Customer Reviews

Addams Family, Vol. 1 [VHS]

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Addams Family, the OTHER 1964 sitcom about a macabre family of eccentrics, finally makes its way onto DVD in all its black and white glory. Like The Munsters (which originally debuted 1 week later), The Addams Family ran on television for two seasons, and became more popular in TV syndicated reruns than during its original broadcast. No doubt due to the show's memorable cast and classic theme song by composer Vic Mizzy, who also provided the vocals and fingersnaps.

The Addams Family (who were fleshed out and also named expressly for television by original cartoonist Charles Addams himself) starred Carolyn Jones as macabre matriarch Morticia Addams; John Astin as her wildly enamored husband, lawyer Gomez Addams; Jackie Coogan as Morticia's Uncle Fester; Blossom Rock as Grandmama, Gomez's mom; Ken Weatherwax as son Pugsley; Lisa Loring as daughter Wednesday; Felix Silla as Cousin Itt; and six-foot-nine Ted Cassidy as Lurch the butler and as Thing, the helpful hand that popped out of the boxes throughout the family mansion. It should be noted that Cousin Itt was not a part of the original Charles Addams cartoons, but actually created for the show by producer David Levy.

The Addams Family - Volume One is a 3-disc (572 min.) set which contains 22 [of 34] Season One episodes, meaning you'll be getting the entire 64-episode series in 3 cost-friendly volumes. This collection features Full Frame (1.33:1) video; and mono English, French and Spanish audio. Here is a list of the episodes contained in this volume, plus extras:

1. The Addams Family Goes to School
2. Morticia and the Psychiatrist
3. Fester's Punctuated Romance
4. Gomez the Politician
5. The Addams Family Tree
6. Morticia Joins the Ladies League
7. Halloween with the Addams Family
8. Green Eyed Gomez
9. The New Neighbors Meet the Addams Family
10. Wednesday Leaves Home
11. The Addams Family Meet the VIPs
12. Morticia, the Matchmaker
13. Lurch Learns to Dance
14. Art and the Addams Family
15. The Addams Family Meets the Beatnik
16. The Addams Family Meets the Undercover Man
17. Mother Lurch Visits the Addams Family
18. Uncle Fester's Illness
19. The Addams Family Splurges
20. Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family
21. The Addams Family In Court
22. Amnesia in the Addams Family


Special Features:
* Commentary: On 3 episodes including "The Addams Family Goes to School"
* Featurette: "You Rang, Mr. Addams"
* Featurette: "Snap, Snap"
* Featurette: "The Addams Family Portrait"
* Theme Song Karaoke
* Still galleries featuring original drawings and photos

Two snaps up!

Finally, America's beloved family of fright in all their horrifying glory has been released on DVD. Twenty two episodes are presented in this compilation of the first season excluding the other twelve episodes of the first season which will be presented in the second volume of this show. Many devoted followers of this series will be delighted to once again indulge in their favorite episodes and to relive the classic moments of hilarity and fright. For the viewer's satisfaction, I have complied an episode guide complete with short synopsizes. Hopefully, this guide will revive your fond memoirs and heighten your anticipation for the release of this delightful show. Enjoy!


EPISODE GUIDE FOR THE EPISODES INCLUDED IN THIS VOLUME:

1. The Addams Family Goes To School

Gomez and Morticia are horrified to discover that they must send their children to school, but in accordance with the law, they must comply. However, when Wednesday reports that the classroom reading includes Grimm's Fairy tales, a novel in which many witches, ogres, and other evil beasts are slain, Morticia and Gomez are repelled.

2. Morticia and the Psychiatrist

Pugsley begins to adopt "normal" habits causing his parents much concern. They promptly attend a psychiatrist in order to replace Pugsley's ordinary endeavors with his typical ghoulish personality.

3. Fester's Punctured Romance

Fester seeks a companion via a matrimonial column in the newspaper and mistakes the wrong person as a response to his add thus causing him to completely abandon the notion of marriage.

4. Gomez, the Politician

After Gomez engages in a misguided attempt to further the career of a loosing political candidate for city council, the candidate looses his post and discontinues his political career forever.

5. The Addams Family Tree

After being mistreated by one of his children's haughty friends, Harold Pomeroy, Gomez attempts to trace his ancestry and acquires some very interesting details concerning Pomeroy's dishonest ancestors.

