History Headscratchers / TheAddamsFamily

** It's hard to convey now just how groundbreaking and progressive Benjamin Spock's child-raising advice was seen as back in the day, as much of it has now [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny become the standard wisdom.]] But to a sixties audience, Spock's books were seen as the new wonder solution to raising happy, healthy, well-adjusted children - and while Gomez and Morticia want nothing more than for their children to be all those things, no Addams would take well to ''most'' people's idea of what a happy, healthy, well-adjusted child is.

* When The Addams Family is seen with a bubbling cauldron to get rid of carolers, it is entirely possible that, if it was cold enough outside, and the pot was filled with water, that the water would disappear into steam before it hit the carolers, leaving them unharmed. Or at least cool down to a non-lethal temperature before it hit them, as we see the water has a fairly long way to fall in both the movie, and the comic.
** Exactly. They're [[DarkIsNotEvil not evil enough to actually kill someone, just morbid and playing on the idea of killing people]].
*** Isn't it still rather disturbing that they ''fantasize'' about murder?
*** They're supposed to be a bit disturbing.
** Not quite: when the family is moving out, you can see what looks like black paint splattered on the front door and the porch; it's left over from whatever they poured on the carolers. (Of course, its still possible that the act was non-lethal.)

* Thing was probably some creature that you only saw the hand of, not ''just'' a hand.
** In the show, Thing has a lot more forearm and one time you see a second hand- one hand drew into the box and another one popped out to close it. This isn't to say I don't like Thing as he appears in the movie, of course.
** In Charles Addams' cartoons, Thing ''is'' a creature, not just a hand -- in fact, he's a whole other ''human'' (or... something like one), usually peering at the Addamses from some vantage point or another. What was unique about him here was that you never fully saw him -- he was almost completely obscured by something, or silhouetted, or what have you. Charles Addams originally wanted to make him a disembodied ''head'' for the television series.

[[folder: People's Opinions]]
* One thing that seems baffling is the relation that the widely-contested Addams Family Reunion has with The New Addams Family. One, how did The New Addams Family get picked up for a series? Addams Family Reunion was indeed the pilot for The New Addams Family, but it was a major flop. Were there just enough people who liked it that The New Addams Family became a full-fledged series? The other confusing matter is that if Addams Family Reunion failed, how come The New Addams Family gets a lot of praise, and without the classic Vic Mizzy theme?
** In truth, whether or not people ''liked'' ''Reunion'' wasn't what mattered. The point the producers were trying to get across was that the big-budgeted look of the Paramount movies could reproduce for the small screen. ''Reunion''... did that, I guess, to a sufficient enough extent for the go-ahead on ''The New Addams Family'' to be given. As far as the difference in reception goes, ''The New Addams Family'' simply tried to be more like the original 1960s series, which did -- and still does -- get a fair bit of praise. ''Reunion'', however, just suffered from bad writing, horrible jokes, and an overall misguided attempt to combine the sophisticated, yet light-hearted, '60s-type humor of the original series with the more sinister, genuine-evil tone of the Paramount movies.
** ''The New Addams Family'' is probably no one's favorite version, but it has the heart in the right place, charismatic actors doing their best, and was as close to the 60s show as it can get. Is hard to hate it because it probably for most fans is at least harmless. ''Reunion'' on the other hand is mean-spirited and lazy with an underused cast that is not invested and a failed effort to mimic the dark humor of the movies that missed the mark epically.
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[[folder: Ahead of Its Time]]
* Why do fans act like the Addams were so progressive as the only happy, healthy family of their time? The only real "wife bad" show back then was ''Series/TheHoneymooners''. Lots of sitcoms like ''Series/Bewitched'', ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'', ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'', and the notable other creepy families, ''Series/TheMunsters'' all featured loving, attentive parents and couples that doted on each other. People act like the Addams Family invented that though.
** It's not so much "wife bad" that most fans view as progressive--it's the show's place in reaction to older programs, its complete aversion to the StayInTheKitchen trope, and its frank (for the time) sexuality. Earlier sitcoms--think of ''Series/FatherKnowsBest''--were very much reflections of a typical upper-middle class life: the father as the [[StandardFiftiesFather undisputed head of the household]], the mother as a docile housewife, and the children as sources of mischief and frustration, prompting someone (usually dear old Dad) to dispense worldly advice. Then along come the Addamses: the father is a gleeful {{Manchild}}, the mother is an artist and bohemian, and the children are a source of constant joy for their parents. Then came Morticia's role in the marriage. The shows you list are great, but they also have some old-fashioned ideas about what a wife should be: in ''Leave it to Beaver'', June was expected to do housework in high heels and a pearl necklace; in ''Bewitched'', Darrin forbade Sam from using her powers and forced her to be "normal" because ''he'' said so; and in ''I Dream of Jeannie'', Jeannie outright referred to Tony as her "master" and pretty much existed to serve him (that wasn't changed until the fifth season when they got married, but even then it was still all about him). Gomez, by contrast, never tells Morticia what to do, asks her opinion about every matter, and generally views her as his equal, which was virtually unheard of at the time. And finally, the other couples you mentioned did love each other very much, but it was a relatively chaste love (the most we ever saw were kisses on the lips) and frequently led to arguments (Darrin and Sam arguing about her powers or relatives, Tony keep Jeannie a secret, etc.). Gomez and Morticia, by way of contrast, were absolutely ''crazy'' about each other despite years of marriage and very rarely fought. So it seems to be a case of the show taking all of the positive aspects from the other programs you listed and few (if any) of the negative ones which lead fans to dub it the most progressive series of its time.
** Never arguing is not progress; it's unhealthy to avoid conflict, which seems to be what they do. Gomez and Morticia seem perpetually trapped in the superficial honeymoon phase and avoid disagreements. And I see most of your points to OP but the Addams have some of those same issues; for instance, one I saw mentioned here that really bothers me: Gomez manipulating Morticia out of her new sculptress job because he's so selfish he cannot handle her attention being off him, and Tish herself declaring motherhood is woman's highest calling. It seems people allow the Addams a lot of leeway for their problematic ideas or don't even notice them. Do fans just think their passion as a couple makes up for these issues? Does them being devoted to each other make up for how they sort of just leave their children to their own devices or make the other relatives watch them? (And I must nitpick: Jeannie is literally a genie; this isn't a married couple where the wife is being cruelly controlled by the man.)
[[/folder]]

