The New Addams Family

My daughter was watching the New Addams Family one night and I got hooked. I was a big fan of the original series and I think the production company did a great job with this remake. The part I like the most is the similarity (both physically and in portrayal) between the original cast and the current one. I just watched an episode where John Aston (the original Gomez) appeared as Grandpapa Addams. The inside jokes started flying and it was a great laugh. I think this is a definite winner. For anyone on the east coast who get the Fox Family Channel, you can see two episodes a night between 6pm and 7pm EST.

The Addams Family charisma, was first dreamed up under the pin of Charles Addams and had been a part of American art culture long before the original Addams Family television show was first aired in the 60's. In his cartoons, seen for over 60 years in the "New Yorker" and many other fine magazines, Americans saw a different side of life. His themes showed the unnatural in its natural setting, being taken for granted and in some strange way always making perfect sense.

In September 1964 we gathered around our TV's and watched this weird new show called "the Addams Family". No one thought it would work, how could they take live actors and recreate that special Addams charm? We decided to watch it. Suddenly it turned out to be good, and each show it got better. Age didn't seem to matter everyone in the family loved it. As we watched week after week, we saw the cast expand their characters, gain confedence and present a trully magical show about a loving family....

Time passed...

It is Oct 1998. The family gathers together again to see this, so called, "New Addams Family" show. As we wait for it to start everybody has an opinion. "Never heard of these actors, why not just bring back some of the movies actors?"...."Why not just create new Addams characters and leave the original names alone"..."there was only one Gomez"...."name the father Repelli, the wife Prunella, the son Pubert, the..."..."can't be done again"..."Mama, are they going to do it like the movies or like the original show?". Most of the people who watched that first show expected to be disappointed. Now 65 shows later, families all over the world still crowd infront of their TV's to watch Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Mama, Wednesday, Pugsley, Lurch, the ever faithful Thing, Cousin Itt, a whole cemetery full of cousins and special guests recreate the wonderful world of Addams for us. Yes, there are weak moments, yes there are strong moments, but when it comes right down to it each one is a pure Addams moment. The cast, crew and writers of the New Addams Family show, have worked hard to bring the Addams Family into the 90's. They accomplished that with out losing the special magic and family love that was a trade mark of the first show. They also managed to do honor to the Addams Family Movies without losing the original show's certian something.

The humor and insight of Charles Addams has been an important part of American culture for over 80 years. The New Addams Family television show has survived it's trial by fire and can take it's place in Addams Family history. Who know 25 years from now we may gather around the WebTV to watch the all new Addams Family of 2025. I bet you it will be a blast too. Especially if Uncle Fester has anything to say about it.

Happy viewing! :)

Having watched "The Addams Family" when it originally ran and having seen the Addams Family movies, I'd have to say the New Addams Family series on FoxFamily is incredibly more pleasing and entertaining to me than I found the movies to be. I felt the casting of the original movie ruined its playfulness and really didn't have the same flavor as the 60's series. Glenn Taranto is eerily much more reminiscent of John Ashton and seems much happier and outgoing than Raul Julio was. He and Ellie Harvie portray the Addam's passions more frequently, but in such a carefree way it makes physical touch seem like a normal happy occurrence of two people in love instead of a segway to adult entertainment. Nicole Fugere is an excellent Wednesday and steals the show. Both she and Brody Smith as Pugsly really bring out the children's parts (it is on a children's network) as two average children with just some seriously odd family values. The show is incredibly cast, better written than the movies I saw, and very entertaining; both my son and I love to watch it! It's one of the few 60's revivals that is actually a treat to watch. I just wish the production company would put up a web site for the show as the FoxFamily site is very limited.

This show has gotten a bad rap...even though it is a remake and does steal a lot of plot from the original, the acting is incredible and the show's fresh enough to be a lot of fun. I'd say it's better than a lot of the new shows that are coming out these days...once you get used to the new actors, you might learn to love it!

I am a huge fan of the original series and because of that I am giving a chance to every adaptation of Addams. Movies were OK, although not even close to the original show. Animated series was unwatchable and now there's this. "The New Addams Family" is a color remake of the original series. Although story and humor are quite similar, the new cast is way below the original, both in looks and performances, and overall atmosphere leaves an impression of a parody rather than a remake. I can not say it is especially bad, and if I didn't watch the series from the sixties maybe I would even like this a bit. But I did watch it and I love it very much, so I experienced this as a blasphemy and it was literally painful for me to watch.

4/10