The Addams Family (1992 TV series)

The Addams Family
Genre	Animated comedy
Voices of	John Astin Nancy Linari Debi Derryberry Jeannie Elias Rip Taylor Jim Cummings Carol Channing Rob Paulsen Edie McClurg Pat Fraley Dick Beals
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	21
Production
Executive producers	David Kirschner Mark Young
Producer	Hanna–Barbera
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC Cartoon Network
Release	September 12, 1992 – November 6, 1993

The Addams Family: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the eponymous comic strip characters. It ran from September 12, 1992 to November 6, 1993 on ABC and was produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series' development began in the wake of the successful 1991 Addams Family feature film. Two seasons were produced; the third season contained reruns. It was the second-to-last Hanna-Barbera-produced show to premiere on ABC.

Format

Geared towards children, much of the family's macabre nature was toned down; although, Fester retained his love of explosives and light bulbs. In order for the series to fit with other Saturday morning cartoons, plot lines were geared around the family facing some kind of threat from a series of recurring villains—individuals who either wanted to force the Addams' from their home or capture one of them (usually Fester) for nefarious purposes.

The first episode to air involved a plot against Fester by his "arch nemesis," a faceless gangster; the episode was aired out of production order, however, and relied on the viewer's having seen previous episodes for context, thus leaving the audience in the dark as to why Fester had an arch nemesis. Later episodes would introduce the series' most common recurring villains, a yuppie family named the Normanmeyers that lived next door to the Addams and despised them for their lifestyle being an affront to typical suburban living. Episodes dealing with the Normanmeyers usually involved the father, Norman, trying to either convince Gomez to move away or force him to sell the home; the family's adolescent son, NJ, was friends with Puggsley and Wednesday, inevitably leading to interfamilial conflict. At the end of several episodes, when the conflict was resolved, Gomez usually suggested a family dance. The first suggestion for the dance was usually thrown out because of some weird requirement. The second suggestion was accepted and there was usually a requirement for that dance too. The show's theme song, which was similar to the original live-action series, was slightly different and was sung by a single baritone voice.

Cast

John Astin returned to the role of Gomez, and celebrities Rip Taylor and Carol Channing took over the roles of Fester and Grandmama, respectively, while veteran voice actors Jim Cummings, Debi Derryberry, Jeannie Elias, Pat Fraley, and Nancy Linari did the voices of Lurch, Wednesday, Pugsley, Cousin Itt, and Morticia, respectively. A new cast of characters debuted in the series in the form of a family called the Normanmeyers. They are composed of Norman (Rob Paulsen), his wife Normina (Edie McClurg) and their son Norman "NJ" Normanmeyer Junior (Dick Beals).

New artistic models of the characters were used for this series, though still having a passing resemblance to the original comics. Lurch, for instance, has blue skin in the animated series.

Characters

Main characters

• Gomez Addams (voiced by John Astin) - The patriarch of the family. He is a caring and enthusiastic father and is deeply in love with his wife, Morticia. He usually spends his time with unusual activities in the home, mostly accompanied by Fester. Unlike the other versions, Gomez is usually seen wearing a pink suit.
• Morticia Addams (voiced by Nancy Linari) - The matriarch of the family. Like her husband, he is very much involved with the raising of her children, and enjoys the attention she is receiving from her husband. Her hobbies include painting and taking care of the plants. She can be described as a vamp and is commonly seen wearing black gothic dresses.
• Wednesday Addams (voiced by Debi Derryberry) - The daughter of Gomez and Morticia. She can be described as a girl with low enthusiasm and enjoys torturing her brother with dangerous objects, though in a friendly atmosphere. Unlike its other versions, she is the oldest of the two children. Wednesday is trademarked by her ponytails and blue dress, and often cares her beheaded doll Marie Antoinette with her.
• Pugsley Addams (voiced by Jeannie Elias) - The son of Gomez and Morticia. He is an overweight boy with blond hair who can be described as slightly dimwitted. He has a close bond with his sister, but likes to terrorize her. Pugsley usually wears a yellow shirt with green stripes.
• Uncle Fester (voiced by Rip Taylor) - Gomez's bald brother with white skin who takes a special interest in (self) destruction. He commonly joins the children with their unusual plans, taking it to the limit, and also spends a lot of his time creating formulas in the basement lab.
• Grandmama (voiced by Carol Channing) - The grandmother to Wednesday and Pugsley. She has psychic powers expressed through a magic ball, which she uses for her own fortune-telling line.
• Lurch (voiced by Jim Cummings) - The blue-skinned butler of the Addams family. He is very tall and strong, which intimidates most guests, although he in fact has a little heart. He almost never talks and usually responds by mumbling in a deep voice.
• Thing - A relative of the Addams' who takes the form of a disembodied hand. He constantly helps out the family by reaching them objects, and although he lives in a box, can pop up everywhere in the house. Unlike in other versions, Thing has the ability to fly.
• Cousin Itt (vocal effects provided by Pat Fraley) - The cousin of the Addams'. He is trademarked by his body fully covered by hair and high-pitched voice with gibberish language. Although credited in the main cast, Cousin Itt appears as a recurring character, and is not seen in all episodes.
• Snappy - An alligator that lives with the Addams Family.
• Mr. Normanmeyer (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - The Addams' neighbor. The opposite of the Addams' in almost every way, he is often annoyed by their unusual activities and tries to sabotage most of their plans. Normanmeyer is the CEO of an underwear company and often wears a blue suit.
• Mrs. Normanmeyer (voiced by Edie McClurg) - Mr. Normanmeyer's traditional wife. Like her husband, she often tries to sabotage the Addams', and Morticia in particular.
• N.J. Normanmeyer (voiced by Dick Beals) - The pre-teen son of the Normanmeyers. Unlike his parents, he likes the Addams' and is able to look through their odd behavior. When not spending time with Wednesday and Pugsley, he often attempts to prevent his parents from ruining their neighbors.