[[//folder]]

[[folder:]] What ARE they?]]

** It might be that the Addamses are specifically opposed to exercising ''for the sake of exercising'' as opposed to doing the activities you list in the name of fun and pursuing hobbies. That ties into the relatively bohemian aspect of their lives: each family member takes up different activities (Gomez's fencing and train sets, Morticia's gardening and writing, etc.) not because they're profitable or logical, but because they enjoy doing them, which for them is the best (or even only!) reason to do something. The notion of exercising to do something as "normal" as losing weight is anathema to them; they might not even consider things like dancing, judo, or karate exercise at all.

* In the episode where Fester tries to lose weight, Morticia and Gomez suddenly act as if exercise of all forms is ridiculous and Gomez claims to never do any except yoga. However, in other episodes, they (Gomez especially) play various sports etc (with varying degrees of skill), ranging from Pugsley's karate lessons and Wednesday's judo training, to archery, volleyball at the end of the previous episode, badminton, ping-pong (with Gomez doing various trick shots quite successfully), fencing (skill level somewhat inconsistent from episode to episode, admittedly...), and trampolining. Grandmama wrestles alligators, they mention Wednesday being a good swimmer, and take great pride in Pugsley's rapid tree-climbing abilities. It would be one thing if they only mentioned having a problem with ''weight loss programs'' (either because the Addamses generally consider even the most conventionally-unattractive-looking family member to look perfect as they are, or because simply doing repetitive exercises likely seems rather boring compared to fencing/martial arts/various sports) but some of the dialogue in this episode suggests they're opposed to any form of exercise/exertion at all and don't place any value on physical strength/physical abilities, which seems to contradict multiple previous episodes. They even specifically say giving Pugsley an axe was "good exercise" in those words in the second episode! And Gomez claimed that juggling clubs was part of his "new physical fitness programme", though given how badly that ended perhaps being somewhat put off is understandable.