6. Morticia Joins the Ladies League

Morticia invites the Ladies League for tea. However, the ladies are not able to enjoy their refreshment due to the fact that it is being served by an escaped gorilla that has a tendency to enjoy housework. Meanwhile, Lurch feels displaced since an ape is more capable of performing his household duties than he is.

7. Halloween with the Addams Family

Two bank robbers attempt to rob the Addams family on Halloween; however, they soon become involved in the family's bizarre Halloween customs.

8. Green-Eyed Gomez

When one of Morticia's old friends arrives and shows undue interest in her, Gomez becomes jealous and attempts to cause the same emotion in Morticia by hiring a maid.

9. The New Neighbors Meet the Addams Family

The Addams' new neighbors honeymoon bliss soon dissipates when they make the acquaintance of Morticia and Gomez and discover that Gomez is their landlord.

10. Wednesday Leaves Home

Wednesday leaves a note claiming that she has left home forever but in actuality is hiding in Pugsley's room. However, after Morticia's misguided attempt at psychology, Wednesday decides to truly leave home.

11. The Addams Family Meet the V.I.P's

Visiting dignitaries from Russia seek to discover "typical" Americans and despite the governments warnings meet the Addams Family and amazingly believe them to be what a "typical" American family is like.

12. Morticia, the Matchmaker

Morticia and Gomez seek to find a mate for their distraught cousin, Melancholia, after her finance has supposedly joined the Foreign Legion.

13. Lurch Learns to Dance

Lurch once again refuses his invitation to the annual Butlers' Ball after admitting that he has never learned to dance. In an attempt to endow Lurch with dancing talent in preparation for the ball, almost everyone in the family attempts to teach Lurch this essential skill.

14. Art and the Addams Family

Morticia has begun painting and through Grandma's attempts is provided with an unusual teacher called Sam Picasso. Wednesday attempts to give Picasso lessons and he quickly flees the Addams' house returning to Spain and indulging in the less dangerous sport of bullfighting.

15. The Addams Family Meets a Beatnik

"Rocky", a young man who has left his home due to his father's overbearing desire to transform him into a business man, is accepted into the Addams family. Soon, the Addams family manage to bring the father and son together and to help them settle their grievances.

16. The Addams Family Meets the Undercover Man

An undercover operative finds radio transmissions emanating from the Addams house to be most suspicious and believes the Addams Family are spies. In an attempt to prove his hypothesis, he begins spying on the family to discover the means of the disturbance and soon arouses their suspicions.

17. Mother Lurch Visit's the Addams Family

Lurch's quarrelsome mother is destined to arrive and Lurch confesses that she believes him to be the master of the home, not a lowly servant. In an effort to please Lurch, Morticia and Gomez institute him as the temporary master of their domicile and play the role of his humble servants until his mother arrives and forces Lurch to fire them.

18. Uncle Fester's Illness

Uncle Fester is feeling unwell and is forced to see a normal doctor.

19. The Addams Family Splurges

The family's new computer advises them to vacation on the moon and in an attempt to attain the billions needed to ensure such a venture, they bet on horses.

20. Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family

In an attempt to prolong Cousin Itt's visit, Morticia suggest that Itt attain a job as a curator at the local zoo. As can be expected, the zoo commissioner mistakes Itt for the perfect exhibit!

21. The Addams Family in Court

Grandma has been arrested for telling fortunes. Gomez and later Morticia attempt to defend her in court.

22. Amnesia in the Addams Family

After receiving a painful blow to his head, Gomez's personality is drastically altered and has become disgustingly "normal". Whilst trying to reverse this disturbing change of events, unbeknownst to each other, various members of the family continue to hit Gomez over the head causing his personality to change from normal to his usual abnormal self several times resulting in hilarious sequences.

-Ravenova

THE GOOD NEWS:
1. The Addams Family is FINALLY coming to DVD!
2. It will contain Audio Commentary on the first episode with the director, 2 featurretes, and Theme Song Kareoke.

THE BAD NEWS:
1. It will NOT be the COMPLETE first season it will contain the first 22 episodes making it the first of 3 volumes.
2. The 3 DVDs are double sided with only 3 or 4 episodes on each side! They could easily fit both sides of the disc on one single sided disc.

