Munsters Vs Addams' Family

I've gotta agree, 'Munsters' all the way. That being said, I love Lurch.

No contest. Grandpa Munster alone trumps all of the Addams' ancestral roots.

Nigga please. Ooky.

The defense rests.

Tish. TISH!

1) We did this a few years ago. I can't find it (it may be too old), which is sad because I had a good comparison of elements between the two shows, the result being...

2) The Munsters has the better theme song, but The Addam's Family is the better show.

Munsters. For the childhood factor, I guess.

Somebody pull up a picture of Punk Rod Herman, please.

Both are incredibly fun to watch while stoned. Or so I hear.

Bob Clark, reading my mind.

Two words: FAST MOTION

They are creepy and they are...Kooky and altogether...Ooky, and I definitely prefer...The Addams Family. While I enjoyed...The Munsters when I was younger...The Addams Family and their first cartoon, was based on the drawings of Charles Addams, And I enjoy his work to this day. Also, I enjoyed the feature films with Raul Julia even more than the series. The sequel had one of the funniest summer camp stories...along with Bill Murray's first film...Meatballs.

I actually love them both but give a slight edge to the broader, more vaudevillian (is that a word?) Addams Family.

I loved Fred Gwynn but the average Munsters script was almost completely interchangeable with The Beverly Hillbillies.

Addams Family had a better sense of humor. And scripts. Munsters was a live action Groovy Ghoulies.

This?

Addams Family broader? I think of it just the opposite. In fact, what I love most about the Addams Family is the level of insanity it achieves for a sixties sitcom.

The Munsters is a dumber show, but god dammit, I love it.

BrianM, You get a gold star...Vaudevillian is a word.

The Addams Family lean more towards my personal tastes, but The Munsters is good fun, too. And the Munsters does have the better theme song.

For all the looks, the Munsters were a bunch of posers. They wanted to fit in with the regualr world. The Addamses couldn't give a damn if you thought they were weird or not. They committed to the lifestyle and it was too bad if it creeped you out.

Gomez Adams was a pimp, both in the form of John Astin and Raul Juila. Munsters didn't make any goddamn sense. How in the fuck could a vampire make it with Frankenstein and have a werewolf as a son? Fuck that noise!

Munsters, if for no other reason than the episode when Herman assumed the wind-up Frankenstein toy was his newborn son.

Oh hell yes.

Also, Addams' Family any day of the week. Except for an episode I barely remember where Herman had to take dance lessons, I was always bored by Munsters.

Yeah, Herman dancing was always ripe with guffaws:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj4lelnXv70

Addams Family all the way.

No, that's not it. I'm certain it was after 2002. How did you search back so far?

Munsters. Easily.

Let's get down to brass tacks. Revival of the Adams Family, pretty good movie with dated music, Raul Juila being awesome and a young Christina Ricci. Munsters, shitty 80s series in color.

Adams Family, hands down.

It's hard to choose since I love both of them. The kid in me wants to pick The Munsters, though.

To this day, when marathons come on for either show, I have to sit down and watch.

I thought we were talking about the tv shows? The AF movies were pretty great. But as a kid it was all about The Munsters.

Yeah, the AF movies are a separate entity.

Definitely Munsters but probably because they didn't show the Adams Family reruns on TV when I was a kid.

Actually, the only reason that I knew the Adams Family existed (when I was a young tyke) was because they were in an episode of Scooby Doo.

Adams Family was more of a political and cultural satire, which was a problem for the movies. For the Adams Family to have the same relevance today or even in the 90s they would have to be very UN-PC.

That said like liked the Adams Family much more then the Munsters.

Oh great, take away my trump card why don't ya.

Remember, there were a couple of really shitty 'Addams Family' TV movies as well. The Julia/Huston movies were 'the Third Man' compared to those.

That I did not know.

'Halloween with the New Addams Family'(1977). HORRIBLE.

They came after the movie, though. Darryl Hannah was in one of those things. There were maybe three Munsters revamps.

Let's just say that all of the attempts at revamping BOTH series as new television shows were utter and complete failures.

RE: 'The Addams Family' - I actually prefer the two Julia/Huston movies (especially the sequel) to the original tv show.

Munsters.

"I haven't had this much fun since I started the French Revolution!"

Absolute gospel. Even as an eight year-old I thought The Munsters was kind of juvenile. Addams schools it every possible way.

Plus, original Wednesday was just as hot as Ricci. Oh, yes. I said it.

Plus you always got the impression that Gomez and Morticia were doing it every night if not every 15 minutes. Did ya ever see that in the Munsters? No.

They also make a far better halloween costume for couples.

