The Final Episode #86: The Munsters (1964 - 1966)

 

I did want to review The Munsters because I've only seen a few episodes and want to discuss it on this blog, but I knew that if I didn't review it for my blog during Halloween AND after doing the Addams Family, I would make someone in North (or is it South) Carolina very mad. So mad in fact that he would speed to my house using his wheelchair and run over my toes repeatedly until they were no more. Seeing as how I appreciate having toes and all that I decided that I just had to review The Munsters and not put it off till next year. So The Munsters is like from what I've seen a sillier version of The Addams Family. It's a family of Monsters instead of just really weird people. A Frankenstein, A Dracula and a wolfman. or wolf boy. Anyway how the hell did Lily and Herman create a wolfboy? I think someone in that relationship has some explaining to do!

The Munsters was created by Allan Burns and Chris Hayward in 1964. Allan Burns literally has my job. Or at least the job I wish I could have had. The man first started in animation helping Jay Ward with stuff like The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (so did Chris Hayward by the way. That guy created Dudley Do-Right!) Allan Burns would also go on to create The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s! Not all of the stuff they did separately or together were hits (they also did My Mother the Car and The Duck Factory) but you'd get the Claw Seal of Approval just by being a part of just one of those things I mentioned and he was apart of SEVERAL OF THEM. Now that's like three whole seals! Not a shabby job Allan! (and also Chris who gets an extra seal for creating Dudley Do Right) 

The Munsters lasted for two whole seasons until well at least according to Mr. Butch Patrick (cool name) Eddie Munster himself, Batman came along and took all of their ratings away. They do have a long cult following which made for movies and tv movies and reboots and everything else. They are being rebooting yet again this time by Rob Zombie. I am not looking forward to it because except for House of a Thousand Corpses and The Devils Rejects, I am not a really big fan of Robbie Z. I do not want to see Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily or hear Grandpa say fuck 167 times in a row. It's at the point that I just want to see the past left alone. Stop beating it with a stick you bastards.

Well despite I've seen a few episodes of this show I'm still gonna give this a giant size article where I talk about more than just the Final Episode because well It doesn't feel right to do that for the Addams Family and not the Munsters. They are like the yin and yang of 1960s television and you have to talk about one if you talk about the other, other wise you are a bad person and I don't like you. Before I do this I have to talk about the 100% fucking perfect casting of Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster. This man somehow got the perfect balance of serious when need be and goofy as hell when also to need be. The rest of the cast is great too, no shade on them but Fred Gwynne makes this show. Period. The First episode out of many that I watched was Herman, The Master Spy in which Herman gets lost scuba diving and is found by a Russian boat. They think he's the missing link between human and fish and send back to Russia for help. Russia says no he's a spy! This is a fun back and forth until Lily finds out and ALL SHIT GOES WILD. The ending is very silly because Herman gets in shit for dancing. Poor bastard.

The Second Episode of Four that I've decided to watch was called Herman Munster, Shutter Bug and was all about Herman Munster well becoming a photographer.  Now you're wondering just like I was at the beginning of the episode of how could that big loveable goober screw up and get into trouble taking pictures. Well it turns out he took a picture of two criminals getting away from a bank robbery and the two criminals want that picture. They find out who he is pretty quickly because well he was driving the Munsters car and that thing was weird as hell. Best car of the 1960s. Well I might rate the Batmobile a bit higher but still it's a car I would actually like to own and I hate car shit. If it doesn't transform it's usually fucking shitty as hell. Anyway the criminals are tricked into drinking Grandpa's Homing Pigeon potion and they end up bringing themselves to the police station. A really fun little episode.

A Man for Marilyn was the next episode I watched. Marilyn Munster is the one of them that looks like a quote unquote normal person. Not a Frankenstein, or Dracula, or a Wolfboy, nope, just a regular 1960s lady type. The whole joke is that the other Munsters think she's ugly and that's why she can't retain a man. The Munsters are kinda dopey like that. It YOU scary rascals that scare off the men! Anyway she was just at a wedding and the latest boy has seen Herman and he's running away as fast as possible. However Grandpa has a plan, which is to turn a frog into a prince. However it does not work, but a dude walking by who was played by Don Edmonds, a man who would later go on to direct Ilsa She Wolf of the S.S. and act in the crazy bonkers Body By Jake slasher film Home Sweet Home. The man clearly had the greatest career in cinema. Anyway he thinks she needs to be saved from them and THEY think he's the frog who finally turned into a prince after they left to see their drive in movie. They tie him up and try to marry him to Marilyn but he escapes again. He goes the police and actually gets them to go to the Munsters house but the two cops just think it's a big old prank. The episode ends with Marilyn and the guy meeting up again and she stands up for her family and tells him to get fucked with a cactus! Well, she's a bit nicer than that.

The Final Episode was called A Visit from the Teacher and was written by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, probably most famously known for Leave it to Beaver, a boring ass family sitcom from the 1950s and Amos and Andy a incredibly racist television series that showed black people as freaky weirdos instead of people. I haven't seen any of their other shows (or honestly Amos and Andy because I don't really want to watch it) but I'm going to proclaim that the Munsters was the only good show they produced. This was a really great episode though. It starts off with Marilyn and Grandpa in the lab in the basement trying to siphon off electricity from lightning strikes. I must admit that Herman is my favorite of the group but Grandpa played by Al Lewis is not far away. That dude is clearly having the time of his life as Grandpa Munster. They actually at first pull off the lightning thing. 

Now it's all about Eddie Munster writing his report. Can I say that I like that Eddie Munster actually is a part of the plots. I recently talked about The Addams Family series from 1964 and the two kids are oversights. I say this because the two kids in the movies were absolutely wonderful and I would like to have seen the kids from the actual series do stuff. It was really weird because those two were a big part of the movies. Anyway he's got to write a report on his family and ask them all kinds of questions and stuff. They use a different word in the episode but I'm very stupid and I don't know how to spell that word so we are going with report. Marilyn and Lily are cooking Dodo Bird Roast, Sour Apple Pie (with tons of vinegar!) and Cactus Juice when the lightning power fucks up and Grandpa has to fix it. However his fix freaks out and the Dodo bird (which Lily exclaims is very hard to get nowadays!) and they are stuck with eating cold rhino tongue sandwiches.

So Eddie is done with his report and wants to read his report to his family. They make all kinds of silly jokes during this segment until halfway through the speech when it flash forwards to Eddie reading his report to his teacher and principal. This report makes them think Eddie is over imaginative and has a poor living condition so they go to the Munsters house to make sure. At first they think he's faking it because they meet Marilyn. Then they meet Lily and Grandpa and see the house and are freaked the fuck out.  The damn power goes out again just as Herman Munster comes home. The Principal and the Teacher want to get the hell outta there and end up in a coffin. They finally meet Herman as the lights come on and shit the fuck out of their pants. Literally all over the place. 

The last scene has them eating dinner and talking about how the Teacher doesn't want to come back to the Munsters house for dinner. Grandpa is working on making it so they don't have to pay any more water bills. Of course this works out poorly and the Munsters end with Herman Munster sitting under a umbrella eating his dinner. I wonder how Lily's Dodo Bird Roast tastes.

FINAL VERDICT: A very fun time was had by all when I watched these episodes. Very entertaining, fun stuff from the 1960s. The Munsters and  The Addams Family are both a lot of fun and I wish I could get ahold of The Munsters Today. I'm bored of todays constant reboots but I'll still watch one from the 1980s! I hope all fans of this blog especially ones from North Carolina (or was it South Carolina, I always get them confused) have enjoyed this special.