Other characters

• Spy Twins (voiced by Jim Cummings) - Twin criminals who have set their eyes on the Addams fortune and are common enemies of Cousin Itt. They are long and skinny, and usually wear long raincoats with matching hats. The Twin Spies are trademarked by the habit of finishing each other's sentences. Their plots would usually go horribly awry with them getting hurt.
• Fingers (voiced by Jim Cummings) - A spy for RumpCo (the rival company of Mr. Normanmeyer). He is large, bald and very intimidating, though somewhat dimwitted.
• Mr. Limp - A health inspector and acquaintance to Mr. Normanmeyer. He is seduced by Grandmama.
• Mrs. Quaint - A red-haired guest at the Addams residence, she turns out to be a criminal who is looked for in eight states for hotel burglarly. She tries to steal the family treasures.
• Lurch's girlfriend - The female equivalent to Lurch. Like her boyfriend, she is very tall and big, thus intimidating. She is pink-skinned and has dark hair.
• Aunt Flora and Fauna - The conjoined twins who are both African-American and caucasian, they are the family's friendly aunts. They wear an old Victorian dress.
• Uncle Cleaver (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - A member of the Addams family, who can be recognized by his constant nervous behavior. He has red hair and wears a long brown raincoat, in which he hides knifes.
• Uncle Frankus - A giant with features of a pig, Frankus is one of the several members of the Addams' who is not human. Intimidating due to his height and temper, he does not speak very often. He doesn't like it if his mother is insulted.
• Shella - A foreign class mate of Wednesday and Pugsley who is, due to her sweet character, a beloved person in school. She falls for Pugsley, but soon has to return to her home land.
• Mortimer - The overweight red-haired school bully who often takes Pugsley as one of his victims.
• Mrs. Blossom (voiced by Marcia Wallace) - the school teacher of Wednesday, Pugsley and N.J..

Action figures and other merchandise

Playmates produced a series of nine action figures based on the Addams Family animated series. This includes Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Pugsley, and Granny among others. Each figure includes multiple points of articulation, accessories, and a biography card on their cardback. No commercial was ever made for this. Halloween costumes were also produced.

