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"The Munsters" (1964)

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41 comments in total

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20 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
The Perfect Family, 12 August 2002
Author: Big Movie Fan from England

Oh, I wish they made shows like The Munsters today. I have many happy memories of watching it. It was so innocent and so amusing. Somebody should release it onto DVD as soon as possible.

The Munsters were the perfect family. They may have been ugly, they may have been weird and they may have been totally eccentric but they loved each other and cared so much about each other.

The Munsters emphasized traits such as loyalty to your family and love (qualities not found in many shows today). But once you get past all that you had many highly amusing stories. One that springs to mind for me is when Herman and Grandpa Munster get locked in a bank vault one night just as a pair of robbers are about to steal the loot.

The one thing I enjoyed about The Munsters was it's total innocence. No bad language, no sex, no violence, just pure entertainment. Oh, it was brilliant. I cannot praise it enough.

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12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Atmospheric, colorful fun!, 1 September 2002

Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

I think the problem with TV sitcoms these days is that 90% of the them are filmed in front of studio audiences. Save for the cable-TV comedies, adventurous shows like "The Munsters" don't get made today. They went OUTSIDE, they drove around. Everything wasn't confined to the sets, although their house was a doozy and I loved it every time action took place down in Grandpa's basement. What a bunch of great characters these were (with kudos to Al Lewis and--God bless him--Fred Gwynne). Many of the episodes--such as the classic one where Eddie runs amok on a popular ghoul-TV program, "Zombo"--are still very pointed today, and just as funny. Herman's super strength was always good for a colorful sight-gag, Yvonna De Carlo's Lily was the perfect straight-face for Herman's antics. And don't forget that Drag-U-La...what a beauty!

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Thank God for videos and DVD !, 24 August 2003
Author: bruce-j-patience from Melbourne , Australia

I've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again ..... the old shows are STILL the best.

The 1960s was the golden era of sitcoms and "The Munsters" was near the top of the list.

One of my favorite episodes was the one where Herman and the gang were accidentally selected - sight unseen - by a national magazine to appear on its front cover as the "Average American Family". The fun started when the people from the mag arrived at Mockingbird Lane.

There were so many great lines in this series... like the time Herman smashes his fist through the kitchen window to grab a handful of tangled vines from their over grown garden. He proudly presents them to Lily with the words "Lovely weeds for a lovely lady" !

Television hit the skids in the 1980s. Thank God for videos and DVD .

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
The Munsters!, 21 February 2005
Author: Movie Nuttball from U.S.A.

One of the greatest television shows of all time in My opinion is the Munsters! The show starred legendary actors Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Beverley Owen, Pat Priest, Butch Patrick, and Mel Blanc! First I will want to commentate about the characters and the actors who played them and then I will talk about why I think this program is one of the best. I am just thrilled about how these actors are in this great series. Fred Gwynne was just incredible. Being a large fellow already was something but becoming Herman Munster he became huge! I was so surprised how agile he was. He had such a charming personality as well. Yvonne De Carlo was already a beautiful woman but I thought that she was so neat as Lily! Her character is one the most beautiful woman character that I haven seen on the screen! Al Lewis' Grandpa is such a hilarious charmer. He is arguably the most talented actor of all time. Beverley Owen and Pat Priest both gave the Marilyn character great personality. My favorite is Owen's Marilyn. Butch Patrick's Eddie was good a very good personality as well. Mel Blanc's raven was cute! The other animal characters such as Kitty and Spot were also cute. I loved the guest stars that appeared in the shows. The sets such as the Munsters' house and such all looked realistic. I loved the spookiness of the series and how it was like Halloween all the time! In My opinion each and every episode was great and funny. The theme music by Jack Marshall was also very good. I think that this series is just wonderful and that in My opinion its arguably the greatest one ever. If you can watch this show on TV strongly I recommend it and I also strongly recommend that you head over to Amazon.com and purchase the First Complete Season of The Munsters on DVD! I strongly recommend The Munsters!

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Munsters v. Addams Family--a Lose-Lose Situation, 24 April 2004
Author: Harried Howie from Charlottesville, VA

The simultaneous runs of Munsters and Addams Family doomed both to two-season lifespans. Much of the audience became polarized. Munsters fans would not watch Addams Family and vice versa, but if either show had been on without the other it would have attracted almost the full audience of the other.

Either could have become a major, long-running classic. Addams Family had the better chance, being a comedy/social commentary of the type that later became the major hits, All in the Family and The Simpsons. But Munsters also could also have had its seasons in the sun. After scrapping the ill-conceived and twice miscast role of Marilyn, the enormous talent and charisma of Fred Gwynne and his chemistry with Al Lewis (good friends off-camera, too) could have carried that show for many years.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Lurch who?, 8 April 2001
Author: helpless_dancer from Broken Bow, Oklahoma

Although I liked the Addams Family quite a bit, the Munsters were it for me. Let's face it, grandpa make the show: without him a lot of the flavor would have been lost. I felt that he should have been on much more than he was. Marilyn, on the other hand, could have completely disappeared and I would never have noticed. Of course, the entire cast was great, the jokes were side splittingly corny, and the atmosphere of the house was nice and spooky.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
"Herman Munster don't you dare!", 6 February 2006
Author: BumpyRide from TCM's Basement

This show can easily be dismissed as being so stupid it's funny, but there's more to it than just obvious jokes with a laugh track. The cast was fabulous but also talented; many having Hollywood careers or television experience prior to the show. Look at all the reincarnations (sorry) of the show and then compare the cast to the original set. No contest. Also the sets and costumes were really cool, who doesn't like Granpa's dungeon or their telephone "booth" or the Munstermobile? Some of the story lines were hilarious but my person favorite is "A House Divided." The only regret I have is that it didn't go on for one more season, who knows, maybe it would have been in ghoulish color!

