TV Reviews: The Addams Family

I watched the original Addams family TV series from the 60s.   I was very familiar with the 90s film, and the cartoon series, but I'd never seen the original before.   It's well-worth a watch!   You probably don't need to watch the entire series, because to be honest, the gags are the same in every episode.  

The characters all have a certain warmth that they don't have in later encarnations.   Morticia and Gomez definitely steal the show!   John Astin makes a very funny and incredibly enthusiastic Gomez, and his gymnastics are very impressive!   He also did the voice of Gomez in the cartoon series.   Just a little bit of trivia that makes me happy.   Carolyn Jones's Morticia is warm and refined.   Jackie Coogan plays a very goofy Uncle Fester, and Ted Cassidy makes a perfect Lurch.   They all lack a lot of the creepiness the family has in more modern versions.     

I would say that for special effects, the show definitely suffers compared to the later encarnations.   Thing is very obviously just somebody's arm in a box, and the meat eating plant is very obviously fake.   The sets are also comparatively much less elaborate and varied.   But if you can forgive that, the show does have a lot of old-time charm.   A very interesting look at what tv used to be like.