The series worked at the time since it was about assimilation and moving up–fitting into the neighborhood and Herman getting ahead at the funeral parlor. I love the episode where they go to the country club, and Lily, mistaking a fashion show for members showing off what they are wearing, models her outfit:
I always enjoyed the show; I was one of those kids who preferred The Munsters over the Addams Family, though I gather in retrospect that makes me “low brow”? In fact, the whole 60s milieu of farcical “high concept” comedies was great fun for me, much more so than the “pretty people (or glamorous “nerds”) sitting around in their apartments and coffee bars being snarky” sitcoms of today.
If The Munsters has any depth at all, it’s to suggest that we all define the world by our own standards, immune to our own faults: as far as the family’s concerned, they’re the good-looking and “normal” ones and everyone else is homely and a little slow. You could even view it as commentary on the “ugly American”: we think we’re awesome while the rest of the world views us as gauche and even monstrous.
Except of course that in the end, we’re clearly meant to side with the Munsters. They’re the only interesting and “colorful” figures in an otherwise colorless world. I always kind of viewed Batman the same way: the nominal “villains” add the only spark and wit to a Gotham City full of conformist dullards. The “hero” of the piece is only interesting insofar as he adopts many of the habits of the bad guys: donning an outlandish outfit and theming all his actions around an overarching motif (in his case bats, in their case birds, cats, riddles, puzzles, books, hats, practical jokes, etc). Both shows celebrate nonconformity in their own way. Batman is the ultimate “establishment” figure, but in such a straight-faced, ludicrous way that he’s the butt of the joke. Even when he wins (which is always) the villains are the only reason anything fun ever happens in Gotham, just as The Munsters, grotesque as they are, drive the only interesting developments to happen in their town.
All that said, 21st century society has come a long way as far as accepting and even celebrating our “weirdo” members, so – at least judging from this trailer – all that’s left is the cheap “yuks” and an appeal to nostalgia (for whatever aging subset of the audience is attached to the property). And based on what we’re seeing, the most crucial part of the formula has been left out: a laugh track to tell us “this is funny.”
Not lowbrow at all. Each show had its own appeal. The Munsters were a warm and loving family–and Lily and Herman truly cared for each other. Too ba about marilyn being so plain though.
As for the Addams family–I loved that Gomez demonstrated physical passion for Morticia–something not seen on television at the time (the perpetrators had to be ghouls/monsters, of course, to get away with it).
Nat Perrin was the producer and head writer for THE ADDAMS FAMILY–today I think he would be called the showrunner–and his oversight provided the consistency and wit I love about the show (he was a protege of and writer for Groucho Marx). Where else on television was a pet octopus named Aristotle or pet piranhas called Tristan and Isolde? And the Addamses were unfailingly polite–Thing never went unthanked.
Having seen more of his work now I have to retract my statement.
Really looking forward to this next week…
Looks like Universal is as excited about The Munsters as we are…
The same Universal that released the critically trashed FireStarter to its Peacock service.
Noteworthy: just saw that it has one of the rare appearances of OHMSS alumna Catherine (von) Schell. 
There weren’t many since the 1990s…
Right around the time the Moon went missing…
As reported in THR today:
„ Titanic 25 Year Anniversary is pushed back four months and will go wide theatrically on Feb. 10, 2023.“
So, AVATAR 2 is still expected to dominate end of 2021.
"Four years after the events of ‘Halloween Kills’, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.”
Hard to tell what kind of film we’re getting from that trailer, as most of it looks like it’s taken from one encounter between Laurie and Michael, but I’m excited for it regardless. Interesting that And Matichak is not featured outside of that one quick shot, since she’s heavily rumored to be the main focus of the film, which would be a natural progression of the narrative considering what her character has been through over the course of Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills. The trailer also doesn’t do anything to push back on some of the more worrying chatter that’s been going around, so I guess we’ll have to wait for a second trailer to see if there’s any substance to any of the rumors that are out there.
Hopefully they’ll find a way to give us another badass moment from either Laurie or Allyson that can rival Karen’s “You want your mask? COME AND GET IT!” from Halloween Kills.
We already have a Blu-ray release date for The Munsters. As well as a new “trailer” of sorts. Still looks like a train wreck. Not sure how, if at all, the Blu-ray release impacts the previously confirmed Netflix debut.
Teaser trailer before Nope. It’s very…Nolan.
Edit: it’s now been removed…as to be expected
It was obvious, and it could even be just one of those announcements studios have to put out in order to signal confidence to their shareholders. Especially Netflix which has invested much too much in this one.
Still, a successful spy franchise will remain in EON‘s eyes, for them to imitate, compete with or set future Bond films in clear opposition to.
Oppenheimer trailer officially online
No clue why the link is looping. Possibly a viral marketing thing? The Dark Knight and Tenet both went for that, wouldn’t be surprised if Universal wanted to ape it for their Nolan movie.
Is it just me or is Ana De Armas using her natural Spanish accent in this?
Crappy news.
Alicia did a fantastic job in the last film. She wasn’t surrounded with much, and the movie was a pretty mediocre adaptation of 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot and, I seem to recall, certain elements of its sequel, but Alicia Vikander was absolutely phenomenal as Lara Croft. I will admit to being one that would have, prior to seeing the film, rather seen Camilla Luddington reprise her role from the game in the film, or have had the producers go out and find someone who more resembles the character from the games, but whoever ultimately made the choice to go with Vikander was 100% spot on.
I get why they’d want to recast, as they probably want to separate themselves from the last film as much as possible due to a poor box office showing, but I’d argue they should look at it from another angle. They have an Academy Award winning actress who wants to play their video game character. Keep her, give the film the budget that it needs, get writers who understand the genre of film this should be (i.e. something more akin to Indiana Jones than Hitman), and then cast it with actors who can hold their own with Vikander. Those were the problems with the last film. Fix those and you’ve got something special on your hands.
Sorry, rant over.
I wonder whether TOMB RAIDER is like TERMINATOR: a franchise with very limited story potential. Everything those had to offer already has been used up. Sure, IP is considered everything now. But it does not help box office profits.