* In the episode where Fester tries to lose weight, Morticia and Gomez suddenly act as if exercise of all forms is ridiculous and Gomez claims to never do any except yoga. However, in other episodes, they (Gomez especially) play various sports etc (with varying degrees of skill), ranging from Pugsley's karate lessons and Wednesday's judo training, to archery, volleyball at the end of the previous episode, badminton, ping-pong (with Gomez doing various trick shots quite successfully), fencing (skill level somewhat inconsistent from episode to episode, admittedly...), and trampolining. Grandmama wrestles alligators, they mention Wednesday being a good swimmer, and take great pride in Pugsley's rapid tree-climbing abilities. It would be one thing if they only mentioned having a problem with ''weight loss programs'' (either because the Addamses generally consider even the most conventionally-unattractive-looking family member to look perfect as they are, or because simply doing repetitive exercises likely seems rather boring compared to fencing/martial arts/various sports) but some of the dialogue in this episode suggests they're opposed to any form of exercise/exertion at all and don't place any value on physical strength/physical abilities, which seems to contradict multiple previous episodes. They even specifically say giving Pugsley an axe was "good exercise" in those words in the second episode!

** This is a typical Addams Family joke. They are said to detest anything stereotypically happy and uplifting despite evidence to the contrary. They also tend to take human things and flip them on their head. So the Addams's idea of a joke might be shooting someone in the eye with a crossbow, whereas a normal human wouldn't find that funny at all. So perhaps humor is OK if it's Addams-style humor, but laughter (while participating in) is referred to as something negative (because to normal humans it's positive).

** This is a typical Addams Family joke. They are said to detest anything stereotypically happy and uplifting despite evidence to the contrary. They also have a tendtendrmal human things and flip them on their head. So the Addams's idea of a joke might be shooting someone in the eye with a crossbow, whereas a normal human wouldn't find that funny at all. So perhaps humor is OK if it's Addams-style humor, but laughter (while participating in) is referred to as something negative (because to normal humans it's positive).

* Why is Debbie's final gambit in ''Addams Family Values'' to try to kill the Addamses with an array of electric chairs? First, the first movie established that the Addamses [[HarmlessElectrocution electrocute each other]] [[TooKinkyToTorture for fun]] all the time, so one hardly thinks they were in any danger to begin with. Fine, let's suppose that Debbie wouldn't necessarily know this, so even if it makes for a kind of weak climax, it still makes ''sense'' from her point of view. Except… no. Her very first murder attempt on Fester was also with electricity, and she ''did'' find out about Fester's inexplicable immunity. So what did she expect the electric chairs to ''do''?
** Considering the amount of electricity she used to the point that she was turned into ashes when it backfired, it' likely that she took extra measures to be sure it will annihilate them, I mean, the charge was so high that she clearly expected them to be turn into ashes, so it was not just a regular electrocution. On the other hand they do seem genuinely worried (Fester begs her to let the others go and Gomez and Morticia say good bye to each other whilst holding hands) thus you can argue that even they suspected that the electricity doses would be lethal even for them.

* It's obvious with the other members of the family what sort of unworldly "monster" they are meant to be - vampire, werewolf-thing, mad scientist, witch, evil unearthly child, etc. But Gomez. I've never been able to work him out. Whose culture and folklore is he a monster to, and what sort of monster? He just looks generically creepy but not in a way that evoked any particular trope. Is his being a lawyer enough on its own?
** Gomez is a sweet but energetic parody of the GreatWhiteHunter who often interacted with "exotic" types, including the unworldly. Think of him as a zany Allan Quartermaine (Creator/HRiderHaggard). That is why he lives in a home filled with taxidermied animals, he studies "orientalist" and "arabesque" novelties such as his parody of yoga, his personal physician is an African WitchDoctor, and he uses GentlemanAdventurer diction such as referring genially to adult male guests as "Old Man" and praising something with the phrase, "Capital idea!"
** The Addams Family was originally intended to combine stereotypes associated with degenerate aristocrat families in classical Gothic novels with the idealized nuclear family as depicted in television shows in the 50's and 60's, juxtaposing the two for comedic effect (though much of this effect is lost on modern audiences.) There just happens to be a lot of overlap between the Gothic and Horror genres.
** Not sure about other depictions, but Raul Julia's swashbuckling antics seem to represent a Gomez who evokes the image of the dashing *slayer* of monsters. If that's the case, then the fact that he obviously has more in common with the "monsters" than with society at large is not terribly unsurprising.

