Netflix Wednesday (Addams Family) live action tv series

I searched, and didn't find an existing topic for this here. Netflix is developing a new live action series about Wednesday Addams. Although, its apparently going to be rather different from what people would expect from the Addams Family.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/wednesday-addams-netflix-series-catherine-zeta-jones-morticia-1235037693/

Here is the synopsis:

In addition, Jenny Ortega has been cast as Wednesday, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, and Luis Guzman as Gomez.

What do people think of this concept? I know it sounds pretty left field for the Addams Family. Personally though, I think it could be good, in the right hands. I think itf they gave the show a campy tone, and played it as a black comedy with some elements of genuine mystery and drama, then it could work. That probably won't happen though. We'll see.

Any other thoughts?

I'm looking forward to it, and happy that they're casting the Addamses as a mixed Latino family.

Surprisingly, Burton's name is what's giving me the most pause. "Addams Family by Tim Burton" sounds like the kind of concept that would have been killer in the late '90s, but he's been falling flat the last decade.

I remember hearing about this a while ago. It makes sense, IIRC Wednesday is the most popular character from the Adams family

In case anyone is interested, they released a teaser for the series. Its just Thing for now. https://collider.com/wednesday-series-teaser-thing-addams-family-spinoff-netflix/amp/

Christina Ricci will be in this too, playing someone other than Wednesday.

News from Geeked Week

And a quick Wednesday (+Thing) look reveal:

Edited by Synchronicity on Jun 6th 2022 at 12:30:51 PM

Vanity Fair has an article showing new images of the cast: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/addams-family-first-look-wednesday

Gonna be honest, from the premise alone...

Idk, im kinda getting Sabrina vibes from it?

Like, oops, we fucked up Sabrina, quick, what can we throw out and file the serial numbers off of while cashing in on nostalgia?

Depends on the tone, I guess.

What I liked about Sabrina, was that none of the main characters where morally good people. The producers did not try to make satanic witches the good guys. They were the protagonists, sure but they straight up murdered people.

The Addams Family has always been portrayed as morally good. They may have different values and customs, but they do not wish anybody harm. They love each other very much and are supportive of each other. That alone would be a contrast to the dysfunctional Family dynamic of Sabrina.

Point is, if they really wanna make this a Sabrina copy, they would loose what makes the Addams family so unique.

For the record Sabrina was cancelled in December 2020 and this was announced in February 2021. While it's not completely impossible, the narrow timeframe makes the "this show was created as a reflex to cancelling sabrina" relatively unlikely.

More plausibly I could see Netflix liking the audience Sabrina attracted but finding the show didn't take off as they hoped and so cancelled it and tried it again with a much bigger IP. But this wouldn't be a reaction as much as a deliberate calculus.

A brand new trailer has been released:

To my understanding this is actually false, though it's mostly down to Adaption Displacement. The Addams family comes from a comic strip IIRC, and in that comic strip they were actually evil. When that was adapted to television, they decided to make them good guys, which was probably a better idea anyways.

This looks plenty fun but CHRIST that piranha bit. I know casual murder threats are an Addams tradition but actually showing a kid getting eaten alive is pretty dark even by this franchise's standards.

It's not false, it's just that there's a lot of Adaptation Displacement. Most adaptations of Addams are in some way based on the tv show, not the comic (the only exception I can think of the recent animated films), so the OP is right that Addams Family has been getting away from the concept it's largely inspired by over time.

To that end, it's worth noting that the current dark turn the Addams have gone in stuff like Wednesday through has nothing to do with the original comic either. It's dark, but not at all in the same way.

This feels more like Follow the Leader from shows like Sabrina, the newer Nancy Drew, Riverdale, etc. The upcoming Velma series is the same way.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Aug 17th 2022 at 12:38:49 PM

I didn't mean it quite so literal, tbh. We also wouldn't know what this Wednesday project looked like in Jan 2021 vs. the product we're getting.

And... based on that trailer, I don't actually think my assessment is too far off. The Addams Family from the original TV Series and on never really went quite to this extent of... gore?

