The New Addams Family
The New Addams Family is an American-Canadian sitcom that aired from October 1998 to August 1999 on YTV in Canada and Fox Family in the United States and CITV in the United Kingdom on weekends. It was produced by Shavick Entertainment and Saban Entertainment as a revival of the 1960s series The Addams Family.[1]
| The New Addams Family | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Starring | Glenn Taranto Ellie Harvie Brody Smith Nicole Fugere Betty Phillips Michael Roberds John DeSantis Steven Fox |
| Composer(s) | Barron Abramovitch Jeremy Sweet Michael Whittaker |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 65 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lance H. Robbins James Shavick |
| Producer(s) | Victoria Woods |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Film Incentive B.C. Fox Family Worldwide Shavick Entertainment Saban Entertainment |
| Distributor | Saban International |
| Release | |
| Original network | YTV (Canada) Fox Family Channel (United States) |
| Original release | October 19, 1998 – August 28, 1999 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Addams Family |
The series was cancelled after one season.
Plot
The Addams Family consists of husband and wife, Gomez and Morticia Addams, their children, Wednesday and Pugsley, as well as Grandmama, Uncle Fester, and their butler, Lurch. The Addams' are a close-knit extended family with decidedly macabre interests and supernatural abilities. No explanation for their powers is explicitly given in the series. Some of the episodes in this series are remakes of the original TV series' episodes with some episodes being exclusive to this show.
Later episodes introduce a relative named Grandpapa Addams who had similar traits to Gomez.
Cast
Main cast
- Glenn Taranto as Gomez Addams
- Ellie Harvie as Morticia Addams
- Brody Smith as Pugsley Addams
- Nicole Fugere as Wednesday Addams. Fugere was the only member of the Addams Family Reunion cast to return for the series.
- Betty Phillips as Eudora "Grandmama" Addams
- Michael Roberds as Uncle Fester
- John DeSantis as Lurch
- Steven Fox's Hand as Thing
Guest cast
- John Astin as Grandpapa Addams
- David Mylrea as Cousin Itt
- Paul Dobson as Voice of Cousin Itt
- Tabitha St. Germain as Melancholia
- Meredith Bain Woodward as Granny Frump
- Lisa Calder as Ophelia Frump
- Shoshoni as Kitty Kat
Production
Development
The series—shot in Vancouver—featured a new cast and was well received by viewers. Gomez Addams was played by Glenn Taranto, and Morticia by Ellie Harvie. The show reworked several storylines from the original series while incorporating modern elements, jokes, and references to episodes from the original series. John Astin, who played Gomez in the original series, appeared in a recurring role as Grandpapa Addams; Taranto patterned his performance after Astin's original version of Gomez.
Writing
One of the notable differences between the original show and the new series was that Wednesday and Pugsley (Nicole Fugere and Brody Smith respectively – the former reprising her role from Addams Family Reunion) were given expanded roles that highlighted their violent and sadistic personalities, made popular by the Addams Family film. Another element carried over from the films was Fester being Gomez's brother, whereas in the original show he had been Morticia's uncle.
Theme music
The new theme music, performed by the cast, was a departure from the familiar tune that had served most previous adaptations of the series. The familiar finger-snapping was present, albeit at a faster pace, accompanied by two different characters (first Lurch, then Gomez) saying the word "snap" twice in rapid succession to match the beat. It was written by Barron Abramovitch, Jeremy Sweet, and Michael Whittaker.
Syndication
The series currently airs on Canadian television channel OutTV. (http://outtv.ca/schedule/)
Episodes
There were 65 episodes in the series; one more than the original series.
