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->''They're creepy and they're kooky''\\
''Mysterious and spooky''\\
''They're altogether ooky''\\
''The Addams Family!''
-->-- The opening lyrics to the iconic theme song, written and arranged by Vic Mizzy.

A {{sitcom}} based on Creator/CharlesAddams's ghoulish [[ComicStrip/TheAddamsFamily single-panel cartoons]] for ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' magazine, ''The Addams Family'' was produced by Creator/{{Filmways}} and aired for two seasons (1964–66) on [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]]. One of the last American network series to be filmed entirely in black and white -- which may well have been a [[DeliberatelyMonochrome stylistic decision]], given the subject matter -- the show was not very successful in its original run, but became a [[CultClassic cult favorite]] once it entered syndication, and [[Franchise/TheAddamsFamily inspired spin-offs in many media]].

A deliberate inversion of the ideal American NuclearFamily, the Addamses are an obscenely wealthy clan of borderline supernatural beings with a taste for the grotesque and macabre, holding opinions and preferences that are mirror images or inversions of more conventional attitudes. Although very visibly different from virtually everyone they meet, they still perceive themselves as a "perfectly normal family"; in fact, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday they seem somewhat incapable of even noticing that their lifestyle varies widely from that of their neighbours]]. They also invert various horror-movie tropes about evil families: despite their tastes and the apparent trappings of pain and horror amidst which they live, the Addamses are clearly [[DarkIsNotEvil NOT evil]] -- they are compassionate and loving, friendly to all they meet, eager to help strangers in times of need, and tolerant to a fault. In fact, they are probably more so than most families! The end result is more delightfully eccentric and endearing than disturbing.

Though the Addams themselves are often compared to the eponymous [[Series/TheMunsters Munster family]], there are considerable differences. The Addamses are in essence landed gentry (their history in the US goes back to the Pilgrim era), very refined and elegant, and independently wealthy; the Munsters are working-class recent immigrants (Grandpa having immigrated from Transylvania) who were much more down-to-earth and relatable in the issues they faced, and Herman has a quite coarse sense of humour. The Addamses are borderline supernatural in some undefined way; the Munsters are explicit monsters based on well-known horror archetypes.

The most important difference, however, is in the respective families' views of themselves and the people around them: whereas the Addamses consider themselves (and ''only'' themselves) to be the "normal" ones, and cannot understand why the other people they meet are so very strange, the Munsters believe themselves to be just like the people around them, and cannot understand why said people seem to think the family is so strange. (This is itself an extension of the socioeconomic angle: BlueBlood [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASPs]] thought they were the ''real'' America, and had no idea where the country they lived in came from; immigrants were convinced they worked hard to be every bit as American as everyone else, and were confounded that people still treated them differently.)

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: The family is composed of: ]]


* ''Gomez Alonzo Addams'', the clan patriarch (Creator/JohnAstin). The series' [[IdiotHero naive]] [[BumblingDad patriarch]] and ostensibly a lawyer, though the family's ''vast'' independent wealth eliminates any need for him to actually work; when he does, though, he takes great pride in the cases he's ''lost''. He also smokes cigars, has a moustache, and likes to do crazy things like blow up toy trains.
* ''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, has the ability to ''literally smoke from her dress'' and has a beam of light across her eyes in some adaptations, she may possibly be a Vampire. We're not sure, even to this day...
* ''Pugsley Addams'', their son (Ken Weatherwax). A young MadScientist in the making who once demonstrated a home-made disintegration rifle to a visiting Soviet diplomat.
* ''Wednesday Friday Addams'', their youngest (Creator/LisaLoring). A sweet, happy child who loves her family, her spider, and her headless doll UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette. [[ChildrenAreInnocent She is also quite sensitive]] and easily disturbed by strange and upsetting things like stories of vicious knights slaying innocent dragons.
* ''Grandmama'', Gomez's mother (Blossom Rock), who sometimes switches to Morticia's depending on the adaptation. More than just an old lady but not ''quite'' a witch, Grandmama takes a delight in doing a lot of the family's cooking and gladly acts as a secondary parental figure to the children.
* ''Uncle Fester'', Morticia's uncle (Creator/JackieCoogan). Blend a MadScientist and his [[TheIgor Igor]] together, and filter them through Curly Howard of ''Film/TheThreeStooges'', and you get Uncle Fester.
* ''Lurch'', their [[FrankensteinsMonster Frankensteinian]] butler (Creator/TedCassidy). 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.
* ''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.

Together they live in a crumbling Second Empire-style home which looks much like a stereotypical "haunted house" and which seems at times to be animate and sentient, with a playful attitude toward most visitors. Inside is a museum -- or a Ripley's Odditorium: strange and bizarre decorations and furnishings fill the house to the brim, and invariably shock first-time visitors.

And ''do'' they have visitors. The primary theme of ''The Addams Family'' was culture clash -- that of post-war America against something profoundly and grotesquely ''other''. All manner of [[{{Muggles}} ordinary folk]] encountered the Addamses -- sometimes to their benefit, sometimes to their dismay -- but never without challenging their notions of normality and reality.

A secondary theme was tolerance -- as strange as they are, the Addamses are the ''heroes'', and the viewer is encouraged to understand, empathize and identify with them regardless of their macabre ways. Once the Addamses are familiar, delight comes from anticipating the reaction of the next unsuspecting [[{{Muggles}} mundane]] to cross their path. The show was so exquisitely crafted that this appeal to tolerance was never [[{{Anvilicious}} blatant]], save for one memorable episode where a ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''-style biker crashes into the Addams home; he is so astounded by and grateful for their casual acceptance of his unconventional ways that he holds them up as an example of a true family to his rigid, unyielding father.

In short, a classic series, groundbreaking in many ways, that entertains and challenges the viewer. Among its many "firsts" was the relationship between Gomez and Morticia -- one of the most [[HappilyMarried singularly passionate marriages]] on television in that or any other era, it was perhaps the first time a married couple had been shown to be so fiercely and intensely in love with each other. In fact, it's been half-joked that the couple appear to be the only 1960s TV parents ''capable'' of having children. Interestingly, the Addamses are widely considered to be the most mentally healthy 60s SitCom family out there, and with good reason.

A [[ReunionShow reunion movie]], ''Halloween with the New Addams Family'', aired on CBS in October 1977 featuring most of the original cast.

Once the program's cult status was well-established, it became the subject of several revivals, remakes and {{Animated Adaptation}}s, which are detailed on the [[Franchise/TheAddamsFamily franchise overview page]].

