Meanwhile, Lewis makes anything sound funny. His dejected whining when Lily won't give him his way indicates a selfish and childish husband. In quieter moments, his intonation while admonishing his son ('Now, Eddie'), often accompanied by a waving finger, reveal the character as a well-meaning but misguided father. Gwynne's distinctive laugh, lumbering movements, and vivid facial expressions are amusing even without the get-up. He never gives anything less than his all on camera, though. In later years, Gwynne was reluctant to revisit the series, likely due in part to the brutal makeup routine he endured, as well as his cumbersome and physically debilitating costume. Gwynne and Lewis, who worked together previously on Car 54, Where Are You, stand out in the effective cast. Give me a half-hour of Herman and Grandpa arguing, and I'm happy. The best of it all is the scheming and bickering between Herman and Grandpa. At its heart, though, it's a family sitcom with a headstrong husband, a wise-cracking elder, and a whole lot of misunderstandings based on recognizable situations.only they're all monsters. The Munsters are a wacky group, with the men joined by vampire matriarch Lily (Yvonne De Carlo), son Eddie (Butch Patrick), and 'plain' (that is, attractive blonde) niece Marilyn (Pat Priest after the first thirteen episodes), and their appearance and obliviousness are frequently played for laughs. My favorite aspect isn't the number of times a terrified onlooker speeds away after seeing a Munster, but the chemistry between patriarch Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne) and his father-in-law Grandpa (Al Lewis). The result is a cartoonish but still relatable family sitcom. After Allan Burns and Chris Hayward created the basic premise, Universal gave the concept to the established team of Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly (writers of Amos and Andy, creators of Leave It to Beaver) to supervise the series. The broad comedy holds up because the cast is so talented and for the top-notch talent behind the scenes. Yet I appreciate The Munsters more as an adult than I ever did as a youth. Indeed, the makeup and special effects are a huge part of the show's appeal, and monster-loving children of the 1960s (and later generations discovering the reruns) surely appreciated the unsubtle sight gags and simple storylines. Though it ran only two seasons on CBS, the comedy about the unusual inhabitants of 1313 Mockingbird Lane is one of the most fondly remembered shows of its era and continues to thrive in reruns, streaming and DVD.Īt first glance a show about equivalents of Frankenstein's monster and Dracula living in suburbia, oblivious to their own status as 'monsters' to everyone else, seems like a kiddie show. A dark Munsters television show exists in another universe, but in this one, the show remained only a pilot.Īnd nearly a decade later, Zombie looks to rejuvenate that idea for a new generation.Halloween is an ideal time to revisit one of television's greatest sitcom families, The Munsters. Rather than a television special, it was actually a pilot. Meanwhile, Herman Munster ( Arrested Development’s Portia de Rossi) searched for a new heart that could love his wife Lily ( United States of Tara’s Eddie Izzard) as much as his old one. Mockingbird Lane was a television special in 2012, a dark reimagining of The Munsters that followed Eddie Munster (the Spy Kids series’ Mason Cook) as he coped with growing into a teen wolf - literally. Unlike shows such as The Addams Family, The Munsters have not stayed in society’s consciousness as prominently, so surely Rob Zombie’s The Munster’s is the first attempted revival, right? Rob Zombie's The Munsters cracked open the wardrobe door to reveal Lily and Herman's initial costume designs.
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