| No. | Title | Directed By | Written By | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Halloween with the Addams Family" | Mark Jean | Teleplay by: Robert Baird & Kelly Senecal Story by: Keith Fowler & Phil Leslie | October 19, 1998 | |
| Mistaking two robbers for trick-or-treaters, the Addans Family takes them in for a Halloween celebration. Meanwhile, Wednesday and Pugsley go trick-or-treating as Siskel and Ebert. | |||||
| 2 | "Deadbeat Relatives" | Ron Oliver | Robert Baird & Kelly Senecal | October 20, 1998 | |
| At the time when the Addams Family are moonbathing, Wednesday recites an incantation that brings Cousin Vlad back to life where he wants to kill Gomez and marry Morticia. | |||||
| 3 | "The Addams Family Goes to School" | Ron Oliver | Teleplay by: Peggy Nicoll Story by: Seaman Jacobs & Ed James | October 21, 1998 | |
|
The school board finds out that Wednesday and Pugsley have never been to school due to Grandmama being the one who educated them and sends a written order to Gomez and Morticia to enroll them at once. Gomez later gets a reaction when he hears that Grimm's Fairy Tales has a dragon getting killed. Family mentioned: Cousin Imar (who has three arms where Morticia knits a sweater for him where the purple brings out the color in his eye) | |||||
| 4 | "Fester's Punctured Romance" | Harvey Frost | Teleplay by:Peggy Nicoll Story by: Jameson Brewer | October 22, 1998 | |
|
Uncle Fester's prison girlfriend Cruella breaks up with him upon making parole. Using a dating book, Uncle Fester uses a dating service catalogue to hook up with a hateful woman named Lucretia. At the time when Uncle Fester mistakes a woman named Melinda Carver for her when she is heading to a baby shower and was hit by a rocket, Wednesday secretly administers a prick to her that contains the Love Potion 666 that Grandmama brewed which works too well. When Gomez and Morticia find out, they instruct her to make an antidote at once. Family mentioned: Grandpa Squid and Aunt Vendetta (who are in the attic as Gomez goes to check if they are still alive), Great-Uncle Zee (who was affected by Love Potion 666 and kept digging up Cassandra) | |||||
| 5 | "New Neighbors Meet the Addams Family" | Randy Bradshaw | Teleplay by: Peggy Nicoll Story by: Hannibal Coons & Harry Winkler | October 23, 1998 | |
|
Newleyweds Hubert and Amanda Patterson move in to the Addams Family where they learn that they are their next door neighbors and landlords. The Pattersons work to get out of the lease so that they won't put up with them. Family mentioned: Aunt Blemish (who has as a barn in a portrait that Gomez wrestles with), Cousin Farouk (whose leg is sticking out of the shark on the Addams Family's wall) | |||||
| 6 | "Grandpapa Addams Comes to Visit" | George Eschbaumer | Teleplay by: Peggy Nicoll Story by: Byron Twiggs | October 26, 1998 | |
|
While his neighborhood is being rebuilt, Gomez' grandfather Grandpapa Addams comes to visit the family and live with them for awhile. While Grandpapa Addams still misses his late wife Delilah, Gomez and Morticia arrange for him to be sent to Club Dead where Grandpapa thinks that they are going to send him to a retirement home. Family mentioned: Cousin Winkle (who often gets out of his coffin and sleepwalks) | |||||
| 7 | "Gomez, the Reluctant Lover" | Peter Rowe | Teleplay by: Peggy Niccol Story by: Charles Marrion | October 27, 1998 | |
| Puglsey has developed a crush on his teacher and copies one of Gomez' love letters to Morticia. This causes her to think that Gomez wrote the letter. | |||||
| 8 | "Morticia the Matchmaker" | Gary Harvey | Teleplay by: Peggy Niccol Story by: Maury Geraghty & Hannibal Coons & Harry Winkler | October 28, 1998 | |
|