A revival series, ''The New Addams Family'', ran from 1998-1999 on [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Fox Family]], and was preceded by a DirectToVideo pilot movie, ''Addams Family Reunion'' (both were produced by Creator/SabanEntertainment).

For tropes found in the original television show, the 1977 television movie with the original cast, or the 1990s live-action revival series, see below. For tropes found in other adaptations, follow the link in the paragraph above.

----
!!*snap snap*:

* AbsentAnimalCompanion: While most of the pets are recurring characters, in "Halloween- Addams Style", the family gets a horse, who is never seen again.
* AbusiveParents: Katherine Adams is verbally abusive to her daughter Gina in ''The Addams Family Reunion''.
* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: In the opening theme song, the word "scream", usually pronounced as one syllable, is pronounced as two syllables--"scree-um"--in order for it to rhyme with "museum."
* 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]].
* AffectionateNickname: Tish.
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: InUniverse: In "[[Recap/TheAddamsFamilyS1E1TheAddamsFamilyGoesToSchool The Addams Family Goes To School]]," Addams kids Pugsley and Wednesday are sent to public school. Both the children and their parents are upset when they discover that the literature class was read a story about a cruel knight that savagely murders an innocent dragon.
* AmnesiaEpisode: The aptly named episode "[[Recap/TheAddamsFamilyS1E22AmnesiaInTheAddamsFamily Amnesia in the Addams Family]]" focuses on Gomez hitting his head and acquiring amnesia.
* AmusingAlien: The family is both amusing (to viewers) and alien (to everyone around them).
* ArrangedMarriage: Two examples involving Gomez.
** "Morticia's Romance" reveals that Gomez was originally in an arranged marriage with Morticia's older, blonde sister Ophelia (also played by Carolyn Jones) but he married Morticia instead.
** In "Morticia's Dilemma," it is revealed that Gomez's grandfather pledged his grandson to an arranged marriage to Consuella, daughter of Don Javier Francisco de La Mancha Molinas. Hijinks happen when Don Javier arrives with his daughter to enforce the bargain.
* AttemptedHomewrecker: In one episode, a man invited by Fester to aid in a "marital dispute" between Gomez and Morticia (which was all in Fester's imagination), the man makes it his goal to woo Morticia, despite her making it clear she has no interest. He sees the light by the end, telling Fester that Gomez and Morticia are perfect for each other.
* BecomingTheMask: When Lurch's mother comes to visit and they pretend Lurch is the master of the house and Gomez and Morticia are the servants, Lurch grows accustomed to his new idle position so much, they have to "brainwash him out of it" afterwards.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: In ''The New Addams Family'' episode "Granny the Happy Medium", Grandmama's brother Uncle Jester implies that he is responsible for Amelia Earhart's disappearance and the sinking of the Titanic.
* BelieverFakesEvidence: In "[[Recap/TheAddamsFamilyS2E14ChristmasWithTheAddamsFamily Christmas with the Addams Family]]", SantaClaus exists, and the adults presumably know he exists. However, when the neighbour tells the children, Wednesday and Pugsley, that he doesn't, the adults all try to convince them that he's real by disguising themselves as Santa. Fester [[HelpImStuck gets stuck in the chimney]], Gomez fools the kids, but the rest don't, since not only are they meeting multiple "Santas", [[PaperThinDisguise their disguises don't hide the fact that Lurch is tall, Itt is short and hairy, and Morticia and Grandmama are women]].
* 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."
* BizarreHumanBiology:
** The entire family is immune to poisoning, [[HarmlessElectrocution electricity]] (besides having a tickling sensation), and [[ImmuneToFire fire]].
** Uncle Fester produces electricity and requires mercury to be able to do so.
** Morticia can "smoke" by producing smoke from her body, and her sister Ophelia can grow plants on her head.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The defining trait of the Addamses, and a big part of their appeal, is that they have a clearly... "off"... sense of the way the world works. Finding "normal" cute animals to be ugly, being disgusted by birdsong or flowers, finding frightening creatures to be adorable, etcetera. And, from their perspective, it's the mundane people who are odd and possibly crazy. Despite this, though, they are extremely gracious, kind, generous and friendly in their own creepy way. Overlaps with ValuesResonance in that they're weirdly progressive - Gomez (sort of) does yoga, they're shocked that the school is teaching the kids corporal punishment in fairytales, and they love animals that repulse most people.
* BullyingADragon: Honestly, if you knew of a family like this, and were fully aware of what they do and how they do it, would you attempt to just be cordial, or would you antagonize them? Fortunately, most people don't try to antagonise them, instead preferring to avoid them and get away from them as fast and yet politely as possible when they get too creeped out.
* TheButlerDidIt: Averted, but talked about in one episode.
-->'''Lurch's Mother''': "I've read a lot of murder mysteries, and the butler is always the one who does it"
* CallBack: In "My Son, the Chimp," Pugsley mentions the Gorilla he befriended and brought home in one of the first episodes.
* {{Calvinball}}: Gomez tends to invent his own bizarre rules to various games and sports and to consider the ordinary versions boring or too easy.
* CaptainErsatz: In "Art and the Addams Family," Gomez decides to hire [[Creator/PabloPicasso Picasso]] to instruct Grandmama in painting after an art critic pans the older woman's canvases. There's one problem, though -- he hires penniless non-talent ''Sam'' Picasso for the job.
* CatchPhrase: Quite a lot, actually. The most famous would be Lurch's "You rang?", Gomez's "Tish! That's French!" and "Querida!", Uncle Fester's "I'll shoot 'em in the back", and "Thank you, Thing", which was used by everyone, but mostly Wednesday and Morticia. Morticia also has a {{Mad Libs|Catchphrase}} version that comes into play when Gomez gets distracted by her French while she's in the middle of something she considers more vital: "[important thing] now, [romantic word] later."
* ChandelierSwing: Gomez is fond of doing this.
* CharacterAsHimself: "Thing as Itself."
* ChristmasEpisode: "Christmas with the Addams Family," where the adults each dress up as SantaClaus for the benefit of the children... at the same time.
* CigarChomper: Gomez spends a lot of scenes smoking cigars, even when he's on his head practicing his Zen Yogi poses. While the expensiveness of the habit does reflect the Addamses' absurdly large amount of money, the aggressiveness usually implied by the trope often doesn't come into play, as [[PerkyGoth Gomez]] is one of the more genial and less intimidating members of the family.
* CloserToEarth: Morticia vs. Gomez. Surprisingly, this trope is much less prevalent than in other major sitcoms. Gomez is still an intelligent and attentive husband and father, and not a BumblingDad.
