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| The Addams family in 1964 (50 years ago). |
The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles
Addams' New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white
and aired for two seasons on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966, for
a total of 64 episodes. It is often compared to its CBS rival, The Munsters,
which ran for the same two seasons and achieved somewhat higher Nielsen ratings. The show is the first adaptation of the Addams family characters to
feature The Addams Family Theme.
There are some superficial similarities
between The Munsters and Addams Family in that both were shows
with a Gothic look that featured families of horror-movie characters
incongruent with their mainstream suburban communities. However, the two shows
were quite different in tone and characterization. Overall, the characters of The
Addams Family were wealthy eccentrics who generally stayed at home, while
the Munsters were a blue-collar and generally outgoing family of legendary
monsters.