Cousin Melancholia's fiancé Fred ran off on her and shows up at the Addams Family Mansion in a dispondant state. Morticia hooks her up with a law firm owner named Ralph Harvey when nobody else wanted the offer. Family mentioned: Cousin Tracheal (who can smoke through her neck) | |||||
| 9 | "The Addams Family Tree" | Harvey Frost | Teleplay by: Peggy Nicoll Story by: Lou Huston & Hannibal Coons & Harry Winkler | October 29, 1998 | |
|
After Wednesday gives Harold Pomeroy a black eye, his smug father Cecil shows up at the Addams Family mansion demanding an apology. Both Harold and Cecil have their different ooky experiences with the Addams Family members. Meanwhile, Professor Simms is hired to help research the Addams Family tree when they get interest in their genealogy. Family mentioned: Uncle Slackjaw (who is buried in the cemetery where even Gomez is unsure if he is dead or not), Great-Grandpa Sludge (who had eight toes), Cousin Odd (whose photograph is next to Cousin Itt's photograph), Aunt Blemish (who Morticia mistook as a barn in an old photograph), Grandpa Slurp (who had a bucktooth in one head and a receding chin on another), Great-Uncle Matthews (who was the white sheep of the family for working as an accountant), the Nesbitt branch of the Addams Family who started a revolution and were beheaded | |||||
| 10 | "Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family" | Don Shebib | Teleplay by: Peggy Nicoll Story by: Tony Bilson | October 30, 1998 | |
| Cousin Itt stays at the Addams Family after his girlfriend Contessa found out about his other girlfriends Eudora, Simone, and Lucinda and that he is now broke. After attempts at different jobs, he gets one at the zoo where Dr. Green displays him like the animals at the zoo. | |||||
| 11 | "Art and the Addams Family" | Harvey Frost | Teleplay by: Peggy Nicoll Story by: Harry Winkler & Hannibal Coons | October 30, 1998 | |
| Wednesday comes back from school after painting a black rainbow and she got an "F" on it. Her teacher, Miss Crank, says she may fail art if she doesn't use color. So Gomez tries to hire the world famous artist Leopold DaMinci as an art Tutor, but gets Leo DaMinci, an Italian Pizza delivery man instead. Meanwhile, Mama falls in love with the postman, and Fester helps her try to trap him. | |||||
| 12 | "Thing is Missing" | Don Shebib | Teleplay by: Peggy Nicoll Story by: Lorraine Edwards | November 2, 1998 | |
|
It's Thing's birthday. Thing opens Fester's mail and Fester and the family yell at him and none of them remember his birthday, so Thing runs away. The stress of fighting with Thing causes Fester to start growing hair on his head. Note: The episode is based on a teleplay of the same name by Bill Lutz, which was written by Lorraine Edwards to The Addams Family. | |||||
| 13 | "Fester Goes on a Diet" | TBA | TBA | November 3, 1998 | |
| 14 | "Morticia's Romance: Part 1" | TBA | TBA | November 4, 1998 | |
| 15 | "Morticia's Romance: Part 2" | TBA | TBA | November 5, 1998 | |
| 16 | "Wednesday Leaves Home" | TBA | TBA | November 6, 1998 | |
| 17 | "My Fair Cousin Itt" | TBA | TBA | November 9, 1998 | |
| 18 | "The Winning of Morticia Addams" | TBA | TBA | November 10, 1998 | |
| 19 | "Uncle Fester's Toupee" | TBA | TBA | November 11, 1998 | |
| 20 | "Lurch Learns to Dance" | TBA | TBA | November 12, 1998 | |
| 21 | "Morticia and the Psychiatrist" | TBA | TBA | November 13, 1998 | |
| 22 | "Melancholia Finds Romance" | TBA | TBA | November 16, 1998 | |
| 23 | "Morticia's Favorite Charity" | TBA | TBA | November 17, 1998 | |
| 24 | "Morticia Joins the Ladies League" | TBA | TBA | November 18, 1998 | |
| 25 | "Morticia the Breadwinner" | TBA | TBA | November 23, 1998 | |
| 26 | "Morticia's Dilemma" | TBA | TBA | November 30, 1998 | |
| 27 | "Christmas with the Addams Family" | TBA | TBA | December 7, 1998 | |
| 28 | "Crisis in the Addams Family" | TBA | TBA | January 4, 1999 | |
| 29 | "Gomez, the Cat Burglar" | TBA | TBA | January 8, 1999 | |
