In 1964, two of television’s strangest families were introduced to viewers, and fans couldn’t get enough. No doubt about it, The Munsters and The Addams Family were popular, but both sitcoms came to an abrupt end two years later, and it had little to do with their creepy characters.
Debuting on September 24, 1964, on CBS, The Munsters starred Fred Gwynne as the lovable Frankenstein-like Herman Munster; Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife Lily; Al Lewis as Count Dracula Grandpa; and Butch Patrick as werewolf son Eddie. There was also a misfit niece and a fire-breathing pet dragon living in the cobweb-filled Munsters’ house.
In September 1964, The New York Times predicted The Munsters would be popular with viewers.
“There is not the slightest doubt how youngsters and probably a good many of their elders will begin their television viewing on Thursday night; it will be with The Munsters and, more particularly, with Fred Gwynne as the most engaging and amusing Frankenstein monster ever to reach the screen,” the outlet shared at the time. “The filmed series is inspired offbeat nonsense that will disarm everyone who thought an era of horror might be descending on TV.”
Over at ABC, The Addams Family, based on Charles Addams’ Gothic New Yorker cartoon, had premiered days earlier with a black-and-white shot episode that introduced fans to the eccentric Gomez Addams (John Astin); his wife Morticia (Carolyn Jones); and freaky family members Wednesday (Lisa Loring), Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax), Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan), Grandmama (Blossom Rock), and the deep-voiced, towering butler Lurch (Ted Cassidy).
A retrospective posted by Smithsonian magazine noted that The Addams Family TV series was created as “a direct response to the planned CBS sitcom, The Munsters.”
“Both shows shared some of the same spooky DNA (as well as debuting and getting canceled within days of one another), but The Addams Family had something its spiritual doppelganger couldn’t compete with: the original comics themselves,” the outlet shared.
Indeed, both shows were popular. And months before its cancellation, The Munsters was even nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Television Series.
But by the spring of 1966, both The Munsters and The Addams Family were canceled after each airing for two seasons.
In an interview with Fox News, Patrick revealed that Adam West’s colorful Batman series marked the end of the black-and-white shot Munsters.
“I think Batman was to blame,” the actor shared. “Batman just came along and took our ratings away. …Look, we had a good two-year run putting out something that was so different and unlikely to become a success. So we felt it was the right time to go. Fred [Gwynne] and Al [Lewis] were also ready to go home. We were OK with it.”
Patrick also acknowledged that Gwynne didn’t want to be defined as a TV monster and that the role “frustrated” him.
Addams Family star Astin felt that Batman hurt his show as well, even though the new superhero series aired opposite The Munsters.
“Shock,” he told The Television Academy Foundation of his original reaction to the Addams Family cancellation news. “I think it was just a big accident. I know that the president of the network then had a slightly different sense of humor and also, you see, Batman had come on opposite The Munsters and a lot of the programming people thought about Addams and Munsters as the same kind of show.”
Astin felt the shows were “very different” and appealed to different audiences, but the network obviously felt otherwise.
Sixty years later, fans are still nostalgic for both The Munsters and The Addams Family—and there’s even a bit of a crossover coming up. Munsters alum Patrick, now 73, is set to appear at the Chiller Theater fan expo in Parsippany, New Jersey, later this month with an Addams family member.
In an Instagram video, Patrick revealed that Sean Cassidy, the son of The Addams Family’s original Lurch, will appear with him at the fan fest under the name “Son of Lurch,” and both will be in monster makeup for photo ops.
Related: 62 Years Ago, ‘The Munsters’ Quietly Replaced Marilyn After Just 13 Episodes — And Never Explained Why
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