* CloudCuckooLander: The whole family is quite eccentric. This applies to their ancestors too.
* CombatPragmatist: Uncle Fester, when he decides to defend the family's honor with [[{{BFG}} his trusty blunderbuss]]:
-->'''Gomez:''' He's right, Morticia: the family honor! You'll have to challenge Palmeroy to a duel!\\
'''Uncle Fester:''' [{{beat}}] No, I'd rather shoot him {{in the back}}.\\
'''Morticia:''' Uncle Fester, that is not the honorable way!\\
'''Uncle Fester:''' I know, but it's the ''safe'' way.
* CompanionCube: Wednesday with "[[UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette Marie]]," her headless doll.
** Uncle Fester with his [[{{BFG}} blunderbuss]].
** Also Fester with his coat. He says he never takes it off, and even insists on wearing it during a doctor's examination.
** The computer named "Whizzo." The Addamses sometimes treat it as a friend.
* ContinuityNod: The original series had a surprising number for a 1960s sitcom, such as Wednesday's hatred of fairy tales that involved the slaying of dragons.
** The 1977 reunion special ''Halloween with the New Addams Family'' had a few, including an appearance by Thing's love interest Lady Fingers and Morticia's sister Ophelia.
* ContinuityReboot: 1998's ''The New Addams Family''.
* 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.
* CourtroomEpisode: The episode "The Addams Family in Court" qualifies as this, along with being a PrisonEpisode. Grandmama is sent to prison due to illegally telling people's fortunes and the other Addamses go to court to try and free her. Legal hilarity happens during the trial.
* CreepyChild: Pugsley and Wednesday, although this is mostly played for laughs.
* CreepyFamily: The TropeCodifier alongside ''Series/TheMunsters''.
* CreepyGood: Along with ''Series/TheMunsters'', the TropeCodifier.
* DaintyLittleBalletDancers: Inverted by the title character in "Lurch Learns to Dance." Wednesday and Lurch dance ballet for Gomez and Morticia -- but Lurch is both far too large and ungainly to do so effectively.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Despite how dark, creepy and macabre the family is, the Addamses are all genuinely good people.
** Amusingly, the Addamses aren't even ''aware'' of how strange they are. They think of themselves as a typical, normal American family and are nice enough to try not to say anything about those weirdos who play with puppies and pick flowers.
* DarkParody: In-universe, Wednesday uses her dolls to role-play a story where Literature/LittleRedRidingHood dies.
* DayOfTheWeekName:
** Wednesday Friday Addams.
** The ''New Addams Family'' episode "Keeping Up with the Joneses" features the titular Joneses as distant cousins of the Addamses who have a child of their own: Monday.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Thing's full name was said to be "Thing T. Thing," with the middle initial standing for "Thing."
* DietEpisode: "Fester Goes on a Diet" has Uncle Fester go on a diet to impress his LoveInterest in hopes of becoming thinner and taller.
* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: Often happened in the original series, with Lurch playing it on the harpsichord.
** In countless portions of ''Addams Family Reunion''.
** ''The New Addams Family'' is an interesting case. Its new theme song can be heard playing in the background, but the original theme by Vic Mizzy also appears in the episodes ''Grandpapa Addams Comes to Visit'' and ''Lurch and his Piano'' (the theme is used as Grandpapa Addams' {{Leitmotif}} in the former and Lurch plays a few bars of it near the end of the latter).
* DiseasedName: Morticia has two aunts named "Anemia" and "Dementia."
* DoesNotLikeSpam: Uncle Fester doesn't like "army food."
* DontYouLikeIt: This is the usual result of the Addamses trying to do anything neighborly for their neighbors, due to BlueAndOrangeMorality.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Morticia and Wednesday.
* TheEeyore: Morticia's cousin who's aptly named "Melancholia." Gomez was this before he met Morticia but he's the opposite now. Also, Ophelia can be this when she's unhappy.
* ElectionDayEpisode: Two!
** "[[Recap/TheAddamsFamilyS1E4GomezThePolitician Gomez, the Politician]]" has Gomez throwing himself into the campaign for a local city council candidate.
** And then in "Gomez, the People's Choice" Gomez himself runs for mayor because his property taxes are too ''low''. He eventually has to withdraw when Uncle Fester admits that he got the names for Gomez's petition drive from the local cemetery.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The family as a whole gets this in the series premiere, "The Addams Family Goes to School", where Mr. Hilliard, the truant officer, is shown into the house and sees its more unusual decorations, meeting each of the regulars.
* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: How many times does ''this'' come up between Gomez and Morticia? In the French translations, it becomes Everything Sounds Sexier in Spanish.
** And Italian.
** But not Latin. In an episode Gomez kisses Morticia's arm mistaking her speech as French. She clarifies it's Latin and he's turned off.
* ExpositoryThemeTune
* ExtremelyDustyHome: The Addams mansion. Not quite as dust-ridden as that in ''Series/TheMunsters'', but a respectable runner-up.
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Addamses eat a variety of weird meat, including yak, zebra, newt, alligator, and aardvark. They also drink beverages that contain cyanide and henbane that have no ill effects on them.
** Uncle Fester once ate some soap.
** 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.
** In "Cat Addams", Cousin Itt [[PlayingSick plays sick]] in order to make the vet "cure him" and think he's amazing so he'd be brave enough to treat Kitty Cat. He eats the thermometer.
** [[spoiler: The title illness in "Uncle Fester's Illness" was cured by Fester eating a thermometer]]. Fester then eats a tongue depressor.
* TheFaceless: Cousin Itt, hidden by all that hair; in fact, Itt's hands were possibly the only part of his body ever seen, and those rarely - and even then only wearing gloves.
%%* FacePalm: Lurch did this, without ever putting his face to his palm. All he had to do was squint his eyes and go "urrrrrr" whenever he heard something he knew wasn't a good idea.
%%** Also, he sometimes did this when he ''did'' think something was a good idea, or for no reason at all.
* FaintInShock: Normal people have a habit of passing out in surprise when exposed to the family's antics.
* FeudEpisode:
** In "Morticia and Gomez vs Fester and Grandmama", Morticia and Gomez don't want to interact with Uncle Fester and Grandmama because the former two think the latter two are spoiling the kids.
** In "The Winning of Morticia Addams", Uncle Fester ''tried'' to invoke this trope between Gomez and Morticia but failed.
* Fiction500: In addition to being somewhat inhuman, the Addamses are inhumanly wealthy. No explanation is ever given for their ungodly amounts of money beyond the occasional mention of the stock market and investments, but it shows up in several episodes: it's revealed that Gomez keeps a desk drawer stuffed with $100 bills for no reason, and in another, he casually buys an entire company in one day just to keep the new neighbors from moving.