*** He's not entirely non-supernatural, as he's immune to various poisons, unharmed by other things that would kill a human (such as being hit on the head with a wrecking ball), sometimes lights cigars without a match, and the films imply he has six toes on one foot (which if the comics are anything to go by, Wednesday inherited) and a deleted line in Addams Family Values was going to suggest that his son Pubert had a tail... the people saying that most of the Addamses are not specific horror creatures are correct, but Gomez ''is'' still actively supernatural in some ways (though definitely also heavily based in "human dashing-villain tropes" as someone below mentions). What we do know is: his mother is a witch; his ancestors include pirates, warlords, and other bloodthirsty-but-not-explicitly-supernatural villains; his family ''also'' includes some people/beings who are much less humanoid than him. Also, iirc, he was referred to as a "half-breed" in some notes from Charles Addams? Considering Satan is confirmed to exist in the 60s show (and implied in the films what with Morticia's comments about the "dark forces" and their "hellish crusade"), and Gomez attributes his seemingly supernatural luck to "someone down there" liking him--as well as responding simply with "yes" when called a devil--he might be some form of HumanDemonHybrid?

** The Addams family are not supposed to be direct allusions to movie monsters like their counterparts, the Munsters. They're just supposed to be a supernaturally goth family that enjoys things "normal" people find horrifying (death, rotting, pain, the occult, darkness, and nightmares, etc).

* So on ''America's Most Disgusting Unsolved Crimes'' early in ''Addams Family Values'', [[Film/{{Airplane}} Captain Oveur]] says that the Black Widow targets wealthy men, seduces them, marries them, and then kills them on the wedding night for the insurance/inheritance. But then later during her slideshow, Debbie makes it pretty clear that she marries for love (or whatever) and stays with it for a couple of years before killing her husband when he really pisses her off.
** The bigger question is, why does Debbie even bother killing her husbands anyway? She obviously could live the luxurious life she wants if they stay alive like she did with Fester.
** It's possible after the times she got pissed off and killed her husband, Debbie decided "okay, no one seems to really love me so I'll just marry guys and kill them to take their money." Or something like that. Remember she did try to kill Fester on their wedding night. The ones on the slideshow were the ones she really cared about when she married them.

** Fester was also gone for 25 years, during which time he had amnesia and was living as "Gordon". He got his memories back at the end of the first film, but note that both Gordon and Fester have ManChild tendencies; it's possible that due to his unique situation, he never really "matured". Gomez has become a rather suave and capable adult; Fester basically stayed mentally as an adolescent and isn't as capable of handling an adult relationship.

** Two things to remember: first, women (in general) want different things at different ages. Fester's supposed success with women was mostly when he was a teenager or his early twenties, apparently. At that point his immaturity probably seemed "adorable" and "boyish", and that, combined with his wealth and apparent eccentricity, would have been very attractive... but not so much when he's a middle-aged man. Second, Fester is obviously socially awkward and rather oblivious, even by Addams standards... he could have been absolutely dripping with women throwing themselves at him and not even noticed it, but obviously Gomez would have.
** Isn't kind of implied, or at least left ambiguous, that he is Gordon Craven, and he made-up the amnesia thing in order to stay with the Addams? He looks at the camera when Wednesday is telling the story sarcastically and we see him shaving the head even as Fester is shown in the old family tapes to be naturally hairless. If that's the case that could explain the differences between what young Fester Addams and Fester!Gordon sexual experiences.
*** The look on his face in that scene is one of embarrassment. They're telling the story of how he got amnesia and he gives a look of shame. He even covers his face at one point to indicate this. Also, he couldn't be lying, because he lights a lightbulb up with his mouth and in Values, he survives a toaster being thrown into his bathtub. Those are Addams traits, so he couldn't be a normal human masquerading as an Addams.

*** Wednesday also heard them talking about getting the Addamses' money and needing to get Gordon into the vault. I think that's what did it. Not really the shaving.

