The Addams Family has become a household name with several films and TV series, but some people don’t know that they were all based on the original program, which aired on ABC on September 18, 1964.
The original Addams Family was played by some fantastic actors, including Carolyn Jones as Morticia, John Astin as Gomez, Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester, Ted Cassidy as Lurch, Blossom Rock as Grandmama, Lisa Loring as Wednesday, and Ken Weatherwax as Pugsley.
Especially odd but extremely famous characters also included Cousin Itt, played by Felix Silla and Roger Arroyo, and Thing, who was just a hand that appeared randomly throughout the show.
The entire family was essentially odd-balls who loved macabre furnishings and had a taste for the extremely strange. While they seemed to have supernatural powers, their abilities are never really explained.
Part of the magic and the hilarity of The Addams Family was the fact that they had no idea they were peculiar. When seemingly ordinary guests would arrive at their mansion on 0001 Cemetery Lane, they would act completely surprised that they were uncomfortable in their unusual home.
When the show was aired on ABC in 1964, it continued for two seasons in black and white, and the audience fell head over heels for the Addams family.
At the same time, another black and white program called The Munsters was also on the air. Although they had a reasonably similar pretense, a strange macabre family, others argued that the premise of the Addams family was not monsters, but instead, a totally “normal” family is what made the Addams Family special.
After the show was canceled in 1970, people continued to watch The Addams Family through syndication, and because it was so beloved, several adaptations have been created over the past thirty years.
A reunion TV film, Halloween with the New Addams Family, aired on NBC in October 1977 with the entire original cast, except Blossom Rock, and had excellent ratings. In 1973, there was an animated series based on the characters, and another was produced in 1992.
On Fox, The Addams Family Reunion, a television movie, aired in 1998, followed by The New Addams Family series, which aired from 1998-2000.
In 1991, a feature-length film called The Addams Family was released with great success, and there was even another adaptation which was a huge blockbuster hit in 2019, also called The Addams Family.
Even though The Addams Family original show only aired for two seasons on ABC, the family has continued to live on in the hearts and homes of the world with several shows and movies of the hilarious and strange family. Although the actors have changed, the characters have remained the same, and so has the joy they bring to the screen!
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