The Addams Family is an
American television series based on the characters in
Charles Addams'
New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in
black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on
ABC from
September 18,
1964 to
April 8,
1966. It is often compared to its working-class rival,
The Munsters, which ran for the same two seasons and achieved somewhat higher
Nielsen Ratings. The show used a laugh track.
It was originally produced by
Filmways, Inc. at General Service Studios in
Hollywood, California. Successor company
MGM Television (via
The Program Exchange for broadcast syndication,
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for home video/DVD) owns the rights to the show. At one point, distribution rights were licensed to
Worldvision Enterprises.
Premise
The Addamses are a close-knit
extended family with decidedly
macabre interests. They all have supernatural abilities, although no rationale for their powers is ever explicitly given.