| 30 | "Uncle Fester's Illness" | TBA | TBA | January 11, 1999 | |
| 31 | "Green-Eyed Gomez" | TBA | TBA | January 15, 1999 | |
| 32 | "Thing's Romance" | TBA | TBA | January 18, 1999 | |
| 33 | "Morticia, the Decorator" | TBA | TBA | January 22, 1999 | |
| 34 | "Close Encounters of the Addams Kind" | TBA | TBA | January 25, 1999 | |
| 35 | "Amnesia in the Addams Family" | TBA | TBA | February 1, 1999 | |
| 36 | "Wednesday's Crush" | TBA | TBA | February 8, 1999 | |
| 37 | "Morticia, the Sculptress" | TBA | TBA | February 15, 1999 | |
| 38 | "Gomez, the People's Choice" | TBA | TBA | February 22, 1999 | |
| 39 | "Lurch, the Teen-Age Idol" | TBA | TBA | March 1, 1999 | |
| 40 | "Fester and Granny vs. Grandpapa Addams" | TBA | TBA | March 8, 1999 | |
| 41 | "Saving Private Addams" | TBA | TBA | March 15, 1999 | |
| 42 | "My Son, the Chimp" | TBA | TBA | March 22, 1999 | |
| 43 | "Horseplay" | TBA | TBA | March 29, 1999 | |
| 44 | "Lurch's Grand Romance" | TBA | TBA | April 5, 1999 | |
| 45 | "Fester Joins the Global Mercenaries" | TBA | TBA | April 9, 1999 | |
| 46 | "Catastrophia's Career" | TBA | TBA | April 12, 1999 | |
| 47 | "Addams Family in Court" | TBA | TBA | April 19, 1999 | |
| 48 | "Cousin Itt's Problem" | TBA | TBA | May 7, 1999 | |
| 49 | "Morticia, the Playwright" | TBA | TBA | May 14, 1999 | |
| 50 | "Lurch, Man of Leisure" | TBA | TBA | May 21, 1999 | |
| 51 | "Progress in the Addams Family" | TBA | TBA | May 28, 1999 | |
| 52 | "The Undercover Man" | TBA | TBA | May 29, 1999 | |
| 53 | "Lurch and His Piano" | TBA | TBA | May 31, 1999 | |
| 54 | "Fester the Marriage Counselor" | TBA | TBA | June 4, 1999 | |
| 55 | "Cleopatra, Green of the Nile" | TBA | TBA | June 11, 1999 | |
| 56 | "Granny, the Happy Medium" | TBA | TBA | June 18, 1999 | |
| 57 | "Lurch's Little Helper" | TBA | TBA | June 25, 1999 | |
| 58 | "Addams Family Feud" | TBA | TBA | July 10, 1999 | |
| The Addams Family's hillbilly cousins called the McAddams (consisting of Pa McAddams, Ma McAddams, Peewee McAddams, and Geezer McAddams) show up to settle the score of an old feud. Things go well until Uncle Fester takes Pa McAddams hunting and a gold nugget is discovered. | |||||
| 59 | "Fester, the Tycoon" | TBA | TBA | July 17, 1999 | |
| 60 | "Lights, Camera, Addams!" | TBA | TBA | July 24, 1999 | |
| 61 | "The Addams Policy" | TBA | TBA | July 31, 1999 | |
| 62 | "Fester, World Leader" | TBA | TBA | August 7, 1999 | |
| 63 | "The Tale of Long John Addams" | TBA | TBA | August 14, 1999 | |
| 64 | "Keeping Up with the Joneses" | TBA | TBA | August 21, 1999 | |
| 65 | "Death Visits the Addams Family" | TBA | TBA | August 28, 1999 | |
Reception
Awards and nominations
- Leo Awards for Best Overall Sound in a Dramatic Series - Tony Gronick (Nominated)
- Leo Award for Best Production Design in a Dramatic Series - Cathy Robertson (Nominated)
- Leo Award for Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series - Ellie Harvie (1999) (Nominated)
- Canadian Comedy Awards for Television - Performance - Female - Ellie Harvie (2000) (Nominated)
- Leo Award for Best Editing - Picture of a Music, Comedy or Variety Program or Series - Michele Conroy For episode "Tale of Long John Addams" (Won)
- Leo Award for Best Overall Sound in a Music, Comedy or Variety Program or Series - Rick Bal, Chester Biolowas, Vince Renaud, and Jo Rossi (Won)
- Leo Award for Best Screenwriter of a Music, Comedy or Variety Program or Series - Rich Hosek and Arnold Rudnick For episode "Tale Of Long John Addams" (Won)
- Leo Award for Best Performance or Host in a Music, Comedy or Variety Program or Series - Ellie Harvie (Won)
- Leo Award for Best Sound - Greg Stewart (Won)
References
- Terrace, Vincent (2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2010. McFarland & Co. p. 750. ISBN 9780786486410.