This is an absurd poll. Munsters all the way. Better writing, better lead actors.

And this is coming from someone who grew up in the 90s and was bombarded with Addams Family in every possible medium at the time.

Some of us grew up before the 90s, though. We measured Addams Family against Gilligan's Island and Love American Style reruns.

Me, I couldn't get enough of Maude when I was a youngster.

The Munsters vs. The Addams Family

Source material: The idea of a family of monsters had been around for a while, but never crystallized until the early 60’s. TAF began as a collaboration between cartoonist Charles Addams and Ray Bradbury; when no publisher bought it they went their separate ways with the idea – Bradbury created his own ghoulsih family (Homecoming and To Dust Returned), while Addams introduced his creepy clan in the pages of The New Yorker. Advantage Addams.

Duration and ratings: Both shows ran for 2 seasons, The Munsters (TM) with 70 episodes and The Addams Family (TAF) with 64. Nielsen ratings were higher for TM, but Nielsen families also loved King if Queens, so take that as you will. I’d call this a tie, but network execs would disagree, so advantage Munsters.

Theme song: Both are catchy earworms, and TAF has the bonus of lyrics, but this really is no contest. The Munsters theme song is relentlessly fun. Advantage Munsters.

Familial social status: The Munsters were blue-collar folks and the Addams Family were the idle rich. It’s easy to want to champion the working slob, but socioeconomic status has no affect on show quality (again, King of Queens.) Also, Gomez owned many companies:

“In the original sitcom, Gomez owned businesses around the world, including a crocodile farm ("Crocodiles Unlimited"), a buzzard farm, a salt mine, a tombstone factory, a uranium mine, and many others.” – Wikipedia

He therefore gave work to many individuals, helping to support their families and bolster the economy. I’ll call this a tie.

The Families: I like TAF more because they showed no interest in conforming. The Munsters thought that they were like everyone else; the Addams clan didn’t give a fig what you thought of them. I’m tempted to make this advantage Addams, simply because I’m biased against conformists, but I’ll make it a tie.

The Men: Herman vs. Gomez, Grandpa vs. Uncle Fester. Ultimately, this is a matter of taste because they’re all fucking great. While I have a slight preference for Gomez and Fester, I could never complain over anyone’s preference for the Munster men. This is a tie.

The Women: Yvonne DeCarlo’s Lily vs. Carolyn Jones’ Mortitia. Lily, as befits the family’s socioeconomic level, is akin to the working-class mothers throughout sitcom history; she reminds me of Patricia Richardson from Home Improvement, or (although not a mom), Kirstie Alley. While Lily may be down to earth, Mortitia is cultured and patrician (and sexier.) Mortitia stands out more than Lily, she is more of a unique character, and as was mentioned elsewhere in this thread, you can easily envision Gomez and Mortitia fucking (and in a very kinky fashion to boot, a concept explored further in the films.) TAF also had Grandma Addams, but she never really seemed that important. Still, advantage Addams.

The Kids: Eddie and Marilyn vs. Pugsley and Wednesday. Although possessed of boring names, Eddie and Marilyn were more prominent characters than the Addams spawn. Wednesday and Pugsley (I love that name) wouldn’t come into their own until the films, but those are outside the scope of this analysis. Plus, Pat Priest:



Rowr. Advantage Munsters.

The Other Family Members: This is where TAF cleans the Munsters clock. Beyond the five principals you rarely ever saw other Munsters (but it’s cool that there were Gill-men on both sides of the family), but TAF gave us Thing (technically Thing T. Thing), Cousin Itt, and Lurch, all unique, fully realized and terrific characters. TM had pets, particularly Spot (who was awesome), but only had mere seconds of screen time. While we would have to wait until the second Addams Family film for a Fester/Thing masturbation joke, there’s no doubt the advantage goes to the Addams Family.

Storylines: Many similarities, mostly normal folks reacting to the eccentricities and monstrosities of the families. I liked the Addams Family humor and storylines more, but that’s because they seemed more like the Marx Brothers. This really is a subjective matter, so I’ll call it a tie.

Three wins for each family and four ties. However, the Addams family victories in the fields of clan matriarch and supporting family members give it an advantage over the Munsters.

Winner (by a nose): The Addams Family

It was a slow day at work.

Morticia was hotter than Lily.
Addams Family all the way.

Seriously...

Who would you rather be neighbors with? A large semi-retarded Frankenstein's monster?

Or a Continental suave sort of guy with a super hot wife and really cool shit in his house?

The guy blows up model trains, for Christ's sake!

Phil, Do you remember that...Happy Days began as an episode of...Love American Style?

yes