Spooky TV Families: How The Munsters, The Addams Family and Bewitched Took Over 1964

Happy Halloween, fan family! Tonight is the one night a year when everybody's house looks a little like 1313 Mockingbird Lane, so we're tipping our pointy hats to the TV families who lived like it was October all year round. In the space of one week in September 1964, American television welcomed a witch, a ghoulish Gothic clan and a household of friendly monsters. Here's how Bewitched, The Addams Family and The Munsters became TV's original spooky families, and which episodes to queue up tonight.

The week TV got spooky: September 1964

The fall 1964 schedule was a big one for the supernatural sitcom. Bewitched premiered on ABC on Thursday, September 17, 1964. The next night, Friday, September 18, ABC launched The Addams Family. Six days later, on Thursday, September 24, CBS answered with The Munsters.

All three shows had the same basic joke at heart: what if a family with very unusual habits tried to live a perfectly normal American life? Each one played it a different way, and that's why fans still argue about which spooky family is the best.

The Munsters: the all-American monster family

The Munsters live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in the fictional town of Mockingbird Heights, and the running gag is that they honestly think they're an average family. The show came from the creators of Leave It to Beaver, and it gently poked fun at the wholesome family sitcoms of the era. Because Universal co-produced the show, the Munsters could wear the studio's classic monster looks, including the famous Frankenstein's monster design.

The cast was a dream: Fred Gwynne as Herman, Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife Lily, Al Lewis as Grandpa and Butch Patrick as their werewolf-ish son Eddie. Even the family pet, Spot, was a fire-breathing dragon.

Sharp-eyed fans will notice that cousin Marilyn, the one "plain" member of the family, changes faces partway through season one. Beverly Owen played her in the first 13 episodes, and Pat Priest took over from episode 14 to the end.

The Munsters ran for 70 episodes on CBS, Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., until May 12, 1966. It earned a 1965 Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series and drew higher ratings than The Addams Family, but ratings fell when ABC's Batman arrived. Syndication made it a classic anyway.

Munsters episodes to watch tonight:

• Munster Masquerade (season 1, episode 1, aired September 24, 1964): Marilyn's boyfriend's parents host a costume party, and the Munsters are invited. Perfect Halloween energy.
• My Fair Munster (season 1, episode 2): its script was reused from the unaired color pitch episode that sold the show to CBS.
• Eddie's Nickname (season 1, episode 19): the episode with Herman's speech to Eddie about how looks don't matter, which went viral in 2020.
• Happy 100th Anniversary (season 2, episode 6): the episode that tells us Herman and Lily were married in 1865.

The Addams Family: Gothic glamour on Cemetery Lane

The Addams Family took Charles Addams's single-panel New Yorker cartoons, gave the unnamed characters names and backstories, and moved them into a gloomy mansion at 0001 Cemetery Lane. Shot in black-and-white, the live-action show ran for two seasons and 64 episodes on ABC, Friday nights at 8:30 p.m., from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966. Its finger-snapping theme song was composed and sung by Vic Mizzy.

The heart of the show is John Astin as Gomez, a man madly in love with his wife Morticia. Astin loved the role so much that he came back to it: he played Gomez again in the 1977 TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family and voiced him in the 1992 animated The Addams Family, which ran on ABC from September 1992 to November 1993. That voice role earned him an Emmy nomination, and it was his final turn as Gomez. The cartoon is the Addams series you'll find in our catalog, with two seasons to explore starting with season 1.

Bewitched: the witch next door

Where the Munsters and the Addamses were openly odd, Samantha Stephens tried to blend in. Created by Sol Saks, Bewitched follows Elizabeth Montgomery as a witch who marries mortal ad man Darrin and promises to live like a typical suburban housewife at 1164 Morning Glory Circle. Of course, one twitch of her nose (and one visit from her mother Endora, played by Agnes Moorehead) usually ruins that plan.

Bewitched outlasted its spooky rivals by years: eight seasons and 254 episodes, ending March 25, 1972. It was the second-highest-rated show in America in its first season. Fans also remember the famous switch of Darrins: Dick York left during season five because of recurring back problems, and Dick Sargent took over for the final three seasons.

Bewitched episodes for Halloween night:

• I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha (season 1, episode 1, aired September 17, 1964): the wedding, and the big reveal.
• The Witches Are Out (season 1, episode 7, aired October 29, 1964): Samantha dislikes Halloween because people think witches are ugly and mean.
• Trick or Treat (season 2, episode 7, aired October 28, 1965): Endora turns Darrin into a werewolf when he won't let Samantha go to a ceremony. It's our Fan Desk pick of season 2.
• Divided He Falls (season 2, episode 33): TV Guide ranked it No. 48 on its 1997 list of the 100 greatest episodes.

Bonus: when Samantha visited Bedrock

Spooky families didn't always stay in their own neighborhoods. In Samantha, a season 6 episode of The Flintstones that aired October 22, 1965, Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York guest star as Samantha and Darrin, the Flintstones' new neighbors. Both shows aired on ABC, which made the crossover possible.

Keep the Halloween marathon going

Still in a spooky mood? Our roundup of the best Halloween episodes of TV's greatest families covers Treehouse of Horror, Bob's Burgers and more. And when the costumes come off, plan ahead with our guides to the best Thanksgiving episodes and the best Christmas episodes.

Which spooky family would you move in with? We'd pick the Munsters for the dinner parties, but nobody throws a party quite like Gomez. Happy Halloween from the Fan Desk!