The Greatest TV Comedies - THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1964 -1966)

*I will be reposting some articles I wrote from a year ago on the blog What We're Watching on TV. The blogger who started that wonderful blog, Tracy aka Gilby 37 has since moved on to her own personal blog and I don't really write on it as much. So I will be posting those articles here and new ones as well. By the way these sitcoms came from this book called Sitcoms - The 101 Greatest TV Comedies Of All Time. I hope you enjoy these articles.

 OK let's start with The Addams Family. This comedy classic that mixed the weird with macabre humor originally premiered back in 1964. Way before I was born, I didn't catch it until the late 70's and early 80's in reruns. I do recall thinking this show was definitely out there. It made a great companion piece to that other comedy of the 60's, The Munsters. The Addams had a very peculiar family, led by Gomez (outstanding performance by John Astin, Patty Duke's real life husband at one point). Gomez was madly in love with his wife, the exotic Morticia (great name, and played by former movie star Carolyn Jones, who enjoyed her biggest success with this show). Gomez always went to great lengths to prove his love for Morticia, sometimes even death defying acts just to show he would be willing to die for her. Morticia always played it cool though, usually giving in with a little kiss or touch to soothe Gomez. They had two kids named Wednesday, who had a weird fascination with decapitation and her brother Pugsley, who loved inventing weird mechanical things. Not your typical kids to be sure. Also on hand was Uncle Fester (played by former child star Jackie Coogan) who had a thing for electricity..always doing the light bulb in his mouth trick, making it glow. Also on hand was Grandmama, Gomez's mother. And Lurch, the family butler, played by the gigantic Ted Cassidy. That would be the entire family not counting visiting cousins like It, which was basically a walking thing hard to describe who spoke in some type of gibberish. It was a full body of long flowing hair that wore sunglasses. Crazy right? And let's not forget Thing, a right hand, that answered the phone, scratched people's unreachable itches, and all around gopher.

Cousin It

You had to have a really good imagination to come up with The Addams Family and creator/cartoonist Charles Addams definitely did. I remember this was one of the coolest shows ever. And I was surprised to learn that it only lasted 3 years for a total of 64 shows. That seems small, especially when you compare it to other long running shows of the 60's. But I guess because like it's sister show, The Munsters, it was a way different type of show. It would become a classic thanks to cable reruns and DVDS and even enjoy a comeback with the big movie remake with Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston in the roles of Gomez and Morticia. Addams Family is remembered today thanks to this original series from the 60's which had a memorable kooky theme song that most people know by hard. Also helping was the fact that it was shot in B&W which gave it a classic horror movie type feel without the horror. It's not broadcast much these days, sometimes on TVLand, but thank heaven for You Tube and DVDS. You can still enjoy these fabulous kooky episodes today.

Gomez and Morticia

I'm trying to recall my favorite episodes but it's been so long since I have seen them. I just remember certain scenes like Gomez fencing like a man possessed, or target practicing with knives on Lurch, or was it vice versa. I remember the gibberish talk of Cousin It who would get depressed over some inane thing and Morticia would have to soothe his feelings. So I have a few good memories but they need to be refreshed. Maybe watch a few classic episodes online somewhere. Well I hope someone took some enjoyment from this blog. I know I enjoyed writing it. Did anyone else like The Addams Family or did you prefer The Munsters? Love to hear your comments. And I hope to write about all the other great sitcoms at least one a week. Maybe more, time permitting but would love to hear what everyone has to say on them too. And thanks team especially Tracy for inviting me here. I know I'm gonna love it being here.