* FleetingPassionateHobbies: Morticia has several of these, such as being a sculptor, home decorator, or author of children's books. She gives them all up by the end of the episode in question.
* FluffyTheTerrible: In the original series they kept a pet African lion named Kitty Cat. However, this is a subversion as despite being a lion, he seemed harmless. When frightened, Kitty Cat would run backwards up the stairs!
* AFoolForAClient: Gomez, as an attorney, has represented himself on occasion. He usually loses. And just as usually, he couldn't care less.
* ForegoneConclusion: One episode takes place in the past, with Gomez in an engaged marriage to Morticia's sister Ophelia. Seeing as this is a HowDadMetMom episode, we already know that he will end up marrying Morticia instead.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: The New Addams Family episode "Saving Private Addams" ends with one of the family's activities knocking out a television antenna. Gomez comments that someone will be watching static tonight and kicks the antenna, which then causes the whole screen to become static before the credits roll.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider: The title family have a pet spider named Homer. Despite the neighbours being scared of him, he's actually quite a nice pet.
* GadgeteerGenius: Pugsley in the original series, inventing many devices, such as a disintegration gun.
-->'''Gomez''': (After demonstrating the gun by zapping a nearby table lamp.) Sure helps keep things neat and tidy around here!
%%* GentleGiant: Lurch, more or less.
* {{Goth}}: Gomez, Morticia, and Wednesday in particular. Fester is more of a rivethead. To audiences from the eighties on, the basic concept of the show appears to be a family of arty bohemian Goths living in a stereotypical white bread American sixties suburb.
* HalloweenEpisode: Several:
** "[[Recap/TheAddamsFamilyS1E7HalloweenWithTheAddamsFamily Halloween with the Addams Family]]": From Season 1 of the original series, a pair of burglars are on the run from the cops. Gomez and Morticia think them trick-or-treaters and insist they join in on their Halloween festivities.
** "Halloween, Addams Style": From Season 2, Wednesday fears witches don't actually exist.
** ''Halloween with the New Addams Family'': The 1977 MadeForTVMovie sees the family coming together again for a Halloween party.
* HappilyMarried: Gomez and Morticia's marriage is happy, very passionately so. While their cross-network rival ''Series/TheMunsters'' was one of 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.
* HarmlessElectrocution:
** In "Morticia's Romance", Morticia remembers a time when Uncle Fester got hit by lightning. He survived but kept flashing red, white, and blue light out of his ears.
** At the end of the episode of the new series "Cleopatra, Green of the Nile", Fester and Gomez sit in an electric chair and survive unharmed. They actually ''enjoy'' it too.
** Several times in the series, Fester puts an electric bulb into his mouth and ears. This seems to be ''good'' for him in fact, as it "charges him up."
** In the update of "Uncle Fester's Illness," Fester touches an electric eel and the whole family get struck by lightning, but they're unaffected.
* HeadInAVise: Uncle Fester puts his head into a head-press while tightening it as a cure for his headaches. When a loud "pop" is heard, Fester is satisfied.
* HeightAngst: In "Fester Goes on a Diet," Uncle Fester feels that he's too short and [[WeightWoe too fat]] for his girlfriend.
* HelpImStuck: In the Christmas episode, Uncle Fester gets stuck up the chimney while posing as Santa.
* 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]].
* HiredHelpAsFamily: The titular family has two servants: Lurch, a butler, and Thing, a disembodied hand. Both of them are considered surrogate family members and the family becomes very sad if something bad happens to either of them.
* {{Hypochondria}}: When Gomez was engaged to Ophelia in the flashback, he was convinced he had bronchitis (which he didn't really).
* HypocriticalHumor: This would often come to play whenever the Addamses criticized others for being strange and/or boasting about how normal they are.
* IAmSpartacus: In "Christmas With the Addams Family", Uncle Fester, Grandmama, Gomez, Morticia, Lurch, and Cousin Itt each dress up as Santa Claus to convince Wednesday and Puggsley that Santa exists. After the Addams children have guessed the identities of the Santa impostors as their family, the real Santa leaves a brightly decorated Christmas tree with presents.
* IdenticalGrandson: John Astin as "Grandpapa Addams" on ''The New Addams Family'' is an identical grandfather to Gomez.
* ImpoverishedPatrician: "Morticia Meets Royalty" features Princess Millicent, Gomez' aunt who married the bankrupt Prince von Schlepp, and retains the title of princess, insisting that all members of the family address her as princess. During her visit, she suspects Thing of being a thief, when the real culprit is Millicent's handmaiden Lady Fingers, a disembodied hand and the female equvalent of Thing. Later on, her apparently worthless stocks turn out to have substantial value, improving her fortunes.
* 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]].
* InjuryBookend: One episode centers around this, after Gomez gets amnesia from being hit on the head with a juggling club. One person hits him and fixes him, another person thinks he's still out of it and brings the amnesia back by hitting him ''again'', and so on.
* InheritanceMurder: In ''The Addams Family Reunion'', Dr. Adams has been poisoning his father for the inheritance, and his sister is aware of this and fine with it. The old man survives, however.
* IntercontinuityCrossover: A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT5dzaje1dE very brief one]] with ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'', of all people.
* InTheBack
-->'''Uncle Fester:''' I'll shoot 'em in the back! Turn around!
* ISophagus: Fester swallows a whistle in "Ophelia's Career", with predictable results.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: During an instance of PoorCommunicationKills, Gomez and Morticia each thought the other was preparing to stray, and each told the other they would step aside for the other's happiness. Fortunately, they each realize the truth before too late.
* 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]].
* KarmaHoudini: No matter how improbable their dealings with the outside world, they seem to come out on top. Grandmama was arrested for fortunetelling, but the judge's wife insisted the charges be dropped because the prediction for her came true. Treasure hunters try to rob the Addamses with an old lead to a sunken treasure, but after they're scared off the treasure turns out to be in the family basement all along, etc.
* KissUpTheArm: Gomez with Morticia, whenever she speaks French.
* KnightOfCerebus: ''The New Addams Family'' played with this trope in the episode ''Death Visits the Addams Family''. TheGrimReaper arrives to claim the soul of Gomez, and at first appears to be very intimidating; even [[EvilSoundsDeep his voice]] is menacing. However, Death eventually reveals himself to be a short and harmless-looking man. Despite this, he is still played as a serious threat because he still wants to bring Gomez to the great beyond and covets Morticia. In the end, Gomez bests Death at a few games and sends him back to the netherworld. The last thing that keeps this trope from being played completely straight is the fact that this episode was the final episode of the series.
