The Addams Family

'The Addams Family' was one of my favourite TV shows growing up because of it's overall weirdness, which appealed to my sick sensibilities having been raised on a diet of Mad magazine and Hammer horror movies, and because it was genuinely funny. And all these years later it still is. As an adult I appreciate it on even more levels. With hindsight it manages to look like one of the most subversive shows ever shown on TV, while simultaneously showing one of the most loving, and well adjusted families in TV history! How ironic is that?

John Astin as Gomez Addams shows outstanding comic flair, and is still a delight to watch. (Try and track down the ahead of its time comic western 'Evil Roy Slade' for another wonderful Astin performance.) The chemistry between Astin and on-screen wife Morticia (the lovely Carolyn Jones) is smoldering AND hilarious, and the two are backed up by a fine supporting cast, especially former child star Jackie Coogan as the bizarre but lovable Uncle Fester.

Forget the hit and miss movies, these are the original and still the best Addams family. Wonderful fun!

It's funny, but when I ask friends my age who was the best TV dad of the 1960s, I often get the answer 'Gomez Addams' or if I mention him, they then agree with me wholeheartedly. He was a radical and wonderful husband--and the Addams', believe it or not, were a very healthy family that could be emulated. Now I am NOT recommending folks have pet lions, eat eye of newt, have model trains that blow up, sleep on beds of nails and the like. I AM recommending you look at the relationships between the characters. Mr. Addams truly loves his family. But, more importantly, he was the first husband who loved his wife sexually. He adored her--setting a wonderful example for the kids. The same can be said for Mrs. Addams. While her libido didn't seem quite as strong, it was VERY strong for a 1960s woman--and she was a loving and gentle mother. As for the kids, despite being total weirdos, they were really decent kids. All in all, the show wasn't just comedy and weirdness but a fantastic prototype for how the American family could or should be. This is why I adore this show. Sure, it makes me laugh but it also influenced how I later became a husband and father--and often makes me ask myself WWGD--what would Gomez do? Well written, funny and fun.

One of the funnier and more enjoyable series of the period about a ghoulish family that just seems to be totally unaware of their strangeness. Led by John Astin and Carolyn Jones, the group included the two aforementioned performers as the parents to two creepy youngsters and the odd voices of reason to various other family members. Jackie Coogan definitely stole the show as the creepy Uncle Fester. A short run of success for three seasons ended in 1966 with only 64 episodes being made. Used to have a home in syndication, but is harder to find on television these days. The series had a renaissance in the early-1990s with two theatrical installments starring Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd and Anjelica Huston. The movies are not on par with the series, the main reason for this is the fact that the situations and characters play out so much better on the boob tube. 4 stars out of 5.

The Addamses are a delightfully ghoulish family. Father Gomez (John Astin) clears his throat with a sword, mother Morticia (Carolyn Jones) owns several carnivorous plants, and servant Lurch (Ted Cassidy) somberly replies "You rang?" whenever someone rings the bell. And of course, there's their pet, a severed hand named Thing. The family spends their days engaging in activities that most would find weird (to be certain, everything that's normal to us is weird to them). For example, Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) likes to rest on a bed on nails. They go through their everyday lives (uh, lives?) doing the sorts of things that most people do, just differently (to say the least).

Among other things, "The Addams Family" was actually better than "The Munsters" (it was cleverer and not so silly). This truly represented a break from the "ideal American family" mold that had previously dominated TV, especially since Gomez and Morticia often got slinky with each other. Definitely watch it whenever it's on (TV Land is currently rerunning it).

Believe it or not, as I watched this show in syndication when I was a tyke, I wanted to be Gomez Addams. Gomez was rich, happily married, dripping with Old World charm, had loving children, kind relatives, a devoted butler, lived in a great house, and the whole family did everything THEIR way, convention be damned!

He made wild, passionate love to his wife (and could turn his libido on and off like a light...yet all Morticia had to do was speak French!), and instead of drinking with the boys, he'd unwind with either yoga, juggling Indian clubs, bouncing on his trampoline, or blowing up his train set. His only vices were smoking cigars and drinking brandy, yet he seemed to do both in moderation.

I loved the little touches the show had. The coffee table with bundles of $100 bills in the drawer ("Petty cash, my good man!"), Lurch's Basso Profundo groan, the Butler's Chime that shook the entire house (with the pull cord a full-sized hangman's noose), the torture chamber turned into a "play room", the quirky decor of the house and the family taking in the moon while others took in the sun.

Gomez and Morticia were the first TV sitcom couple to have an implied sex life (a rather kinky one at that!), and the whole family was healthy and happy...if rather detached from established norms. It was a cleverly subversive program that shows one could be happy without fitting into society's standards. It was so touching to have the family thinking of OTHERS as being troubled and confused, while their own world was so blissful and joyous...even if everything around them was either Gothic or draped in black.

A show like this deserves to be re-issued onto DVD...and if possible, with the laughtrack removed (That would make it even MORE surreal!).