When I wad very young like 2 or 3 I thought the two shows were one show (black and white, they live in the haunted house, etc.) called "The Monster Family"

That's the Munsters, not the Addams. Who Wants Dessert is confused.

Apparently this hasn't failed yet, either. This is the pilot.

It was the pilot, yes, but they neglected to pick it up for a series commitment. Since they already spent the money on it, though, they're going to air it as a Halloween special rather than just shove it in the closet.

From what I'm reading, it hasn't been decided yet whether it will make it to series.

What?

Are you sure you don't mean Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson? Two wildly different comedians, one very boring name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_(TV_series)

No exaggeration necessary.

I will!

will.

Goddamn it Izzard go away so that I can dislike this without qualifications.

I will admit, it does have a tad more dignity than the Addams Family musical with Nathan Lane.

Shit, I forget the name of his video series. I'm sure he had one.

It makes them look much more like they are monsters hiding in suburbia and the entire point of the Munsters was that they stood out and they didn't even notice. America at that time was just beginning to open up to the possibility of alternative subculture or counterculture and the Munsters was actually able to get away with a LOT for television at the time. All the best shows were supernatural comedies (along with Bewitched, and the Addams Family) because they were all subversive as hell.

Take the many times Marilyn felt ugly, or that Herman didn't understand why people would be scared of him, or that Grandpa invented something that even his family got angry at him for. Comedic gold. The writers knew how to make characters that were utterly able to work off of each other.

The fact that they made this a dramatic reimagining is just a really, really stupid idea. It's like making the Three Stooges into a story about three incredibly smart stock brokers.

It was originally a concept laid out by Jay Ward Studios, to be an animated cartoon. There was some kerfuffle about ownership of the property, and Jay Ward let the writers take it.

Meanwhile, Charles Addams had been dating Jackie Kennedy at the time (yes, you read that right), and she put him in connection with ABC, who wanted the Addams Family. The two projects were developed, ABC thinking that the Jay Ward animated show would be a kid's show, and felt that Addams brought with him a degree of class as a New Yorker cartoonist.

Jackie later stated that she adored Chaz Addams, and felt they had a mutual connection, but being the wife of a national martyr meant she couldn't marry him. Addams' second wife, who he married after Jackie was out of the picture, was so wildly obsessed with living in the shadow of Jackie Fucking O that when he died, she went and married a minor British aristocrat and became "Lady Colyton". In true Addams family style, she took out a 0,000 life insurance policy on her ex-husband and lived like a queen, and essentially stole the film rights from Addams' third wife, who now runs the charitable foundation in Addams' name. (Incidentally, Tim Burton was originally planned to direct the 1990s movie, but Lady Colyton was so deeply obsessed with control over the project that he left to do "Nightmare Before Christmas", which was a good move for him.)

I really should just put all this together and get a Master's Degree from University of Phoenix or some shit, my ludicrous encyclopedic knowledge of cartoon historical ephemera is getting out of hand.

But for now, have these stars. You earned them.

The last straw for Burton was when The Lady Colyton insisted that she designed the costumes herself, which went beyond his ethos.

Yes, she insists on her name always being written out "The Lady Colyton", apparently.

Thank you so much. That is above and beyond your duty to report to us and I'm glad you did!

Batshit insanity from the Addams Family estate is fitting and somehow satisfying.

Well when you look at it that way, maybe this is just another episode of Sliders.