MGM/Fox did a really smart job with this jewel of 60s Television DVD box set. The packaging has beautiful graphics, the film transfers look sharp, and the bonus materials include just about everything you could want: interviews, commentaries, documentaries, photos, Charles Addams artwork, etc. (Sorry, no bloopers have been found.) I was thrilled to be asked to contribute to the commentaries along with some of the cast. Only one drawback...I wish the series' two seasons were released as such, and not divided into three volumes, but I can live with it. Acquiring the complete series will be the mission. Subsequent volumes will have additional extras...so keep a look-out. This series is a must-have on any classic TV shelf. Viva Jackie Coogan and Fester!!
Stephen Cox, author of "The Addams Chronicles" (Cumberland House Publishing)

I'm going to assume that you've seen The Addams Family at some point, so you know what it's about and probably have fond memories of it. Technically this is a great release. The video is top notch and the sound is very good. It's mono, but that's what they had then, and the quality is excellent.

I had fond memories of this show, but I think I like it even more than I did when it was broadcast in 1964. John Astin is fabulous as Gomez Addams. I'd forgotten just how amazing he was in this role. In fact, Morticia, Uncle Fester, and Lurch are all played to perfection. One thing that appeals to me now that I probably didn't appreciate as a kid is the fact that these characters are such *nice* people. Gomez and Morticia are still madly in love. Gomez is patient and polite. Morticia is impeccably gracious. The kids are polite and respectful, and they all have a positive attitude about everything, including all the "weird" people (as they see them) who show up at their door, with whom they are very patient. Unrealistic? Maybe, but I like happy, friendly, positive people (the real world doesn't have enough of them for my tastes ;-). It amazes me is how well this show holds up. Not only is it funny, but the cast's performances almost make their characters believable.

I haven't watched all the extras, but I did listen to the audio commentary for Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family and it was very well done. The actors all talked about themselves, other cast members, the making of the show, trivia, and pretty much give you exactly what you want in an audio commentary about a show of this type. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Why only four stars for this release? Because:

- These are double-sided, single-layer disks. I hate double sided disks (for multiple reasons), and the same amount of material could have fit on the same number of single-sided, dual-layer disks with labels.

- They're releasing the two seasons of this show in three volumes. I'd rather have two full-season sets. It would be more cost effective for the studio and seem more natural on my shelf. In fact, I'd have been happy with a single set containing the entire series. Had they used dual-layer disks they could have put the entire series on at most eight disks, which would fit in four of the thinpak cases, and it would be nice to have the entire season in one box that's 1.25" wide instead of three boxes using over an inch more of my shelf space. (An inch doesn't sound like much, and it isn't if you only have a few seasons of your most favorite show. But if you have a large collection of TV show seasons, it adds up, in which case you hate to see the space just wasted like this.)

If they'd released this show in two sets of single-sided disks I'd give it more than five stars.

All that said, stop wasting time reading reviews and just order these. You'll love what you get.

The Addam's Family just did all the things most people in uptight 1960's America always wanted to do but usually did not dare. The most shocking thing about how the Addams Family was dispite all the weird wonderful trappings of their home. Despite all the odd ball relatives they had. Dispite all the odd foods they ate it was suprising how normal they all were.

Morticia Addams loved her husband passionately as he Gomez was in passionate love with his good lady wife. Morticia and Gomez showed to the family and the world that time had not staled or made mundane the love burning in their hearts for each other. As a child I think it would be awesome knowing my parents were so totally in love with each other. The children were strange but again their love for their parents, and all their weird pets, extened family or servants never failed. One of the most enduring memories of the series is that they all always polite enough to thank thing for lending a hand whenever needed.

I guess thats what I love most about the Addams Family is that it suggests weird alone is not bad. The Addams Family was fun fare to be sure, but it also taught me to enjoy life as I am no matter what others think. As a disabled child growing up in the 1960's world of rigid conformity it was so nice to see in the members of the Addams Family examples of uniquely odd but good hearted people who so totally enjoyed being different from the norm.

I was always sad the Addams Family series had not made it to DVD. I used to come to Amazon.com and enter Addams Family only to see the more recent movies result from my searches. I was at work on break when I found the Addams Family Series Finally made it to DVD! I literally howled with a giddy gleeful joy that likely shocked my co-workers! I brought the Addams Family DVD's immediately because, it was for me a total no brainer. I will be waiting in the light of a full moon to buy the next installment of the Addams Family Series.

I think everyone who loves to laugh should buy this Addams Family DVD it is good for you inside and out.