Like, they had their suggestion of gore and things but it was never much more than implication; Wednesday making reference to young girls having thoughts of homicide or pouring a cauldron of boiling whatever off their roof and implied to hit the carolers below. Or I think Morticia handing Wednesday a larger cleaver in one of the movies?

Like, the darkness is there but it's played as a joke of contrast and expectations and the actual event is off screen.

Even when we get, say, the school play in the films; the kids don't murder anyone. The blood and gore is excessive but it's also extremely fake. Or the Thanksgiving Play in the sequel has them cause chaos and light things on fire but no one actually dies. Murder would be excessive even if the targets are unlikable brats.

"You bullied my brother so you don't deserve your dick" seems like... a choice. I realize it's a trailer and we don't have the full context for what's going on here; for all I know the bully in question sexually assaulted Pugsley which is... a very big if separate conversation to have, but what am I actually supposed to feel here???

Are we supposed to be going "Wow. Feminism. The outcast girl castrated the macho chad? Sexism is dead"? "That bully sure did get what he deserved" revenge fantasy?

"Some people don't deserve to procreate" is... a line. Isn't "Here's a feminist lead. She cuts off a man's dick" supposed to be... the joke and extreme exaggeration of Feminist media, not what we actually want and what's actually feminist.

Because I don't really think we're supposed to get the feeling that "Dear god, this child is a monster person"? Because that sure is what I'm getting out of it. They took the joke seriously. And I don't think that's what people wanted out of a Wednesday Addams story?

When I think of a Wednesday Addams series, I think of those You Tube shorts from a few years ago that were hilarious but portrayed Wednesday in a genuine, feminist, and nuanced way but without making a mockery of anything. She'd get back at bullies and monsters in karmic ways, but she also never explicitly murdered anyone.

Maybe it's just a really really bad trailer but... I'm already off this train.

From what I've seen the Addams were indeed more morally ambiguous in the original comic strips, but I don't believe they ever targeted or harmed anyone either. Most of the humor was fairly similar to the adaptations, it is, a parody of the stereotypical American family in which the family members behave in a completely opposite way of what is expected, like the parents getting proud of their children having bad behavior at school and the such. So there is a bit of a case of Adaptational Heroism, but I don't think they were ever originally villains either.

Curiously enough, Wednesday was the complete opposite of the dark and grim girl she is more well-known for, being a cheerful child as part of the whole parodic aspect of the strips.

Edited by good-morning on Aug 17th 2022 at 12:36:42 PM

I see where you're coming from. Maybe its revealed that the guy in the pool was a rapist or something. Not necessarily raping Pugsly, but maybe some of the girls at school or something. If it really is what the trailer and pictures makes it look like, i.e. he shoved Pugsley into a locker (albeit in an exaggerated way with ropes and such) and that was the only reason Wednesday did that, then yeah that would be a case of disproportionate retribution. If its the only time something like that happens in the show (at least from the protagonist) then I can probably overlook it.

Edited by Neveratall on Aug 17th 2022 at 12:16:50 PM

I would say the Addams are neither Evil nor good, but rather they operate on Blue-and-Orange Morality.

Basically they treat other people like they would their own family (including acts like torture and attempted murders, which to the Addams is like fun and games), oblivious to the fact that they are very different from everyone else around them.

And I did point that out. Like, maybe there's some greater context where this makes sense to the Wednesday we know.

But it feels like a really weird first foot to put out the door?

The violence in earlier iterations were the joke. Never gory. Implied. And humorous. This just... wasn't funny. There wasn't a joke.

I also guess I feel... different as revenge porn fantasies set in schools these days? Kids killing or maiming each other kinda hits different to me with everything going on in the news the last few years. Like, especially if it's on screen. Again, the old stuff coated the violence with enough humor, cartoon logic, and off-screen implications to keep it light and funny.

I wanna try and remember; hey, sometimes things have a bad first trailer. Bad first trailers happen. Q Force last year was something I really enjoyed inspite of the awful awful marketing.

But, if a trailer is all I have to judge...

"From the mind of Tim Burton".