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
rather nonsensical, but you're bound to love it, 1 May 2005
Author: Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA

I'll say that "The Addams Family" was actually cleverer, but still, "The Munsters" definitely had its merits. Basically the story of a household in which the father, Herman (Fred Gwynne), is Frankenstein's monster, the mother, Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo), is a vampire, the son, Eddie (Butch Patrick), is a werewolf, the grandfather (Al Lewis) is Count Dracula, and the niece, Marilyn (played by two different people), is the ugly (make that "pretty") duckling in the family. While the Munsters' everyday routine is the same as everyone else's, everything that's normal to them (e.g., a house that looks like a Halloween party should be held there) is weird to the rest of the world, and vice versa. Every human who sees them freaks out, and yet the Munsters can never figure out why everyone finds them strange.

It's completely silly, with a string of gruesome, sardonic jokes, but it's always really funny. Truly one show that you gotta admire.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
It's The 60's What's On TV ? The Munsters, 25 May 2006

Author: FloatingOpera7 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The Munsters (1964-1966): Starring Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Butch Patrick, Pat Priest, Mel Blanc, Bob Hastings...Director Earl Bellamy, Norman Abbot, David Alexander, Jerry Paris, Don Richardson....

The Munsters was on ABC channel 7, and from 1964-1966, enjoyed a successful run as a highly creative and one-of-a-kind sitcom, though they were similar in "Halloween family" theme to CBS' The Addams Family. Fred Gwynne, of comedic cop movies in the early to mid 60's, portrayed Frankenstein-look-alike Herman Munster, head of a household of folks who are NOT wearing their Halloween costumes. They include his wife Lily (Yvonne De Carlo), a vampire woman, Grandpa Dracula (Al Lewis)son Eddie Munster (Butch Patrick) a were-wolf and the "odd" one in the family, the normal and beautiful Marilyn (Pat Priest, originally played by Beverly Owen in the first season). They lived in a creepy haunted house, they had a fire-breathing dragon for a pet and their alarm clock was Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" itself. Like the Addams, the jokes were the same. We are privy to their bizarre lifestyle and, like the other Americans that revolve around them - including Herman's boss, Eddie's schoolmates, Marilyn's many dates, are genuinely frightened or repulsed by them, though mostly, we laugh at the whole situation. Herman Munster was evidently very slow and childish, a far different animal than the intellectual Gomez Addams. Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were especially hilarious, in fact their training in comedy helped the show tremendously. Yvonne De Carlo as Lily was a ghoulish house-frau, far less elegant than Morticia Addams but who was always dependable and who was a lot smarter than her dim-witted Frankenstein husband. Butch Patrick will never get over his success as Eddie, the adorable, mischievous werewolf son, and still appears in horror conventions and has his own horror showcase "Macabre Theater" on cable TV. This show was full of visual jokes and funny lines. Among some of the more memorable moments include Herman jogging at night and scaring other joggers, Herman's stint as a wrestler, Grandpa's ability to turn into a bat eventually leading him to be taken into a science lab, Herman's shot at Hollywood stardom, etc. The Munsters were originally from Germany and were kicked out by an angry mob with torches and pitch-forks! The show was less intelligent in language than the high-brow Addams intellectual comedy, and was decidedly more of a "blue-collar" comedy and depended mostly on the physical comedy of Fred Gwynne as Herman, who was ridiculously tall and awkward. The show eventually got tired and repetitive in '66, and together with The Addams, left the air. But the Munsters re-appeared in a 1967 film and later in a 1981 film "The Munsters' Revenge", which also inspired a short lived series "The Munsters Today" (1988-1991). A great show overall.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Fantastic after 40 years!, 24 September 2004
Author: alisonrosec

The Munsters have reached their 40th Anniversary on this day! I just love this show so much! I used to watch it all the time,even as a child.I remember when it used to be on Nick At Nite.On Mondays during Block Party Summer,sometimes they had Munster Monday.Unfortunately,they stopped showing the episodes,and I saw them again in 2000 before Halloween on TV Land! Now,this show is on TV Land where all the old shows from Nick At Nite come to stay!

In my opinion,the Munsters is probably the best example of the Universal Studios Monsters coming into one.If you have seen the old movies,like me,you might understand some of the humor better.We have Herman,the Frankenstein Monster,Lily,Dracula's daughter,and part Bride of Frankenstein.Lily has white streaks in her dark hair.We have Grandpa,whom,of course,is Dracula,Marilyn,the only human in the family,Eddie,who,I believe,is part vampire and werewolf.We also have Lily's brother,Lester,who is the Wolf Man,and Uncle Gilbert,the Creature From The Black Lagoon.This show speaks for itself as the Universal Studios Monsters in a nutshell.

The Munsters will be forever memorable to all who know about them.People will always remember this show for its slapstick humor,wonderful characters,and great story lines.What show do I prefer you ask? The Addams Family or the Munsters? I can't choose,because I love both shows.

Happy 40th Anniversary!

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