Episodes

Season 1

#	Title	Summary
1	Happyester Fester Aired: September 12, 1992	Fester creates a new fabric called Happyester, so he and Gomez decide to present it to Norman Normanmeyer, who runs an underwear company. Normanmeyer is enthusiastic to take over the formula and offers Fester to be his partner, but Fester makes unusual demands before he signs the contract. Meanwhile, a rival company of Normanmeyer named Rumpco has sent a spy, Underwear Hitman 'Fingers', to steal the formula. After Wednesday and Pugsley save the day, Fester is happy to sign the contract. To the Addams' surprise, they are thrown out of the lot, which turned out to be part of the contract. Nevertheless, Fester misinterprets the action as a friendly deed. Later, it turns out Happyester has itchy side effects, something that delights the Addams, but causes bad publicity for Normanmeyer causing Fester to support Normanmeyer.
2	Dead and Breakfast Aired: September 19, 1992	Wednesday and Pugsley's bad mood over the sunny weather is worsened when they are assigned for a school project called 'creative problem solving through junior career exploiration'. Through the enthusiasm of Gomez, it is decided that they turn the Addams home into a 'dead and breakfast'. Wednesday and Pugsley are reluctant to start the project, but do not want to let down their parents. After the hotel's opening, the trouble starts. Not only are the Normanmeyers determined to ruin their business and do the Addams receive a visit from a health inspector, who is courted by Grandma, they also have a guest, Mrs. Quaint, that sets her eyes on the family fortune. Wednesday and Pugsley eventually use booby traps to capture the woman - who is wanted in eight states for hotel burglarly - thereby solving a problem creatively.
3	The Day Gomez Failed Aired: September 26, 1992	Feeling that he has done everything once, Gomez goes through his days uninspired. Morticia reminds him that everything in his life has been a success, and encourages him to fail at something. The plan backfires, though, because everything Gomez does results into a profit, earning a fortune in only six hours. Mr. Normanmeyer offers Gomez his ticket to failure, announcing his plans on using his land to complete a new freeway. Some time after signing the contract, the family is surprised to find out that part of the contract was demoloshing the mansion with bulldozers. Although Gomez sees it as a friendly deed of Normanmeyer, he stops him, revealing that the house is built on a swamp and could therefore not be used for a freeway. Instead, the freeway is built on the Normanmeyer's land, much to their frustration. Meanwhile, Morticia reminds Gomez that he has failed in failing, and therefore succeeded in his plans.
4	Girlfriendstein / Pugsley by the Numbers / Beware of Thing Aired: October 3, 1992	In Girlfriendstein, the family notices that Lurch has been somewhere else with his attention lately. Wednesday and Pugsley dig through his room and find out he has recently been dumped by his girlfriend. Fester building him a new girlfriend seems the perfect resolution. Lurch shows no interest in the robot, though, so Wednesday calls his ex-girlfriend to reunite with him. Meanwhile, Cousin Itt has fallen in love with the robot and they run off. In Pugsley by the Numbers, Wednesday is fed up with her brother continuously ruining her paintings. She decides to create an improved Pugsley with her mother's living paint, but every creation she makes prove to be too annoying. With the help of the real Pugsley, she exterminates the alternative Pugsleys and admits that her brother is perfect. In Beware of Thing, the Twin Spies try to break into the Addams safe, which is guarded by Thing. They dress up as a giant hand to seduce and distract Thing, and thereby catch him. Thing is able to escape and eventually scares away the Twin Spies.
5	N.J. Addams Aired: October 10, 1992	N.J. feels embarrassed by his parents' weekly speeches at school about underwear. He is too afraid to admit that he does not want to take over his father's business one day, and instead of confronting his parents, he runs away from home. After explaining the Addams residence is the one place where he can be himself, Wednesday and Pugsley allow him to stay in a spare room. They make him look unrecognizable and introduce him as Mumbles Addams, a long lost cousin, at a family reunion organized by Gomez and Morticia. N.J. is initially delighted with the attention he is receiving, but soon finds out the relatives are too odd for his taste. During a burst out, he upsets Uncle Frankus, an intimidating relative who soon starts chasing them. After he is saved by Wednesday and Pugsley, N.J. is informed that it is alright to be different or not live up to people's expectations. N.J. has the courage to return home and his parents, who were worried because of his disappearance, announce that they will be less hard on him in the future.
6	A Thing Is Born / Choke and Dagger / Fester's Diary Aired: October 17, 1992	In the episode A Thing Is Born we see a sad and unhappy Thing who is bored of his routine activities in the Addams mansion and wants to go to the outside world he doesn't play with the children nor help uncle fester in the absence of gomez and morticia as they had left for yet another honey moon, Wednesday tries to help thing and she finds thing wants to go to hollywood and granny predicts fame and fortune and accompanies thing where his talents bring a lot of fame, granny misses family and leaves to home after this his new found fame also attracts a enraged manic turned co star who lost his chance and fame to thing who tries to incapacitate him but thing returns home after helping capture him, he tells reporters he won't do any more films and returns home.
7	Sir Pugsley / Festerman / Art to Art Aired: October 24, 1992
8	Puttergeist Aired: October 31, 1992	Gomez and Morticia are delighted by Grandmama's Halloween tale, which events take place forty years ago. Grandmama talks about a man who went golfing on Halloween night, and was struck by lightning, which lost him his head. He then re-appeared as the Puttergeist: a mean man with a huge golf ball for a head who scares the town at night. Wednesday and Pugsley are less impressed with the story and return to trick and treating, along with Thing and N.J.. When Wednesday uncovers Uncle Fester as a Putterfeist impostor, her remaining doubts are confirmed: Puttergeist does not exist. So when the real Puttergeist shows up, attempting to scare and capture her, she is not feeling scared. While escaping with a golf car, it is revealed that Mr. Normanmeyer is Puttergeist. He explains that the myth was started by his grandfather. N.J. is initially upset that Puttergeist is not real, but he appreciates that his father continued the act for so long, just to please him. Moments later, the real Puttergeist drives along, confirming his existence.
9	F.T.V. Aired: November 7, 1992
10	Itt's Over Aired: November 14, 1992
11	Hide and Go Lurch / Hook, Line and Stinkers / A Sword Fightin' Thing Aired: November 21, 1992
12	Addams Family PTA Aired: November 28, 1992	Morticia is sad that Wednesday and Pugsley prefer to spend their time with friends or other relatives, rather than with her. She decides to become more active with their school activities, and organizes a scavenger hunt at the Addams residence. Mrs. Normanmeyer tries to prevent the children from going to the place, and when she fails to, tries to sabotage the hunt to prove the Addams house is unfit for children and ban Morticia from further school activities. Her plan of destruction turns out to backfire, though, making Morticia only more beloved with Wednesday and Pugsley's class mates.
13	Little Big Thing / Little Bad Riding Hood / Metamorphosister Aired: December 5, 1992