* One thing that seems baffling is the relation that the widely-contested Addams Family Reunion has with The New Addams Family. One, how did The New Addams Family get picked up for a series? It is true that Addams Family Reunion was the pilot for The New Addams Family, but it was a major flop. Were there just enough people who actually liked it that The New Addams Family became a full-fledged series? The other confusing matter is that if Addams Family Reunion failed, how come The New Addams Family gets a lot of praise, and without the classic Vic Mizzy theme?

** ''The New Addams Family'' is probably no one's favorite version, but it has the heart in the right place, charismatic actors doing their best, and was as close to the 60s show as it can get. Is hard to hate it because probably for most fans is at least harmless. ''Reunion'' on the other hand is mean-spirited and lazy with an underused cast that is clearly not invested and a failed effort to mimic the dark humor of the movies that missed the mark epically.

*** You sure about that? I clearly saw an arm, not just a hand.
*** Legitimately, canon for Thing is that he sometimes is a hand attached to some amount of an arm. It just seems stranger in the films, because they made the choice to show Thing outside of any containers, and with a defined stump.

** No, they're standing in a straight choral line up and the camera is panning over them. It just feels like it's moving in a circle because we're so zoomed in on their faces. They're standing in the front yard singing out toward the street, rather than sing at a closed door. I think this is normal for carolers but I could be wrong.

** Well, Thing is a bit of a mystery. He got a crush on another living hand named "Lady Fingers" in one episode, got sad in "Uncle Fester's Illness", and got angry in "Mother Lurch Visits", so he clearly has emotions. It is unknown where they come from, though. And we also see a picture of his parents, who are just two hands holding hands and it's unknown how they "made" him or what "species" he is. And again, he can clearly see (and hear), but it is not revealed how. Not sure if this raises questions or answers or a bit of both.
** Back in the 1960s when the original TV series aired and then during its heyday in re-runs in the 1970s, a common fan theory was that Thing was a [[EldritchAbomination multi-armed Cthulhuan entity in a pocket dimension]] and the hand we saw was the only part of him that extruded into our reality. There was even fan art of what Thing actually looked like in his native dimension. This was used to explain why Thing could teleport from box or box or even into a mailbox or tree bore, why Thing was sometimes a left hand and sometimes a right hand, why Thing sometimes included an entire forearm, and how Thing always seemed to be aware of what was going on around him and the location of the nearest box or container. However, that fan theory has pretty much disappeared from public memory at this point in time.
** well episode "Morticia Meets Royalty" shows there's an entire species of disembodied hands around: Thing meets Lady Fingers who is the literal handmaiden of Gomez' aunt who is royal by marriage and is later (for a while) replaced by an older and uglier hand. Answering the headscratcher at least in the TV show for what we can take from Thing's and other of his species movements and reactions they see through their fingertips. Things are murkier in the movies where the "sight" seems to be located around the wrist.

** Maybe she was really heartbroken and cried herself to sleep. She may be an Addams, but she's still a little kid.

** She's still insane, so she obviously falls under the "Schizo" category.

*** In the episode where Gomez and Morticia tell how they fell in love, Gomez is absolutely laid out by his sinuses. It's his passion for Morticia that fixes the problem. Maybe she was worried about a relapse?

*** Just because Gomez is unharmed by dynamite doesn't mean he can't get ill or is unaffected by cold weather. In the flashback episode, before meeting Morticia, he was apparently quite sickly (his mother mentions him having been ill for 22 years--and he's 22 years old, so it's not just hypochondria unless a baby can be a hypochondriac--and he apparently has bronchitis as well as complaining about his sinuses) and mentions feeling worse in the cold to the point of wearing several layers to go outside in July. While he seemed to be cured by his love for Morticia that doesn't mean he's ''immune'' to getting ill: he mentions having had pneumonia in another episode (though Dr Mbogo cured it with kerosene), Morticia asks "what about your sinuses?" when Gomez wants to go on a sea voyage to find treasure, and several times either Morticia or Gomez himself thinks he might have a fever. (He mentions having a "sinus attack" in another episode too, but that time he seems to be referring to being allergic to incense rather than ill.) He ''does'' mention liking storms or rain a few times, but generally only when he's inside and ''watching'' such weather, rather than outside ''in'' it.

