Volume one of DVD set of "Addams Family" is good cartoonish fun

November 21, 8:38 AMTV on DVD ExaminerJohn Stahl

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Uncle Fester and Gomez from "Addams Family"

I have enjoyed watching several of the 22 episodes of the 1964-66 fantasy sitcom "The Addams Family" (Addams) on Volume One of a three volume set so much that I am cheating a little bit by writing about this cartoonish live-action show for "Animation Friday." This show premiered one week before 'The Munsters," which also based a sitcom on ghoulish and monster characters.

However, I believe that "The Munsters" was created after learning that Addams was being produced.I believe as well that Addams is the only sitcom to be based on a comic strip that appeared in a magazine, The New Yorker, rather than a newspaper.

I was more of a Munsters' fan growing up but have come to appreciate the more subtle and dark humor behind Addams. This was probably the first sitcom to get laughs from torture and freakish deaths. I also do not know of any television or real-life  husband other than Gomez Addams who has a constant and almost uncontrollable passion for his wife.

I  think additionally that Addams was filmed better and that the stories are more clever than "The Munsters." Although both shows mined humor from the obliviousness of the characters regarding their appearances and chosen lifestyle, Addams was the better show because it involved more interaction with "normal" people and conflicts regarding the family's gleeful embrace of the macabre than with the more slapstick tone of "The Munsters."

The actual setting of Addams also reminds me of a technique that genius film director Alfred Hitchcock used; he often consciously set the horror and suspense in everyday settings, rather than a haunted house or spooky forest.

All of the Munsters' house was filthy, dark, and generally spooky. Conversely, the Addams' kept their house very clean and limited the creepy decor to their living room and dungeon-like "playroom." In fact, they had a very nice kitchen and the bedrooms of the children were very bright and normal.

The setting in both shows reminded me as well of a comment by another successful producer. Garry Marshall stated once that setting "Happy Days" in the 1950 and 1960s would prevent it from ever looking dated. The old-fashioned looks of the house of the both the Addams and Munsters would be appropriate today, and their being in black-and-white seems appropriate for their creepy themes. This may be why both shows are among the few black-and-white ones that are still syndicated today. Frankly, they look less dated than "I Love Lucy."

A world of difference existed between an early and great episode of Addams in which Pugsley joining the boy scouts and getting a puppy caused great concern and characters recoiling in horror or running or driving frantically on getting a good look at the Frankenstein's monster appearance of Herman Munster.

I also think that the creatures in Addams are much more clever than those on "The Munsters." The creators of "The Munsters" clearly and admittedly based the characters on Dracula and the other characters in the classic monster movies that Universal Studios had produced. The Addams' butler Lurch is also based on Frankenstein's monster and matriarch Morticia Addams has a very vampire-like appearance and personality, but I do not know of any other disembodied hand other than Thing or another monster who seems simple to be a mass of hair like Cousin Itt.

MGM also gets high scores for its extras on this set that can be found for around $13. One is interesting biography of Charles Addams, who created the characters and participated in developing the television program. Another feature consisted of entertaining and insightful interviews with most of the primary cast members who were still alive. The actors who played the Addams children were very open about their on-set conflicts. A third feature about the creation of the memorable theme song and the other music for the show was worth watching as well.

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