Season 2

#	Title	Summary
14	Color Me Addams Aired: September 18, 1993
15	No Ifs, Ands or Butlers Aired: September 25, 1993
16	Jack and Jill and the Beanstalk / Festerman Returns / Hand Delivered Aired: October 2, 1993
17	Sweetheart of a Brother Aired: October 9, 1993	Much to Wednesday's frustration, Pugsley is abandoning their constant terrorizing each other because he has fallen in love with Shella, the school's most popular girl. Although disgusted by his soft behavior, Wednesday decides to help him out to court the foreign girl. She motivates him in school to talk to her, and is annoyed that Shella shows no interest in him. Pugsley thinks that he can attract her attention if he is like everyone else, and drinks a normalizing formula, much to the Addams' shock. Distancing himself from his unusual family, Pugsley takes an interest in Mr. Normanmeyer, who is, unlike the Addams', delighted with Pugsley's new behavior. In school, he becomes a geek, and is tortured by the school bully Mortimer as a result. When Mortimer is about to fight with Shella for defending Pugsley, the formula has spent its force, and the real Pugsley takes revenge on him. Shella is romanced by Pugsley, but announces she has to return to her home land soon. He and his sister are nevertheless happy, because their lives are now back to 'normal'.
18	Double O Honeymoon Aired: October 16, 1993
19	Then Came Granny / Pet Show Thing / Fester Sings the Fester Way Aired: October 23, 1993
20	Camp Addams / Little Doll Lost / King of the Polycotton Blues Aired: October 30, 1993
21	A Girl and a Ghoul / A Little Bit of Pugsley / Ask Granny Aired: November 6, 1993	In "A Girl and a Ghoul", Wednesday is thrilled when she wins a competition to have horror-themed TV host Graveyard Gary visit her home. Gomez is supportive, but worries that Wednesday is more inspired by Gary than him. In "A Little Bit of Pugsley", Pugsley is the only one of the family who hasn't mastered his own dance, and Thing decides to help him. Finally, Grandmama hosts her own question show.

Cast

• John Astin - Gomez Addams
• Dick Beals - N.J. Normanmeyer
• Carol Channing - Grandmama
• Jim Cummings - Lurch, Spy Twins
• Debi Derryberry - Wednesday Addams
• Jeannie Elias - Pugsley Addams
• Pat Fraley - Cousin Itt
• Nancy Linari - Morticia Addams
• Edie McClurg - Mrs. Normanmeyer
• Rob Paulsen - Mr. Normanmeyer
• Rip Taylor - Uncle Fester

Additional Voices

• Pamela Adlon -
• Michael Bell -
• Earl Boen -
• Julie Brown -
• Ruth Buzzi -
• Peter Cullen -
• Héctor Elizondo -
• Richard Gautier -
• Robert Guillaume -
• Ernest Harada -
• Anna Maria Horsford -
• Candy Houston -
• Gordon Hunt -
• Erv Immerman -
• Nick Jameson -
• Vicki Juditz -
• Page Leong -
• Brian Mitchell -
• Ian Monfette -
• Marion Ramsey -
• Hal Rayle -
• Charles Nelson Reilly -
• Robert Ridgely -
• Susan Silo -
• Marcelo Tubert -
• Renée Victor -
• Marcia Wallace - Mrs. Blossom
• Marsha Warfield -
• Frank Welker -
• Anderson Wong -

DVD release

There are no plans from Warner Bros. to release the series on DVD yet.

External links

• The Addams Family at Retroland
• The Addams Family at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show

See also

• The Addams Family (1973 animated series)