Well, you can't accuse them of false advertizing, that's for sure.

For whatever its worth, I've seen some people on other sites who actually really liked the trailer. This includes people who were previously skeptical of the show, but actually ended up being impressed with the trailer and now were looking forward to the series. I've even seen a few people say the opening pool scene was "classic Addams Family". I'm not saying I entirely agree with that, but those are just some reactions I've seen.

So, it seems like the trailer got its intended reaction from at least some people. Maybe its a generational thing, or that some people have a higher tolerance for morally ambiguous main characters these days.

Edited by Neveratall on Aug 18th 2022 at 11:40:55 AM

I don't really feel like it has anything to do with moral ambiguity. I love moral ambiguity. Some of my favorite works are all about morality.

...Dumping man-eating fish into a swimming pool and damn anyone they eat isn't morally ambiguous? Where's the ambiguity in that action?

I feel I should reiterate; I love Wednesday Addams. I loved her from her more wholesome soft version of the sitcom era. I loved the 90s take with Christina Ricci. I fucking adored the 2010s You Tube fan series and was pissed when the Charles Addams estate had issue with it. I have... no informed opinion on the newer animated movie because I've consistently heard they're pretty bad.

I have issue with the tone, framing, and execution of this. Like, you could probably get away with this exact beat if, instead, we were sitting in the guidance councilor's office after the event and we only had Wednesday's snark. Or if the kid were dragged under in a really absurd splash of water and we later saw him walking around pulling Piranhas off his body. Even in the 90s movie where they want to kill the baby brother; it's a point that they are hilariously unsuccessful in doing so.

The Addams Family is dark, but, like, they don't condone murder really. You wouldn't show Wednesday and Pugsley dismembering a corpse to hide it from cops. They're gothic and they're creepy and love the morbid but they're not serial killers. Wednesday had a toy doll of Marie Antoinette, not Lizzie Borden or Elizabeth Báthory.

Granted, I used to want American Horror Story to kinda riff on Addams Family a bit and take it to the level of "The Family that slays together, stays together", but also because that's not who the Addams were in the first place. The dark humor about murder and weapons not being a joke would be the twist at that point.

Edited by InkDagger on Aug 18th 2022 at 9:51:10 AM

For what it's worth, I put on the first animated movie at a Halloween party last year and found it alright. Definitely not on par with the 90s films but serviceable overall.

I'm not terribly well versed in all the different versions of the Addams Family across media, but at least in the 90s movies with Christopher Lloyd and Raul Julia it was was pretty well outright stated that they would not tolerate attacks from outsiders. Wednesday's attack with the piranhas (which appear to have maimed the kid who was bitten rather than killed him) seems in character with that.

Again, it's the tone and framing. The 90s movies were cartoony in violence. Stuff is off-screen or in implication or just plain comedic. No one really gets maimed or killed or when they do, again, it's for comedy. Debbie in Values doesn't horrifically scream as her skin chars like it's Shawshank Redemption; she explodes into a pile of dust, high-heels, and several credit cards.

Or compare to the bully girl also in Values; Wednesday disrupts the play, sets the stage on fire, and causes complete chaos to upstage the little brat. The last thing we see of her is being tied to a stake and Wednesday lighting a match in an extremely over the top, campy, cartoony way. Maybe she lit the fire. Maybe she didn't. I feel like there'd be bigger issues if she did, so I don't think she does, but to each their own I guess.

She doesn't, like, cut out her ovaries or anything. "You will never bare your sins onto your children" or something dark. And doing so would dramatically change everything all of a sudden.

Like, fine, maybe that's what they're going for; "It's not your father's Addams Family". It's kinda what Sabrina did (both comics and show) by switching to that Darker Edgier format. Swapping expectations. This is setting a tone for "We're doing Addams, but it's not cooky and funny". Just because it's darker/edgier doesn't mean it's good.

People tend to go to Addams for over-the-top gothic comedy, not over-the-top violence.

What I really want to know is where the hell she sourced those piranha from. Like you can't get those at a neighborhood pet shop; they are something you'd have to import and hope like hell customs doesn't seize them.