* KubrickStare: Wednesday sports one in the opening's group shot, only a few years after [[Film/{{Spartacus}} the original]] TropeNamer.
* LaughTrack: The original live action series made use of this.
* 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!"
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In one episode Morticia needs a phony name to give to Gomez's broker, and asks Fester what he thinks of the name 'Jones'. Fester's reply -- "Eh...what kind of name is Jones?" (In this version of the show, Morticia was played by Carolyn Jones).
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Occasionally the show's main theme is played by Lurch on the harpsichord near the beginning and/or end of the episode.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Several characters (namely Fester, Gomez, Lurch, Morticia, Thing, and even the house itself) have their own themes.
* 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 counter-cultural lifestyle.
* LimitedWardrobe: With only a few very rare exceptions, the family always wears the same outfits.
* LostVoicePlot: During one scene from "Lurch the Teenage Idol," Lurch loses his voice. Grandmama manages to cure it simply by ''sticking a pin in his throat''.
* LoveInterests: Gomez and Morticia are the only couple in the show, but several characters have tried dating a few times:
** Uncle Fester has several pen-pals, whom he's tried dating in the episodes "Fester Goes on a Diet," "Uncle Fester's Toupee," and "Fester's Punctured Romance." All of these times, he's felt self-conscious about his height, weight and/or baldness.
** Ophelia has tried to date Cousin Itt, along with three other boyfriends. None of these romances worked out because Cousin Itt wasn't interested and Ophelia judo-flipped the other men. Not surprisingly, the latter didn't like it.
** In "Morticia Meets Royalty," Gomez's aunt, a princess named Millicent, brings her own hand in a box named Lady Fingers, whom Thing develops a crush on. They eventually get engaged.
** At the end of "Cousin Itt's Problem," Cousin Itt's dog runs away, apparently on a date with another dog.
** In "Lurch's Grand Romance," Lurch gets a crush on Morticia's friend Trivia. Grandmama makes "love dust" which makes Trivia fall for first Lurch, then Gomez, then Fester.
** In "Gomez the Reluctant Lover," Pugsley gets a crush on his teacher.
** "Morticia the Matchmaker" introduces Cousin Melancholia, Morticia's cousin, who has a fiancee named Fred.
* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: The Addamses, of course.
* MadeForTVMovie: ''Halloween With The New Addams Family''.
* MadeOfIron: Uncle Fester walks on hot coals barefoot and is unaffected, Gomez is fine after falling into a vat of acid, Pugsley and Fester and Gomez have survived electrocution several times, and the Addamses seem to be able to [[ExtremeOmnivore eat anything]] with no ill effects.
* MadScientist: Fester and Gomez, a bit. Gomez fits some of the more harmless varieties of the trope; the smallest stimulus would send his mind careening down a new path of speculation, so his attention probably wouldn't be on any one experiment long enough to cause actual harm.
* MaintainTheLie: An episode was based on Lurch's aged mother coming to visit him, and his having never told her he was a butler; most of the story involved his posing as the master of the house, with Gomez acting as butler and Morticia as maid.
* ManEatingPlant: Cleopatra and the rest of the plants in Morticia's greenhouse don't ever ''eat'' anyone, but they're definitely carnivorous and occasionally dangerous to people.
* MistakenForAliens: In "The Addams Family and the Spaceman," investigators think that Cousin Itt (because of the way he talks and his hair) and Lurch (because he was making "punch" that smoked and was so tall) were Martians. The investigators say gibberish to Gomez, who replies in gibberish as a joke, causing the investigators to think Gomez is an alien and the Addamses to think the investigators are aliens.
* MistakenForDisease: In "Uncle Fester's Illness", Fester and Thing behave lethargically, and Morticia and Gomez believe they have a disease. As it turns out, Fester, with his BizarreHumanBiology, simply had a "mercury deficiency" and Thing was just sad because a picnic had been cancelled.
* MistakenForTransformed: In "My Son, the Chimp", Uncle Fester tries to do a magic trick which ends up creating an explosion that knocks his grand-nephew Pugsley into another room. At the same time, a chimpanzee unexpectedly arrives on the scene, and Fester is left believing his trick turned Pugsley into a chimp.
* TheMomVoice: Morticia is, in fact, a mother of two children. But her ability to correct errant behavior or offer consolation and comfort in a nurturing way is not limited to Wednesday and Pugsley. She has prevented Uncle Fester from shooting people in the back with his blunderbuss with a stern word, shown compassion and support for Lurch, and even kept Thing's antics in line with a well-placed word and a look.
* {{Moonburn}}: TropeNamer. In the episode "[[Recap/TheAddamsFamilyS2E12PortraitOfGomez Portrait of Gomez]]", the family enjoys a nice quiet evening outside. Because Uncle Fester ate the moonscreen instead of applying it to his skin, he got a moonburn (apparently).
* {{Muggles}}: Most everyone else in the series.
* MysteriousMiddleInitial: SubvertedTrope. When Thing went missing and the Addamses hired a detective to find him, they said his name was Thing T. Thing and, when asked what the middle T. stood for, they said it meant [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Thing]].
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: In the episode The Addams Family Meet the VIP's, two Russian diplomats pinpoint the random location from a phonebook using their pin then the scene cuts to Morticia who felt as if she was struck by a pin.
* MythologyGag: A few examples.
** Thing was a Mythology Gag. He was inspired by a Charles Addams cartoon where a postman approaches the Family's house and is surprised by a sign that says, "Beware of the Thing!"
** Pubert, the third Addams child as seen in ''Addams Family Values'', was referred to in the ''New Addams Family'' remake of "The Addams Family Goes to School," where Wednesday mentions that there used to be a third Addams sibling until Pugsley ate him.
** ''The New Addams Family'' episode "Keeping up with the Joneses" sees the Family meeting the titular Joneses, who appear to be distant cousins who share the same macabre interests, ways and fashion as the Addamses. The family heads, Ramone and Putrescence, are not only meant to be seen as {{Exp|y}}ies of Gomez and Morticia, but they are also based on their incarnations from the Paramount films.
* NameAmnesia: The episode "Amnesia in the Addams Family" has Gomez getting IdentityAmnesia from a [[EasyAmnesia strike on the head]]. When he wakes up, he can't remember his own name or his marriage to Morticia.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: All of the characters (though the list of suggestions for their names was provided by Charles Addams himself).
