Addams Family versus the Munsters!

[aura of foreboding]

For such popular 'cult' series .. they didn't do very well as each show only lasted for two seasons.

While history may blame Batman, allegedly the cast of The Munsters was not easy to work with and is said to have been a large factor in the cancellation. 

[Flower]

I heard that Batman was to blame.

I also heard that Yvonne De Carlo had serious money problems and I don't think that she would want to bite the hand that fed her.

Neither Al Lewis or Fred Gwynne were exactly household names at this point in time .. other than the very short lived  'Car 54 Where Are You?' .. so being difficult was just stupid. It's stupid at any time ... 

[aura of foreboding]

Yeah, it is.  But the accounts I recently read indicate major personality differences.  It would appear these were softened once the whole lot found themselves haunted by typecasting. 

[Flower]

I'm often amazed at actors .. like the casts or Friends and Seinfeld turning down another year after being offered one million per show on a 22 show season, which would also add in residuals.  I do understand about the quality of the show but was it in their minds that the shows were going down hill and wouldn't some new writers help?

[Monster Bob]

Lewis and Gwynne got along fine, and at the time Gwynne didn't mind working on the show. They did not want DeCarlo on board initially, as they didn't think she was right for the part. DeCarlo worked out great, much to their surprise, though she was difficult throughout the series. She had her own trailer, kept to herself, and was a prima donna. Understand she was a Universal contract player years earlier and a former studio queen. Her husband (Bob Morgan, who did guest shots on the show) was a stuntman who had lost a leg in the 50s and couldn't work, so yes, they needed the money to survive. As a side note, Gwynne lost a child during the run of the series, obviously making his Munsters tenure a difficult time, and probably the reason for his later disdain for the Herman role.

[Mord]

While history may blame Batman, allegedly the cast of The Munsters was not easy to work with and is said to have been a large factor in the cancellation.

Batman itself only lasted 2 seasons. I think kids back then were a little more adventurous and moved on a little quicker than later, more complacent generations (face it, Justin Bieber would have been a one hit wonder back then like all the other Tiger Beat fodder). As for shows calling it quits early, isn't that better than becoming a tired self-parody? One of my favorite shows was "The Outer Limits", and that only lasted a season and a half.

[Monster Bob]

.

[Mord]

Maybe even six years, if they were on cable stations like HBO or Showtime.

[Monster Bob]

,

[aura of foreboding]

This is what is written in Stephen Cox's  book, The Munsters: A Trip Down Mockingbird Lane:
http://books.google.com/books?id=LtU2rfMrhAIC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=%22+Bob+and+I+had+just+had+it.%22&source=bl&ots=a4EOLWA_YQ&sig=8me56PVrS-LlEJIYfjlZVgK-M0s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=l07HUefeOIayigLWuIHQAw#v=onepage&q=%22%20Bob%20and%20I%20had%20just%20had%20it.%22&f=false

Of course, he also provides other reasons throughout the book.  But this is from the perspective of Joe Connelly. 

[aura of foreboding]

Previous Post edited to add link to original source.   

[Haunted hearse]

I've never heard that any of the cast members of the Addams family, were diificult; yet their show got cancelled about the same time as the Munsters.  The news the "Addams family" were cancelled came as a suprise to Big Daddy Roth.  He claimed that he had been commisioned to build the "Druid Princess" for the "Addams Family's" third season, and the show was cancelled prior to it's completion.
   I think people forget what a phenominum "Batman" was during it's initial season.  The networks wanted to pull the monster shows, to make room for shows they felt could better compete with "Batman", including "Captain Nice", and "Mr. Terrific".   By the way, there would have been at least one more season for Batman, even though it had been cancelled.  Another network was considering picking up the show, but the "Batcave" set had been demolished, prior to the Network letting them know, and the cost of rebuilding the set put an end to continuing the Batman series.

[aura of foreboding]

Nobody's saying that Batman wasn't a major factor, but there were - apparently - other issues.  Anyway, Addams never had as high of ratings as Munsters.  And both shows could have had new timeslots if the nets felt they were worth saving. 

[Flower]

I enjoyed reading this post on IMDB

The Addams Family was, in its own strange way, the healthiest TV family ever presented. The mother and father are utterly smitten with one another. They dote on their children and pay meticulous attention to their upbringing. The children, for their part, are respectful of their elders but brim-full of curiosity and mischief. The grandmother and uncle are loved and respected. Extended family members are admired and included. The butler shows great devotion to his employers, who repay him by providing a loving family. Thing (whatever it is) is appreciated for his omnipresent helpfulness. And visitors are always welcome and treated with the utmost courtesy.

The macabre touches are fun, and provide the fish-out-of-water running gag of outsiders trying to cope with the Addams' ghoulish world, but it's the relationships that make The Addams Family tick. Current sit-coms, with their focus on deception and underhanded tricks, would do well to emulate the Addamses.

[Ghost]

There was no poll on this subject taken on Universal Monster Army previously. I'm careful enough to check these things before starting a poll.

No poll but there is a thread

http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=9201.0