This is a very barebones packaging. You only get two thin snap covers. The first one contains two discs and the second cover contains the third disc. You can barely read which disc is which, so you'll have to rely on memory when you remove them. All discs are two sided. The bonus features are nice. My favorite is THE ADDAMS FAMILY PORTRAIT FEATURETTE. Theme Song Karaoke is nothing more than the opening title sequence with subtitles and Thing waving a pointer in the corner. The vocals aren't even removed, so it's not much of a karaoke. Three episodes have commentaries provided by Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley), Lisa Loring, who's still a delicious hottie (Wednesday), Felix Silla (Cousin Itt), and Stephen Cox, Author of The Addams Chronicles. The picture is nicely restored and the sound is clear and full. My only disappointments are They did not include the Unaired Pilot (This is the reason critics praised The Addams over The Munsters whose pilot episode was downright silly. Not the actually series). And on a personal note, after the end credits rolled they omitted Ted Cassidy's powerful baritone voiceover "THIS HAS BEEN A FILMWAYS PRESENTATION" unless that was for only some episodes. Has anyone else noticed Grandmama is not on the front cover? In reference to SPY QUEEN. The episode where Morticia sings (It's So Nice To Have A Thing Around The House) is, Halloween With The Addams Family. The scene was not replaced with a substitute song. It was deleted altogether.

Some people are complaining about the price of this set and the fact that it doesn't have a complete season. However, when the Munsters 1st season came out the retail price was about $60.00-discounted by Amazon to about $45.00. If the rest of the Addams Family sets are priced accordingly they will be cheaper than the Munsters if you do the math. In any case the Addams Family was superior to the Munsters. I can live with this price but it would be better if they issued complete Addams Family seasons.

When I read Steven Greydanus' thumbs up review in the National Catholic Register I couldn't wait to get this set. As he points out, twelve episodes of the first season are missing, thus this is Volume One not Season One. No matter, two cases hold three double-sided DVDs in a slender box, making a reasonably- priced, affordable set.

I wondered if The Addams Family would be as great on DVD as I remembered it. I need not have worried. The Munsters and this series had some of the best writing of the mid-'sixties, and that's saying something. This black and white series is a delight from start to finish. The B&W enhances, rather than detracts from the eery tone of this rendition drawn from Charles Addams' New Yorker comics.

Moreover, this series shows that family-friendly shows don't have to be mindless, moralistic drivel and talk down to kids while boring their parents into a coma. Come on Hollywood! Make some great family shows again and we'll even hook our cables back up! Until then, we'll keep buying great old shows on DVD and spend our time with (snap snap) the Addams Family.

Remember the Addams family ? From 1964 to 1966, an entire generation grew up watching the antics and misadventures of this mysterious, eccentric and unorthodox family, who were polar opposites to the clean-cut, "Leave It To Beaver" or "Father Knows Best" families on television in the 60's. They were based upon the cartoon sketches of artist Charles Addams in the New Yorker magazine.The cast included Jon Astin as Gomez Addams, the father and head of the family, Carolyn Jones as his wife Morticia, Lisa Loring as their daughter Wednesday and Ted Cassidy as their tall, zombi-like butler, Lurch. The jokes and gags of the family are well known and always comedic. Gomez is a high-class lawyer, of Castilian/Jewish ancestry who loves to go on Safari and who is passionately devoted to his wife Morticia. He would become aroused whenever Morticia spoke French to him. Morticia is a dark, mysterious, intelligent, artistic and classy woman with not so average values. She has raised Pugsley and Wednesday to be so secure in their peculiar ways that the normal people are the odd ones to them. This occurs in the pilot episode, in which Pugsley and Wednesday are sent to school through the admonishment of a truant officer, Mr. Hilliard. But Pugsley and Wednesday prove to be too bizarre and difficult for Mr. Hilliard to handle. Memorable is the scene in which the kids become frightened after reading the Grimm fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" and Morticia deems the story too violent because a witch is killed in a hot oven. The second episode has the Addams consulting a child therapist to check on Pugsley, who has displayed "normal" behavior- joins the Boys Scout, plays baseball, etc. The Addams were a family like no other, with the exception, of course, of the Munsters, who were also on their own tv show at the same time (1964-1966). Available at Amazon.com are several episodes of all the seasons the Addams Family were on television. Sit back and enjoy the comic stylings of this unforgettable family. The shock that this must have been to normal families of the 60's are parellel to the same way the Osbornes on MTV continue to surprise their audiences.