* NamesGivenToComputers: Their machine is named "Whizzo."
* NatureLover: Zigzagged for Morticia Addams. She owns a carnivorous plant and is heard enthusing about ravens, bats, and other such animals, but there are some animals, such as robins, that she dislikes, and while she does pick flowers, she cuts the blooms off.
* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Gina, Stevie and Jenny, the three normal kids at the reunion in ''Addams Family Reunion''. Gina is a ShrinkingViolet who gets along well with Pugsley and Wednesday (and is shown to have a crush on the former). Her cousin Stevie is a bully to her as well as Wednesday, Pugsley, and even his own grandfather. Jenny is somewhat snotty and prefers to avoid the two Addams kids, but doesn't seem particularly interested in going after them the way her brother does.
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: The entire point of the series.
* NightmarishNursery: PlayedForLaughs with Wednesday and Pugsley's play room, which features torture racks, guillotines, an electric chair, and other gruesome decorations. This being the Addamses, this is all seen as quite normal and the children have great fun with their macabre toys. Other people visiting the house not so much...
* NoodleIncident: ''Addams Family Reunion'' mentions, on two separate occasions, an attack dog named Spot that the Addamses owned at one point, who died in an incident with a Girl Scout troop. Nothing is said in regards to what actually ''happened'' to him, though at one point the dog -- [[TaxidermyIsCreepy now stuffed]] -- is seen, still snarling.
* NotNowWereTooBusyCryingOverYou: In "Morticia's Favourite Charity," Gomez sees a pair of Pugsley's shoes next to Cleopatra the plant. He thinks that [[ManEatingPlant she/it ate him]], so he hits Cleopatra and begs her/it to spit Pugsley out. Then, Pugsley arrives and says, "Father, why are you attacking Cleopatra?!"
* NuclearFamily: The CultureClash was heightened by the fact that, underneath their utterly bizarre trappings and tastes, the Addams Family are a loving family with a healthy relationship.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Subverted. Gomez and Fester gelled so brilliantly in the original series that later incarnations Retconned them into brothers.
** In ''Addams Family Reunion'', Gomez asks if Morticia has noticed anything strange about his grandparents, who are visiting, and her response is: "Now, keep in mind that for me they are still ''in-laws''. Tradition dictates that I must ''despise'' them. Regardless of my own personal feelings in the matter."
* ObsessiveHobbyEpisode:
** In "Morticia the Writer", Morticia takes up writing but spends too much time doing so, and it interferes with her and Gomez's love life.
** In "Morticia the Sculptress", Morticia takes up sculpting but it both interferes with her and Gomez's love life and makes her neglect their kids.
* OnceAnEpisode: The inevitable mention of various [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen never-seen relatives]], such as Uncle Knick-Knack. Sometimes happened more than once per episode, but who's counting?
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: In "Morticia and the Psychiatrist," Gomez and Morticia are discussing Pugsley's odd behavior with Dr. Black, the eponymous psychiatrist (actually a psychologist). The Addamses are fully aware that Pugsley's "abnormalities" include joining the Scouts, playing baseball, and getting a puppy; however, Dr. Black thinks they are complaining about the Addams' macabre décor and unusual toys (which include dynamite). To complicate things, earlier in the episode, Dr. Black counseled Morticia and Gomez to cater to all of Pugsley's abnormalities, and he mistakenly thinks the family's décor and pastimes are the result of his advice.
* OnlySaneMan: Subverted with Lurch. Although he often sounds exasperated and seems to be the DeadpanSnarker when dealing with the family's whims, he often is happy to oblige overall.
* TheOphelia: Morticia's older sister in the TV series (established in the episode "Morticia's Romance," which deals with Gomez and Morticia meeting right before his ArrangedMarriage - to Ophelia). Unsurprisingly, she's named Ophelia and has long, flowing hair.
* OurBetterIsDifferent: Nearly all the time, considering the family.
* OutOfCharacterMoment: In "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor", Morticia and Gomez pretend to be a bickering couple, but then Morticia takes Gomez too seriously and stays mad at him, even at night. She has another one when they make up, stating that she was "a fool for sending [Gomez] out in his bare feet without a thought for [his] sinuses," which is coming from the woman who wanted her chair moved to a draftier area in another episode.
* TheParodyBeforeChristmas: In "Halloween With the Addams Family", the Addamses read a poem on Halloween that is clearly a spooky parody of "A Visit from St. Nicholas." For instance, it talks about hanging lanterns to guide "Sister Witch" and her team of vampire bats.
* PastimesProvePersonality: The family have a variety of eccentric hobbies, often of the creative or intellectual variety but also including various outright dangerous ones, that are used to show their unconventional approach to life.
** Gomez fences, but in the 60s show his competence varies from episode-to-episode between "OK" and "comedically bad". He's a rich eccentric with an interest in his family's history as pirates and outlaws. In the films he is a highly skilled genuine badass with a sword. Either way his interest in such things shows he sees himself as an adventurer. Of course, as he's an ''Addams'', he doesn't pay much attention to the rules of modern fencing and at least sometimes uses sharp swords rather than fencing weapons.
** Ophelia is trained in judo and karate as part of the running gag of her being terrifyingly strong despite her appearance. Wednesday has also been mentioned to practise both martial arts, and is similarly able to throw Gomez to the floor, even more incongruously than Ophelia since she is six. In the 90s reboot show it is revealed that Morticia is also able to judo-throw a man to the ground; as she's much more cool-headed than Ophelia she only does it when ''[[ForcefulKiss seriously]]'' [[AbhorrentAdmirer provoked]] by Vlad. Pugsley, meanwhile, has apparently had karate lessons (it appears all Addamses learn how to fight to some extent) but never really puts them into use as he's ''not'' in any way a naturally combative person.
** Morticia paints, and fits the stereotype as described on the page near-perfectly: soft-spoken, intelligent and educated, unconventional and somewhat in her own world, and with semi-frequent TrueArtIsIncomprehensible jokes though she is also capable of painting recognisable non-abstract pictures. She also attempts to play various instruments but tends not to stick with any one for long enough to get good at it (in the films she is actually good at the violin--the films are not in the same continuity but the characters are older in them, so it could be interpreted as her finally having chosen one and stuck with it). In one episode she writes stories, again presenting her as a creative intellectual type; her stories also showcase her strange outlook on the world.