** When has ANYONE in a TV series from that time period ever had to use the restroom?

How come Wednesday's the youngest, except for in ''Values'' and the musical, when she's the oldest? And how come in the musical, she's gotten older but Pugsley hasn't?

** In the 60's TV series, Fester is Morticia's uncle. We never see Gomez's father, however. Does anyone have an idea on that?
*** Gomez's mother Grandmama lives with them because she's a widow; this was a fairly common real-life situation at the time the series first aired. Gomez and his mother moved to the US from Spain some time after his father's death when Gomez was still a child. This is explained when his father's old business partner comes to visit with his daughter and reveals that, before his death, Gomez' father had set up an arranged marriage between Gomez and the daughter.

* It definitely feels as if there's some inbreeding going on in the Addams' clan, which might explain why they're so odd and have so many physical quirks. For example, Morticia refers to many former Addamses as if they were her ''own'' relatives--Great-Aunt Calpurnia and Uncle Knickknack, for example--rather than specifying that they're the ''children's'' uncle or her husband's. This could mean that either she's so much a part of the family that she just refers to all her in-laws as if they're her blood relations (highly likely, since the Addams seem to be a close-knit and welcoming family and once you marry in, they treat you like you were born there) or they might, in fact, all be interrelated, in which case it might be too complicated to specify that Knickknack is Gomez's uncle but Morticia's second cousin. Everyone's just an Addams, so Uncle Fester and Cousin Itt are ''everyone's'' uncle or cousin, no matter how they're really related.
* ^ not quite. In the 60s TV show, Morticia is a Frump, she is the daughter of Hester Frump (who appears only in a couple of episodes and in ''Halloween with the Addams Family'') and sister of Ophelia Frump who is Morticia's identical sister. Fester is Morticia's uncle (notice that Fester is never ever referred to as Fester Addams in the show) therefore if he's Hester's brother then his last name is probably whatever maiden name Hester had or if he's Morticia's paternal uncle then he must be Fester Frump (again, his last name is never told). Now, this would make Fester the great-uncle of Pugsley and Wednesday and technically should be called "great-uncle Fester" by them, however is not uncommon in some families to call great-uncles as just "uncles". Grandmama is Gomez's mother in this version and is indeed a widow. This structure is kept more or less in the 70s animated show.\\

Now in the 90s movies, this changes a lot. Fester is Gomez's brother and therefore the uncle of Wednesday and Pugsley, also Morticia's brother-in-law, Grandmama is Morticia's mother and Gomez's mother-in-law, and Gomez and Fester's parents are both dead (died together lynched by a mob). Almost all other versions (including ''Reunion'', the 90s animated show which is based on the movies and ''The New Addams Family'' kept Fester as Gomez' brother, however in the animated show and in ''New'' Grandmama is back to be Gomez' mother (in fact ''The New Addams Family'' brought back the Frumps including Hester and Ophelia (also played by the same actress who played Morticia as in the original show).\\
As in the example before, in the 90s movie, although Morticia's and Grandmama's last name is never told, we are still showed that at least two families of strange people collide (three if you count Margaret when she joins the Addams clan through Cousin Itt).\\
Finally in the musical, a recurring gag is that nor Gomez nor Morticia knows who is Grandmama's mother as they both thought she was each other's mother. Fester is Gomez's brother again.\\
So to sum up: Fester is Gomez' brother in most versions but not the original show and Grandmama is Gomez' mother in most versions except the 90s movie and ambiguously in the musical, which I hope answers your question.\\
Basically, what we can take from all this is that in all these universes there's an entire subculture of goth-looking sadomasochistic bizarre-loving people with some inhuman abilities from different families which often intermingle.

** In Addams Family Values, Pubert gets sick and it turns him into a golden-curled, rosy-cheeked angel, which Gomez and Morticia are extremely worried about. So I think it's safe to say they can get sick in their own way, depending on what's needed for the plot.

** This is a typical Addams Family joke. They are said to detest anything stereotypically happy and uplifting despite evidence to the contrary. They also have a tendency to take normal human things and flip them on their head. So the Addams idea of a joke might be shooting someone in the eye with a crossbow, whereas a normal human wouldn't find that funny at all. So perhaps humor is OK if it's Addams-style humor, but laughter (while participated in) is referred to as something negative (because to normal humans it's positive).

