History Series / TheAddamsFamily

-->-- The iconic theme song, written and arranged by Vic Mizzy.

* WeightWoe: In "Fester Goes on a Diet," Uncle Fester wants to go on a date with a lady but theyve never met and he worries he's too fat for her. He also worries that he's [[HeightAngst too short]].

* HappilyMarried: Gomez and Morticia's marriage is happy, very passionately so. While their cross-network rival ''Series/TheMunsters'' was one of the the first TV programs to show a married couple sharing the same bed, Gomez and Morticia were the first to have an apparent sex life. According to Website/IMDb, Astin and Jones deliberately decided to give Gomez and Morticia "a grand romance" as an antidote to the virtually sexless parents then common in television shows of the era. Real-life marriage counsellors have even described their relationship as one of the healthiest in popular culture.

[[caption-width-right:305:Top row, left to right: Grandmama, Lurch, Uncle Fester. Bottom row, left to right: Pugsley, Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_addams_family_1960s_cast.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Top row, left to right: Grandmama, Lurch, Uncle Fester. Bottom row, left to right: Pugsley, Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday.]]

-> [[EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*\\
Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*\\
Duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]] \\\
''They're creepy and they're kooky''\\

''The Addams Family''\\
''Their house is a museum''\\
''Where people come to see 'em''\\
''They really are a scree-am'' \\
''The Addams Family''\\
[[labelnote:1]](Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*)[[/labelnote]] "Neat."\\
[[labelnote:2]](Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*)[[/labelnote]] "Sweet."\\
[[labelnote:3]](Duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*)[[/labelnote]] "Petite."\\
''So get a witch's shawl on''\\
''A broomstick you can crawl on''\\
''We're gonna pay a call on''\\
''The Ad-dams Fam-i-ly!''\\
[[labelnote:4]](*snap snap*)[[/labelnote]]

** "Gomez, the Politician" has Gomez throwing himself into the campaign for a local city council candidate.

* BlindingBangs: Cousin Itt is a most extreme case, being covered in fur from head to toe.

* {{Corpsing}}: During Morticia's close-up in the intro, Carolyn Jones just ''barely'' fails to not crack a smile.

* HappilyMarried: Gomez and Morticia's marriage is happy, very passionately so. While their cross-network rival ''Series/TheMunsters'' was one of the the first TV programs to show a married couple sharing the same bed, Gomez and Morticia were the first to have an apparent sex life. According to Website/IMDb, Astin and Jones deliberately decided to give Gomez and Morticia "a grand romance" as an antidote to the virtually sexless parents then common in television shows of the era.

* LazyBum: In one episode, Morticia and Uncle Fester mistakenly overhear Gomez say the family is broke. Fester turns to Morticia "What will we do for money? I'm too proud to beg and too lazy to work!"

* ''Thing'' - ''exactly'' what it says on the tin. (Credited as "Itself" but usually performed by Ted Cassidy; associate producer Jack Voglin performed in scenes with Lurch.) A hand in a box -- many boxes, actually, as there's at least one in every room. Fetches mail, plays charades, performs mime. Clearly both sentient and sapient, and like Lurch treated as a family member rather than a servant or pet. Got its very own romantic subplot in one episode.

EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*\\
EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]] \\\

-> [[EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]]\\
[[EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]]\\
[[EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]] \\\

* HappilyMarried: Gomez and Morticia's marriage is happy, very passionately so. While their cross-network rival ''Series/TheMunsters'' was one of the the first TV programs to show a married couple sharing the same bed, Gomez and Morticia were the first to have an apparent sex life. According to Website/IMDb, Astin and Jones deliberately decided to give Gomez and Morticia "a grand romance" as an antidote to the virtually asexual parents then common in television shows of the era.

* SmallParentHugeChild: Lurch is 6'9'', but the episode "Mother Lurch Visits" reveals that his mother is very short.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: All the Addamses go back and forth between having superhuman aiming skills (e.g. throwing knives into the hilts of the previous knife five or six times in a row, often without looking) to having absolutely dreadful aim [[RuleOfFunny depending on what's funnier]].

* RemakeCameo: John Astin as Grandpa Addams, Gomez's grandfather, in ''The New Addams Family''.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: "My Son, the Chimp."

