Pop Culture Flashback: 'The Munsters' Next Door (Sept. 24)

The Munsters only aired on TV for two seasons, but like The Addams Family, this gothic clan continues to fascinate people. Multiple attempts have been made to reboot the series, but none have come close capturing the charm of the monstrous clan.

1964: ‘The Munsters’: There Goes the Neighborhood

The cast of "The Munsters" — Herman (Fred Gwynne). Lily (Yvonne De Carlo), Grandpa (Al Lewis), Eddie (Butch Patrick) and Marilyn (Pat Priest) from *The Munsters. (Wikimedia Commons)*

Ironically, both monster sitcoms The Addams Family and The Munsters sitcoms debuted in the fall of 1964. Just as TV shows were starting to turn to color, both were shown in black-and-white and both featured catchy theme music. While the Addams were modeled after the Charles Adams comics found in The New Yorker, The Munsters were a mix of Universal’s monsters and traditional family values. In fact, the show was produced by the same people who created Leave it to Beaver and the exterior scenes were shot right down the street from the Cleaver’s house!

The Munsters starred Fred Gwynne as Herman (a dead ringer for Frankenstein), Yvonne De Carlo as his ghoulish wife Lily, Al Lewis as Grandpa (a vampire/mad scientist) and Butch Patrick as son Eddie (a wolfman in training). Beverly Owen played the kind and “normal” niece Marilyn who was an “ugly duckling” in her family’s eyes. She played the role for the first 13 episodes and then Pat Priest took over the role.

The TV series only ran for two seasons, but that wasn’t really the end. After the show went off the air, Universal Pictures released the full color movie, Munster, Go Home! in theaters in 1966 where the family traveled to England upon news that Herman had inherited a castle. It starred the whole cast except for Priest who was replaced by a red-headed Debbie Watson. (The entire movie was shot in California).

In 1981, Gwynne, De Carlo and Lewis reprised their roles once again for the made-for-TV movie, The Munsters’ Revenge. In a convoluted plot, the Munsters learn that their likenesses were used at a local wax museum. However, the figures were also robots who terrorized and stole from unsuspecting patrons.

In 1987, a new syndicated version of the show, The Munsters Today was filmed at Universal Studios. It starred John Schuck (Herman), Lee Meriwether (Lily), Howard Morton (Grandpa), Jason Marsden (Eddie) and Hilary Van Dyke (Marilyn). In one way, the new series was more successful than the original since it ran for three years, but overall, it never measured up to the original. But Hollywood still wasn’t ready to give up.

Beyond the Original Show

In 1995, FOX aired the made-for-TV movie, Here Come the Munsters, where De Carlo, Lewis, Patrick and Priest made cameo appearances, but not as their classic characters. A year later, FOX aired yet another movie, The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas, with a different cast.

In 2012, Universal tried out another Munsters series called Mockingbird Lane written by Bryan Fuller and directed by Bryan Singer. The pilot was a modern take on the franchise. The dramedy was spookier and even a little mean-spirited, but it had a great cast. It starred Jerry O’Connell (Herman), Portia de Rossi (Lily), Eddie Izzard (Grandpa), Mason Cook (Eddie) and Charity Wakefield (Marilyn). It just didn’t work. NBC didn’t pick up the pilot but chose to air it as a one-time Halloween special.

Rob Zombie tried his hand at the franchise by creating a bizarre Munsters movie in 2022. It starred Jeff Daniel Phillips (Herman), Sherri Moon Zombie (Lily) and Daniel Roebuck (The Count/Grandpa). It never made it to theaters but did appear on Netflix.

2024 – Coca-Cola Spiced Goes the Way of New Coke

In 1985, Coca-Cola sales were sagging, so the cola giant decided an upgrade was in order. They released “New Coke” on April 23 but 79 days later, the company announced that the classic flavor would be back on store shelves shortly.

History sort of repeated itself on this day when Coca-Cola announced that they were discontinuing Coca-Cola Spiced, the company’s newest “permanent” flavor. Perhaps it was a matter of miscommunication. The flavor was actually a raspberry flavor with some spices thrown in, but either way, it failed to make much of an impression with consumers. In a statement from Coke, the company said, “We’re always looking at what our customers like and adjusting our range of products. As part of this strategy, we’re planning to phase out Coca-Cola Spiced to introduce an exciting new flavor in 2025.

New flavors of Coke are nothing new. The company continues to introduce limited flavors like the 2024 Oreo cookie pairing. Other “permanent” flavors that have come on gone over the years include the half sugar Coca-Cola C2 (2004), the coffee-flavored Coca-Cola Blak (2006) and the half sugar/half stevia Coca-Cola Life (2013).

1968 – ’60 Minutes’ Begins Ticking

The stopwatch on the cover of the CBS video news show, 60 Minutes first began ticking on this day in 1968. The magazine-styled show was created by Don Hewitt which began as a bi-weekly program that was hosted by Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace. The show also featured Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, Charles Kuralt, Roger Mudd, Bill Plante and Eric Sevareid. In addition to the three long-format news stories, the show often included a Point/Counterpoint segment featuring James J. Kilpatrick representing conservative views and Nicholas von Hoffman representing liberal views on a different topic each week.

Beginning in 1978 and stretching all the way to 2011, many of the shows ended with “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” who often ranted about a variety of topics but usually with a comical tone. Over the years, ABC and NBC created their own take on the magazine-formatted news shows. But in recent years, their shows have changed its focus. Unlike 60 Minutes which really hasn’t strayed from its original purpose, 20/20 and Dateline often feature investigative stories about murder and mayhem instead of the current news stories of the day.