Sitcoms are very popular, but this genre gets a lot of well-deserved flak for its cookie-cutter format filled with predictable punchlines and mindless laugh tracks. But over half a century ago, we got the most subversive sitcom in television history, one that has influenced entire generations and has definitively withstood the test of time. That show is 1964’s The Addams Family, and you can now stream this series in all its goth-y glory for free on Tubi.
The premise of The Addams Family is that a weird, wealthy family with creepy tastes hangs out in their mansion and has a wicked good time with any normies who come to visit. To the Addams, their lifestyle (which involves celebrating the macabre at every turn) is completely normal, but outsiders never see it that way. And most of the show’s funniest moments involve seeing how more mainstream visitors bounce off the crackling and creepy energy of Gomez Addams and the rest of his freakishly fun family unit.
The Cast Is Altogether Ooky
The cast of The Addams Family brings these spooky shenanigans to life, including Carolyn Jones (best known for The Man Who Knew Too Much) as Morticia Addams, a woman as mysterious as she is macabre. Meanwhile, Jackie Coogan (best known for Oliver Twist) plays Fester, a quirky uncle who always manages to light up the room even as he illuminates light bulbs using only his mouth. And Ted Cassidy (best known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) is downright iconic as Lurch, the tall family butler who says very little and prefers to let his statuesque stature do the talking.
By a country mile, though, the most impressive performer in The Addams Family is John Astin (best known for The Frighteners) as the charismatic Gomez Addams. Astin always has a mischievous light in his eyes, and his performance makes it seem like his gothic father figure is always in on each and every one of the show’s most off-the-wall jokes. While the late, great Raul Julia did Gomez great justice in the ‘90s movies, it only takes an episode of the original show for you to see why Astin remains the best actor to ever portray this legendary character.
The Gothic Show With a Perfect Rating
Over the years, The Addams Family has remained one of the most popular television shows ever created. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a perfect rating of 100 percent, and critics generally praised the show for its killer ensemble cast and its dark sense of humor. They also celebrated the show’s extremely subversive writing, which affected everything from its punchlines to its portrayal of Gomez and Morticia Addams as the horniest couple in TV history.
As countless memes have pointed out, a big part of The Addams Family’s subversive writing was making Gomez and Morticia hopelessly and deliriously in love with each other. Most TV sitcoms have spouses arguing and bickering in almost every episode in order to create drama and deliver mean-spirited punchlines. But this gothic couple is always head over heels for each other, showcasing that the Addams have (despite all their inherent weirdness) a much closer relationship than couples in more straitlaced sitcoms.
That idea extended to the show’s broader theme that these bizarre characters are better role models for those watching than almost anyone else they might watch on TV at that time. The Addams are friendly, generous, and passionate, and Gomez and Morticia are loving and supportive parents. In a time period when the quintessential nuclear family model on television was still Leave It To Beaver, The Addams Family reminded audiences that you could be wonderfully weird without sacrificing your most important values.
The Spooky Franchise That Just Won’t Die
While The Addams Family only lasted two seasons, it was popular enough to create a lasting media legacy: the characters kept coming back for things like a Scooby-Doo crossover, an animated series, and a made-for-TV reunion film. In the ‘90s, two wildly popular Addams Family movies reinvented this altogether ooky franchise for a new generation, which led to a new cartoon and a new live-action show. Later, we got some surprisingly great Addams Family CGI films and the buzzworthy spinoff, Wednesday, on Netflix.
Will you agree that The Addams Family is the most subversive sitcom ever made, or is this one show you’d like to blow up with Uncle Fester’s explosives? You won’t know until you snap your fingers and stream it for free on Tubi. A bit of warning: you’ll probably have the show’s catchy theme song stuck in your head for a week or so, but that’s a small price to pay for watching bona fide television history!
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