** Yes, though you needn't even wait that long. When Lucas and his parents become more Addams-like, and accept the Addams Family as they are, with his father even thanking Gomez for helping to reinvigorate his marriage, Gomez actually declares that, instead of losing a daughter as he had feared would happen, the Addams Family has gained three Beinekes (Beineke being the other family's surname). After that, Lucas and his parents all start to visibly react to the Addams Family ancestors around them, even dancing with some.

* Why did Wednesday have a problem when Debbie called Pubert a brat? She's an [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Addams]] for crying out loud? They like pain and express their love through torture at each other and admire evil deeds. The baby's name is Pubert which is dirty on its own and the parents thought of other sinister names before this one. Shouldn't the word brat be a compliment for their standards? Yes Debbie doesn't actually love Pubert and Wednesday might've been suspicious at her, but the word brat still shouldn't piss Wednesday off.

** Also, it’s part of the joke; while the Addams Family “play” with extreme torture devices and try to kill each other, they all see it as perfectly good fun. Emotional pain isn’t really their cup of tea: Wednesday and Pugsley try to kill each other, but to them, it’s the equivalent of playtime, and we rarely see them actually trying to hurt each other’s feelings, because if they did that then it’s no longer playtime and just an argument, which is never pleasant, no matter what. It’s why whenever the Adamses argue or feel betrayed, it’s taken more seriously than when they try to maim each other. After all, to the Adamses, guillotines and electrocution are fun and games, but calling someone a brat is just [[ArsonMurderAndJayWalking plain rude.]]

* Why do fans act like the Addams were so progressive as the only happy, healthy family of their time? The only real "wife bad" show back then was ''Series/TheHoneymooners''. Lots of sitcoms like ''Series/Bewitched'', ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'', ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'', and the notable other creepy family, ''Series/TheMunsters'' all featured loving, attentive parents and couples that doted on each other. People act like the Addams Family invented that though.
** It's not so much "wife bad" that most fans view as progressive--it's the show's place in reaction to older programs, its complete aversion to the StayInTheKitchen trope, and its frank (for the time) sexuality. Earlier sitcoms--think of ''Series/FatherKnowsBest''--were very much reflections of a typical upper-middle class life: the father as the [[StandardFiftiesFather undisputed head of the household]], the mother as a docile housewife, and the children as sources of mischief and frustration, prompting someone (usually dear old Dad) to dispense worldly advice. Then along come the Addamses: the father is a gleeful {{Manchild}}, the mother is an artist and bohemian, and the children are a source of constant joy for their parents. Then came Morticia's role in the marriage. The shows you list are great, but they also have some old-fashioned ideas about what a wife should be: in ''Leave it to Beaver'', June was expected to do housework in high heels and a pearl necklace; in ''Bewitched'', Darrin forbade Sam from using her powers and forced her to be "normal" because ''he'' said so; and in ''I Dream of Jeannie'', Jeannie outright referred to Tony as her "master" and pretty much existed to serve him (that wasn't changed until the fifth season, when they got married, but even then it was still all about him). Gomez, by contrast, never tells Morticia what to do, asks her opinion about every matter, and generally views her as his equal, which was virtually unheard of at the time. And finally, the other couples you mentioned did love each other very much, but it was a relatively chaste love (the most we ever saw were kisses on the lips) and frequently led to arguments (Darrin and Sam arguing about her powers or relatives, Tony keep Jeannie a secret, etc.). Gomez and Morticia, by way of contrast, were absolutely ''crazy'' about each other despite years of marriage and very rarely fought. So it seems to be a case of the show taking all of the positive aspects from the other programs you listed and few (if any) of the negative ones which leads fans to dub it the most progressive series of its time.

** Two things to remember: first, women (in general) want different things at different ages. Fester's supposed success with women was mostly when he was a teenager or his young twenties, apparently. At that point his immaturity probably seemed "adorable" and "boyish", and that combined with his wealth and apparent eccentricity would have been very attractive... but not so much when he's a middle-aged man. Second, Fester is obviously socially awkward and rather oblivious, even by Addams standards... he could have been absolutely dripping with women throwing themselves at him and not even noticed it, but obviously Gomez would have.

** She's still insane, so she obviously falls under the "Schizo" section.