** Lurch playing (depending on version) harpsichord, piano, or organ shows HiddenDepths to a character who could be assumed to be an unintelligent brute. Gomez, meanwhile, seems to be able to read and write sheet music, so might actually know how to play, but is only ever seen playing (on guitar or harpsichord) his own compositions, which are tuneless and dissonant--similar to his approach to sports, he likes to ignore the rules and make up his own approach to doing things which makes no sense to anyone else.
** Morticia, as the more patient and cool-headed of the two, always beats Gomez at chess.
** Gomez and Morticia both enjoy reading and especially like the work of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, as expected given their gothic tastes. Wednesday takes after them and had The Raven memorised as a baby. Fester and Pugsley are less interested in reading.
** Gomez's extensive collection of weapons, and the taxidermy around their home, is viewed as offputting by most visitors.
** Gomez, Fester, and Pugsley are to varying degrees the GadgeteerGenius type. Especially for the latter two this is a case of HiddenDepths as they could otherwise be easily assumed to be unintelligent.
* PerkyGoth: Gomez is a male example.
** Morticia, when she gets passionate towards Gomez.
** Wednesday was this in the TV show.
* PetMonstrosity: Kitty Cat the lion in the 60s TV show.
* PilotMovie: ''Addams Family Reunion'' was this for ''The New Addams Family''.
* PiratePegLeg: Gomez's sea pirate great-grandfather had a peg leg. He didn't actually need it (both of his legs were intact) but thought it added to his appearance.
* PlayingSick: In "Cat Addams," to make the vet think he's doing a good job (and therefore make him brave enough to give Kitty Cat the lion a checkup), Cousin Itt, Uncle Fester, and Thing all play sick and pretend the vet cured them.
* PoorCommunicationKills: A literal example almost occurs in "Green-Eyed Gomez." Gomez thinks Morticia is having an affair with an old friend. Rather than talking to her, he tries to commit suicide (with assistance from Uncle Fester and Lurch) to "free" her to remarry.
* PrisonEpisode: In one episode, Grandmama is sent to prison for telling peoples' fortunes and her family must set her free.
* PuppyLove: Pugsley gets a crush on his teacher in "Gomez the Reluctant Lover", despite being a child of about eight to ten years.
* TheQuietOne: Lurch.
** Also Pugsley's crush Gina in ''Addams Family Reunion''.
* QuirkyHousehold
* RailEnthusiast: Gomez. One of his favorite pastimes is to set his model trains running toward each other on the same track, then dynamite the track just before they have a chance to collide.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Ted "Lurch" Cassidy's brief, unexpected teen idol status became the basis for an episode where Lurch's harpsichord playing earns him a similar teenybopper following.
* TheRealSpoofbusters: ''The New Addams Family'' episode "Granny the Happy Medium" featured a Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} parody in a husband and wife team of paranormal exterminators called the Ghost Toasters being hired by the family to get rid of Grandmama's brother Uncle Jester. Their introduction is even accompanied by an instrumental spoof of the Ghostbusters theme song and preceded by Fester asking "Who ya gonna call?"
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: The HalloweenEpisode of ''The New Addams Family'', which was a remake of the original series episode "Halloween with the Addams Family", had the notable change of making the two crooks who tried to rob the family father and son.
* RemakeCameo: John Astin as Grandpapa Addams, Gomez's grandfather, in ''The New Addams Family''. The character is just Astin's incarnation of Gomez, but older. Lampshaded by the first thing Grandpapa says upon entering the Addams mansion being a hearty, joyous "I'm back!" Astin's performance proved so popular that Grandpapa returned for an additional episode!
* RepetitiveName: Thing T. Thing. And when prompted for what the T stands the answer is "Thing."
* ReunionShow: The 1977 television special ''Halloween with the New Addams Family''.
* RunningGag: The self-opening front gate, the cantankerous bell-pull to summon Lurch, the roaring bear rug, Gomez reading his stock ticker, Lurch's grab-and-crumple of guests' hats when they arrive and the phrase "Follow me," Gomez's doing headstands, and myriad others.
** The New Addams Family had a recurring gag of Wednesday trying to kill or seriously injure Pugsley, only for Thing to save the boy's life at the last minute.
* SalemIsWitchCountry: In episode "Halloween--Addams Style", Wednesday is crushed to hear from a neighbor that witches aren't real. So the family holds a seance in an effort to summon the spirit of Aunt Singe, an ancestor and a real witch who was burned at Salem.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: In ''Addams Family Reunion'', the family is mistakenly invited to another family's reunion, and when it looks like the eccentric billionaire grandfather is going to leave his money to the Addamses instead of his greedy Adams relatives, the rich family reports Gomez and Morticia to a DepartmentOfChildDisservices, steals Wednesday and Pugsley away, buries Lurch alive, and has Fester thrown in an insane asylum. But luckily, the grandfather uses his power and wealth to bail Gomez and Morticia out of jail, rescue Lurch before he runs out of oxygen, and rescue Fester from the asylum, while Wednesday and Pugsley take care of their foster family themselves.
* SeductionProofMarriage: In "The Winning of Morticia Addams," Dr. Chalon tries to put the moves on Morticia, but when she realizes what he's doing goes beyond friendliness, she sharply reminds him that she's married.
* ShaggyDogStory: Happens on occasion, although it's usually PlayedForLaughs.
** In "Portrait of Gomez" the family spends the whole episode trying to get a good picture of Gomez for their favorite magazine after receiving a letter that it will be featuring them. Then it turns out the magazine neither needs or wants a picture of Gomez himself and the story is about the house itself (it's being recognized as one of the most haunted ones in America, to the pleasure of the family).
** In "The Great Treasure Hunt" The family engages on a lot of preparations to find the lost treasure of a pirate ancestor, including hiring a boat (the crew of which instead attempt to burgle the mansion), before finding out that the treasure isn't buried at sea, but under the mansion itself. [[WorthlessTreasureTwist The treasure also turns out to be fake gold]].
* SheIsAllGrownUp:
** Wednesday has her "grownup" moments, wearing a miniature Morticia dress.
** Morticia herself in the flashback episodes that revealed how she and Gomez met. Gomez even invokes the trope with, "That cute little girl has grown up to become a beautiful woman!"
* ShoutOut:
** In one episode Morticia and Gomez try to think of a job for moptop Cousin Itt. Gomez says "I know! Music/TheBeatles! ... Nah, he'd be too much for them." Funnily enough, Music/TheBeatles actually were fans of the show.
** In another, we have this gem:
--->'''Uncle Fester:''' Hey, did you ever notice, ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie doesn't have any eyeballs?\\