* ''Lurch'', their [[FrankensteinsMonster Frankensteinian]] butler (Ted Cassidy). A man(?) of few words but many groans, Lurch may be their all-purpose servant, but he is treated as one of the family, receiving care and devotion from everyone when he needs it.

-> ''They're creepy and they're kooky''\\

[[labelnote:1]]([[EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]])[[/labelnote]] "Neat."\\
[[labelnote:2]]([[EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]])[[/labelnote]] "Sweet."\\
[[labelnote:3]]([[EpicRiff Duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh nuh *snap snap*]])[[/labelnote]] "Petite."\\

* AccidentalMisnaming: When Gomez's relative from Spain meets Lurch, he calls him "Church".
* AdaptationalHeroism: They're nicer than and never malicious unlike the original Charles Addams cartoons and [[Film/TheAddamsFamily the later movies.]]

* BittersweetEnding: One episode ends with the family unable to go to the moon like they wanted, but they're happy, since they earned no money and, according to Gomez, zero is "still a good round number".

* ConveyorBeltODoom: Gomez and Morticia are playing this with Fester in "Ophelia's Career". The conveyor belt blows a fuse right before it would have sliced Fester's head open.

** Gomez once mentioned a relative who got imprisoned and [[JailBake was sent a cake that contained a hacksaw.]] He ate the hacksaw too and apparently developed a taste for them.

** [[spoiler: The title illness in "Uncle Fester's Illness" was cured by Fester eating a thermometer.]] Fester then eats a tongue depressor.

* HereWeGoAgain: [[spoiler: At the end of "Amnesia in the Addams Family", Gomez's amnesia is cured, but then Uncle Fester asks "Who's Fester?". However, this is open to interpretation: he could have had amnesia or he could have been joking.]]

* JailBake: Gomez mentions an extended family member who once got put into prison and Grandmama sent him a cake with a hacksaw in it. He apparently [[ExtremeOmnivore ate the hacksaw too and ever since that, he even developed a taste for them.]]

* LighterAndSofter: Many of the darker gags in the Addams cartoons depict family members as explicitly evil and murderous, especially the bald character named in the TV series as "Fester". The TV series, however, depicts them as kindly, artistic bohemians who are undeservedly distrusted by their uptight suburban neighbours because of their countercultural lifestyle.

* SickEpisode: Subverted in "Cat Addams." Kitty Cat appears sick because he isn't eating, but [[spoiler: It turns out he's just not hungry. Grandmama mentions that Kitty Cat has a stomach ache, though he seems fine.]]
** In "Uncle Fester's Illness," Fester loses his charge and Wednesday suspects Thing to be sick. [[spoiler: Fester is cured when he eats a thermometer (no, really) and Thing wasn't sick. He was just sad.]]
* SilenceOfSadness: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the episode "Lurch and His Harpsichord". Lurch usually only says sentences of one to three words, but when he feels sad due to the eponymous instrument being taken away, he says a full sentence:

* TastyGold: In "The Great Treasure Hunt," Fester bites into a gold coin to test if it's real. [[spoiler: It's not. He doesn't mind, though.]]

* VoteEarlyVoteOften: Done accidentally (out of laziness rathe than simple greed or ambition) in "Gomez, The People's Choice." Fester is assigned to get names for a petition to let Gomez run for mayor and though he could save time by just recording those names off of headstones in the cemetery. Gomez is forced to withdraw from the race when this is discovered.

--> '''Hester.''' It was not for nothing she had all those judo and karate lessons!
--> '''Granny.''' Every girl should know judo and karate!

* WeightWoe: In "Fester Goes on a Diet," Uncle Fester wants to go on a date with a lady but theyve never met and he worries he's too fat for her. He also worries that he's [[HeightAngst too short.]]

* WorldOfHam: OH YEAH!

* ''Morticia Frump Addams'', his wife (Creator/CarolynJones). Tall (but still shorter than Lurch), elegant, [[EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette ivory-skinned and black-tressed]], and always clad in a tight [[LittleBlackDress black dress]]. Morticia is your standard {{Housewife}} calm reason to Gomez's maniacal exuberance and likes knitting, painting, and cutting the blooms off roses. As she never shows her teeth when smiling, she may possibly be a Vampire. We're not sure, even to this day...