The Munsters

1964

Seasons & Episodes

  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
7.8| TV-G| en| More Info
Released: 24 September 1964 Ended
Producted By: Universal Television
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.munsters.com/
Info

A family of friendly monsters that have misadventures all while never quite understanding why people react to them so strangely.

Genre

Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi

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Director

Production Companies

Universal Television

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The Munsters Audience Reviews

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
myneesh All the characters are great especially Grandpa! All the characters are great especially Grandpa!
Xander Seavy (RiffRaffMcKinley) "The Munsters" isn't quite as good as its contemporary, "The Addams Family," but it's still a great show-- just very different.In fact, the Munster/Addams comparison, I've come to realize, is totally unfair. As "AF" cast member Lisa Loring said on a DVD commentary, "the Addams Family is more like the Marx Brothers and the Munsters were like the 3 Stooges." That's a great way to sum it up. The humor on "The Munsters" is more in rimshot-oriented jokes ("Have you heard of our family doctor back in Germany? Dr. Frankenstein? He made me what I am today") and the bumbling goofiness of Herman. Lily is also a far more independent and formidable wife than Morticia, who's not afraid to bend Herman to her will, and she's played so perfectly by the late, great Yvonne de Carlo. Al Lewis is terrific as Grandpa, and Butch Patrick is probably the most grown-up of them all, the 1960s equivalent of Tommy Solomon in attitude and appearance. And the various Marilyns are interesting as well.However, a lot of the jokes on this show can be very corny and predictable, and it was starting to stagnate a little after the end of the first season. But it's still a very memorable show worth watching and laughing at.
FloatingOpera7 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.
mike robson "The Munsters" was filmed at the Universal-Hollywood lot, where the original monster movies of the 30's and 40's featuring Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, Wolfman etc,were made. By the 1960's it was felt these creations(makeup copyright still owned by the studio)were ripe for spoofing(well they had actually already been in comedy films with Abbott and Costello a few years earlier)."The Munsters" could have been terrible-its easy to get this sort of thing all wrong, witness the appalling 80's remake "The Munster's today"; but this series works beautifully.It's not the scripts-though there are some great lines,they are often not especially outstanding. What makes the show so good is the cast, particularly Fred Gwynne as scary, hopeless, lovable Herman-what a performance he gave! Despite all the makeup he can do wonderful things with his face,and that gentle cultured voice coming out of the monstrous Herman-taking any line-often a very ordinary one, and making it totally hilarious. Herman, with his easily punctured vanity, childish tantrums and booming laugh, is one of the great comic creations. A word of appreciation too for Al Lewis, the vampire Grandpa, whose mad scientist Count comes over like a third rate vaudeville magician from New York (he even works as a stage magician in one episode!),and who enjoys nothing more than insulting his clueless son in law, Herman. The rest of the cast are fine, though Yvonne DeCarlo as Lily was given little else to do but be shrewish with Herman as the series went on. Another fortunate thing was that in the mid 60's,when the show was made, there were many marvelous character actor/comedians in Hollywood, and lots appear on the show, such as Frank Gorshin, Neil Hamilton, Jessie White, John Hoyt, Louis Nye(his TV horror host character, "Zombo", is actually scarier than any of the Munsters)and best of all Paul Lynde, who shows up twice as the Munster family doctor,and has some classic comedy moments with Herman. One of many highlights is Herman doing a cod "Ginsberg" style poem in front of an admiring beatnik audience in "Far out Munster". A treat, a show which should live forever.