The Munsters Today

The original Munsters had a gifted cast, writing that was in synch with that cast, and a sense of the absurd but channeled through a family whose logic and interactions you understood.

The Munsters Today (YouTube has a few episodes) has exactly none of that. It is just a bunch of supposedly funny lines (obvious and groan-inducing) that do not link at all to the episode story line. Put another way, the "jokes" have nothing to do with the story. They're just one-liners and consistently unfunny.

The characters were all one-note and cardboard. Zero depth. It would be like watching I Love Lucy, but with talentless look-alikes playing the roles.

Truly awful.

While I admit I'm a diehard fan of the original, this series wasn't bad at all. Veteran actors Schuck, Merriweather and Morton were great in their characters. Naturally they didn't copy exactly as the original, but as a reboot it was quite comical. I enjoyed the episodes and acting and hoping some network picks up these reruns for all to enjoy. Yes, the original series was great, but this was good enough to renew an old idea.

It is impossible to replace the REAL Munsters. The movie "Here Come The Munsters" wasn't bad but this version is a little difficult to digest compared to the original. "The Munsters" fall asleep in their upright coffins and wake up a couple decades later. Herman loses his brow, put on a few pounds, got shorter and turned more juvenile. Grandpa lost his laugh, lost a few pounds, became crueler, changed his name from Sam to Vlad (which is admittedly cooler) and ridiculously flaps his hands every time he emerges from his upright coffin to simulate that he just transformed from a flapping bat. Lily is probably closest to the original except that somehow her skin became pale rather than green (which works better with the vampire image though her father is dark green), and is a former Catwoman. Marilyn went from being a classy college student who was old enough to drive, to a bubbly high school cheerleader type. Eddie turned into an older kid who looks ridiculous and somewhat gay in his purple blouse with the huge bow and the shorts that weren't as odd on a younger kid. He goes from an occasional wolf howl to what sounds like a scream of pain crossed with a tea kettle. His skin has also paled and makes his black lipstick pop. The mansion is not nearly as awesome as the original house inside or out. There is frequent mention of a moat though every episode shows the house with no moat or drawbridge. The humor is very punny. I am a Munsters fan for the characters rather than the actors but I was/am spoiled by how the characters were originally portrayed. I'm surprised that it lasted more than one season, really. To me it seemed like a high school play patterned after the original. I guess time really changes things when you oversleep in a casket. It's definitely not Universal.

The Munsters Today, featuring an all new cast, was a great show. In the beginning, it was based on situations much like the original 1960s series but later started using its own style. Grandpa is still blowing up the lab, and Marilyn is still "the ugly one". It shows the family going about their daily lives. Herman goes to the funeral parlor every morning, Eddie and Marilyn go to school, Lily stays home and cooks and cleans, and Grandpa expirements in his lab. After the second season, the show settled down from basing itself on the original show and the plot started to change. Eddie became a 16 year old teenager who enjoys his MTV, dirty jeans, and tshirts. Eddie isn't the only one to change, Marilyn is finally getting dates and is starting to get into the fashion industry. Although the show did have its own scripts, there have been a few "remake" episodes of the original series such as "Just Another Pretty Face" where Herman is transformed into a normal looking human. and "Designing Munsters" where Lily gets a job. The show also had a few faults. The original 60s sitcom was filmed rather than video taped. The set was also very elaborate, separate from being on a low-cost rented set. The actors can never measure up to the original cast, but they still do a very good job of imitating the roles the original actors created. If you can ever find someone with tapes of The Munsters Today, I suggest you ask for a copy so you can see for yourself what a great show that was.

I struggled sitting through the abysmal first episode and couldn't bear to sit through another. Granted, that's not giving it much of a chance but growing up with the original show I was highly disappointed with the characters. Every time Herman opened his mouth I was reminded of Holmes & Yo-Yo where he was also put together in a lab. The only saving grace was Lee Merriwether who actually played her character very well. The canned laugh track was quite annoying inserting laughter at lines that weren't even funny. I have yet to see a remake that was any good. Maybe I'm expecting too much but it seems Hollywood has run completely of of ideas.