'''Morticia:''' That's part of her charm.
** ''The New Addams Family'' explicitly states the Addams residence to be at 1313 Cemetery Lane as a shout-out to the Addamses' [[Series/TheMunsters one-time television rivals]], who lived at 1313 ''Mockingbird'' Lane.
* 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:
-->'''Lurch''': "Nobody cares about me."
* SilentSnarker: Lurch frequently finds ways to express displeasure or disapproval without speaking. He ''can'' speak, but very rarely does so.
* SleepingSingle: In "Lurch Learns to Dance," Gomez and Morticia are shown to sleep in twin beds -- nail beds, naturally!
* {{Sleepwalking}}: In "Gomez, the Cat Burglar," Grandma's yak stew causes Gomez to sleepwalk at night--and to start robbing houses in the neighborhood in his sleep.
* SpaceEpisode: Averted, but the family did ''try'' to go to the moon in "Addams Family Splurges."
* TheSpeechless: Thing. Sometimes he uses sign language. Once he gets so frantic trying to communicate with Gomez he's shaking too much to sign properly, prompting Gomez to cry, "I hate it when you stutter!"
* StatusQuoIsGod: Parodied in the reunion movie, where [[CharacterAgedWithTheActor the characters have aged along with their actors]] - Gomez has greying hair, and the kids are now young adults - but Gomez and Morticia have since had two other children, ''Pugsley Jr. and Wednesday Jr.'', who look and act as much as you'd expect.
* StockFootage: Whenever a new visitor enters the house, the same footage of its unusual furnishings is used.
** The shots of Kitty Cat coming down the stairs or into the living room from the parlor.
** The scenes of Gomez wrecking his toy trains, especially the actual explosion/crash coming from the first episode.
* StuffBlowingUp: Happens several times.
** Pugsley, Wednesday, and Uncle Fester all like to play with dynamite. One episode focuses on Wednesday getting in trouble for using Fester's explosives instead of her own.
** Gomez likes to blow up toy trains.
** Morticia once made an exploding rock and named it after World War Two.
* 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]].
* TeacherStudentRomance: Pugsley gets a crush on his teacher in "Gomez the Reluctant Lover." However, she doesn't return his affections and it doesn't last.
* TeamPet:
** Thing.
** Also, Kitty Cat, a lion, created especially for the series.
* TemporaryScrappy: The Robotoid is better than Lurch at nearly everything. It is, of course, evil, and Lurch has to save the day.
* TookALevelInKindness: Uncle Fester in The New Addams Family. Though he wasn't really a bad person anyway, this particular incarnation of Fester was portrayed as more friendly and jovial than usual. He even used his electric abilities to revive a hospital patient in the remake of ''Uncle Fester's Illness'' and went along with children that mistook him for the real Santa Claus in the remake of ''Christmas with the Addams Family''.
* TooKinkyToTorture: The whole family. Particularly Fester (when two burglars put his head in a vise) and the kids in ''The Addams Family Reunion''.
--> '''Gomez:''' Children. No matter how often you scream at them or how severely you punish them, they always beg for more.
* ToyBasedCharacterization: The two children, Wednesday and Pugsley, like decapitating Marie Antoinette dolls because they're {{Creepy Child}}ren.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The Addams were the first sitcom family with a home computer, albeit one that filled a room. Named "Whizzo," it appeared in at least two episodes, predicting horse races and an upcoming election. Gomez even refers to it as his 'personal computer' in the horse racing episode.
* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Morticia's sister Ophelia appeared in three episodes, played by Carolyn Jones.
* TheUnintelligible: Cousin Itt, but only to strangers (and the audience). Family members [[IntelligibleUnintelligible had no problem understanding what he was saying]].
** Averted in "My Fair Cousin Itt," when Morticia trains him to speak more slowly so he can act in a play. His voice becomes understandable, but he also gains a huge actor's ego. Eventually, Itt reverts back to his usual speech type.
* {{Unishment}}: A recurring source of frustration for many of their foes. Usually any attempt to make the strange Addams suffer [[TooKinkyToTorture only brings them pleasure]].
* UnusualPetsForUnusualPeople: The Addamses have as a housepet a full-grown lion they called Kitty Cat.
* UnwantedRescue: In ''Addams Family Reunion'', Lurch saves a RichBitch from drowning and gives her CPR. She isn't very grateful.
* VanityPlate: Being a Creator/{{Filmways}} production, its "globe" logo would appear at the end. The famous "This has been a Filmways presentation" announcement was sometimes given by Ted Cassidy in his normal speaking voice, sometimes by an anonymous baritone voice, and sometimes there was no voiceover.
* VillainProtagonist: Subverted. While they appear disturbing, the Addamses are kind and decent people.
* VineTentacles: Morticia's prize plant, a carnivorous African strangler named Cleopatra, often interacts with household guest via its highly mobile vines. Morticia insists she's just a very friendly plant offering hugs, but most people still find her unsettling. Not helped by the fact that at least one of Cleopatra's tendrils has a toothy mouth at its end with which she eats her favorite meaty treats.
* VoteEarlyVoteOften: Done accidentally (out of laziness rather 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.
* WaifFu: Ophelia knows her karate.
--> '''Hester:''' It was not for nothing she had all those judo and karate lessons!
--> '''Granny:''' Every girl should know judo and karate!
** Wednesday is mentioned to be a karate practitioner.
* WeightWoe: In "Fester Goes on a Diet," Uncle Fester wants to go on a date with a lady but they've never met and he worries he's too fat for her. He also worries that he's [[HeightAngst too short]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Katherine, Geoff, Melinda and Gina from ''The Addams Family Reunion'' all disappear from the film a bit abruptly a while before the ending (Katherine when last seen being chased by a hair-eating dog).
* WhiteSheep: Of the three children of Walter in ''The Addams Family Reunion'' while fairly stupid and greedy, Geoff doesn't seem to be trying to kill his father, unlike his siblings.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: In the series' only two-part episode, Morticia and Gomez tell the kids about how they met.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Gomez remembers an ancestor who used to be "deathly afraid of ghosts. Now he's one himself."
* WickedCultured: And ''how''. Even Lurch is a harpsichord virtuoso.
* WomenAreWiser: In ''The Addams Family Reunion'' while Melinda is a bit of an UpperClassTwit she's still better than her husband, suggest that they get lost and should go home while he refuses, as well as being opposed to gambling their 401(k) and house to Cousin Itt.
* WorldOfHam: ''OH YEAH!'''

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-->''"Thank you, Thing!"''
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