infamy!
I appreciated that what she was doing with her hands at least approximated the sounds I was hearing without resorting to close-up shots of a double.
My teen and I loved it. Sure there were some parts that weren’t outstanding, but it was great for what it was.
Any Vermont people watching it, screaming at their screens? Of all the things they did, I wish they didn’t use a real town’s name and instead had made one up. Jericho does not in any way, shape, or form resemble what we saw.
I like this quite a bit but it is a good thing it is focused on Wednesday because Jenna Ortega is the only one that nails the part. Morticia Gomez and Fester look how they are supposed to but don’t feel like the characters they are supposed to be. Pugsley is ok too I guess, but it wasn’t much of a part. I thought the actress who played the roommate was far too young, but she is actually the same age as Jenna (20), which is mind blowing as she looks like a small child.
I just watched the whole lot. Pretty enjoyable for what it was; boarding-school romp with lashings of Tim Burton. I don’t think it really served the Addams family well though, so could have been a standalone ‘Nevermore’ show with a similar protagonist. Particularly with the story thread around Gomez being accused of murder. Murder, torture, all things grim are usually treated very coolly by the Family, so it was jarring to have Morticia hysterical in the flashback, and freaking out at Wednesday bringing it up in family therapy. The Addams family surely shouldn’t lose their cool?
Yeah, the Morticia I’m used to smiled indulgently as her children attempted to electrocute each other.
I see the point, but there’s little or no opportunity for drama if the main characters can’t ever be in real danger. The 90s movies had similar characterizations (aside from Gomez’s athleticism and suaveness), but they put their characters in real danger, to the point that, at least a few times, they really did get upset and fearful. The Addams regularly joke about and even engage in off-screen crimes, but when the Addams fortune was stolen or threatened in the 90s movies, Gomez really was fearful and even a bit panicky. Further, I think it makes sense that teenage Gomez and Morticia might have been quite a bit less confident and comfortable with danger and the macabre than they are as adults.
In any of the programs and movies has Pugsley been anything but a victim or minor foil of Wednesday? It’s always seemed a thankless role to me.
Because a murderous young girl is funnier than a murderous young boy. There’s probably some fat-shaming involved too.
I just finished watching the 8 episode series, “Wednesday”, on Netflix, and I must say I really enjoyed it. She starts out as the limited character in the original series, but her character is flushed out over the 8 episodes, and a 3 dimensional person emerges by the end of the eighth episode.
The opening of the series has her and her younger brother in a “normal” school where some bullies on the boys’ swim team trash her brother. She punishes them by walking into their after school swim practice and dropping two large bags of piranha into the pool. The resulting carnage gets her expelled, and her parents decide to enroll her into their Alma Mater, “Nevermore”, which is a school for “special” kids with strange powers and supernatural attributes. Everything takes off from there!
At the end of the 8th episode, it definitely leaves room for a 2nd season. You know Netflix, though. There may be one or not. It’s hard to tell. I think it is deserving of one, though!
I’ve seen it. And there’s definitely no flushing!
The viewership has been near the best ever for Netflix so we will probably hear about a 2+ season renewal soon enough.
The Wednesday character rose from limited to major in the 90’s movies with Christina Ricci starring as Wednesday. A lot of people including myself believe Wednesday stole the second movie. Which is why landing Christina Ricci for a supporting role was so great.
Pugsley in the original comics was devious and had a mean streak. I don’t recall any comic where he was just a foil for Wednesday, though I very much doubt that I have seen anywhere close to all of the comics.
Pugsley in the original black and white TV series wasn’t quite as mean, but he was more devious and was extremely skilled at creating things. He was fond of dynamite and would often play with Wednesday. I think a typical interaction would be that he would create a miniature Guillotine so that Wednesday could use it to chop the heads off of her dolls.
Pugsley has lost a lot of his personality in later films, and is just a helpless punching bag in the Netflix series. I think they could have done a better job with his character.
I thought Fester was a decent representation of the character. No complaints there.
I wasn’t sure if I would like their version of Gomez when I first saw the trailers. I wasn’t sure how well the original comic style of Gomez would work, but in the end I ended up liking the Netflix version.
Something about Morticia just seemed off to me. Like you said, she looked the part but she just didn’t feel right.
Lurch just seemed kinda meh to me, though it was a very small part. I do get that it is extremely difficult to find someone with anything even close to Ted Cassidy’s presence as Lurch.
Overall, Mrs. Geek and I both really liked the show.