As a kid I ran home from school every weekday to catch the "latest" episode of THE ADDAMS FAMILY (in syndication), that I'd already watched dozens of times. I simply never tired of this show, and still watch it now. It's the perfect show, and arguably among the best "sitcoms" ever offered.
Morticia (love of my life, Carolyn Jones), Gomez (the inimitable John Astin), Uncle Fester (the zany Jackie Coogan), Mama (Blossom Rock), Wednesday (Lisa Loring), Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax), Lurch (Ted Cassidy), Thing (Itself), and don't forget Felix Silla as Cousin Itt, were all my surrogate family!
Also, by being a macabre group of misfits, the Addams' were able to bend / twist / reshape the rules of television. For instance, could anyone imagine the uproar if Ozzie had kissed Harriet in the same way that Gomez devoured Morticia? Or, how about Beaver Cleaver causing car wrecks or using dynamite caps to blow stuff up, like Pugsley? What if Patty Duke had shown visitors her collection of black widow spiders, a la Wednesday? This was subversive TV right under the censors' noses! That's why it remains fresh today, while its contemporaries have mostly gone the way of the dodo.
Artist, Charles Addams was a hysterically morbid genius, and this show was as close to his original vision as TV would allow. In fact, there's a great episode on right this minute...
Morticia (love of my life, Carolyn Jones), Gomez (the inimitable John Astin), Uncle Fester (the zany Jackie Coogan), Mama (Blossom Rock), Wednesday (Lisa Loring), Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax), Lurch (Ted Cassidy), Thing (Itself), and don't forget Felix Silla as Cousin Itt, were all my surrogate family!
Also, by being a macabre group of misfits, the Addams' were able to bend / twist / reshape the rules of television. For instance, could anyone imagine the uproar if Ozzie had kissed Harriet in the same way that Gomez devoured Morticia? Or, how about Beaver Cleaver causing car wrecks or using dynamite caps to blow stuff up, like Pugsley? What if Patty Duke had shown visitors her collection of black widow spiders, a la Wednesday? This was subversive TV right under the censors' noses! That's why it remains fresh today, while its contemporaries have mostly gone the way of the dodo.
Artist, Charles Addams was a hysterically morbid genius, and this show was as close to his original vision as TV would allow. In fact, there's a great episode on right this minute...