History YMMV / TheMunsters

* TaintedByThePreview: pretty much any optimism for this movie vanished once the trailer dropped. With many criticizing the acting and extremely cheap looking sets, costumes, editing, and cinematography despite its 40 million dollar budget. With many comparing it to either a YouTube sketch or a porn parody.

* Tainted by the preview: pretty much any optimism for this movie vanished once the trailer dropped. With many criticizing the acting and extremely cheap looking sets, costumes, editing, and cinematography despite its 40 million dollar budget. With many comparing it to either a YouTube sketch or a porn parody.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The suspended animation plot in The Munsters Today is only used to explain why the characters haven't aged. The characters don't react at all to the changes that occurred in the intervening 20 years.

** Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher wrote 29 episodes and served as producers. Both are best known for serving as creators and producers of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver''.

* PeripheryDemographic: Though the titular family were designed as an allegory for European immigrants in America (who were more often than not white), the series picked up a prominent following among the Black community during its heyday thanks to how well the Munsters' plights resonated with those of African-Americans. Retrospective analysts even categorize the Munsters as among the first major examples of "Black-coded" characters in mainstream media (that is, characters who aren't written as Black but strongly parallel Black experiences).

* HilariousInHindsight: Minor example. As has already been mentioned on this page and others, ''The Munsters'' and ''The Addams Family'' are textbook examples of DuelingShows. You may be familiar with the fact that Vic Mizzy composed the iconic ''Addams Family'' theme. Now, guess who they got to score the 1981 ''The Munsters' Revenge'' reunion movie?

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The special effects for a 1960s cable show are ''very'' good for its time, notably with Spot the dragon or thr Invisible Man playing checkers with Grandpa.

* PeripheryDemographic: Though the titular family were designed as an allegory for European immigrants in America, the series picked up a prominent following among the Black community during its heyday thanks to how well the Munsters' plights resonated with those of African-Americans. Retrospective analysts even categorize the Munsters as among the first major examples of "Black-coded" characters in mainstream media (that is, characters who aren't written as Black but strongly parallel Black experiences).

** In the same episode, the parents' reaction to Galen telling them about Herman, sending him to a psychiatrist, would be considered too extreme by today's standards. Even if they didn't believe what Galen was saying, modern parents would more likely applaud him for being creative instead.

** Jerry Paris directed three episodes. Paris is best known for playing Jerry Helper on ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'', for which he also directed several episodes. He also directed several episodes of such shows as ''Series/HappyDays'', ''[[Series/HeresLucy Here's Lucy]]'', and ''Series/LaverneAndShirley''.

* FairForItsDay: The entire show is about a working-class family of quirky immigrants, who are all generally depicted as loving towards each other [[Franchise/TheAddamsFamily without getting along perfectly]] [[Series/TheBradyBunch all the time,]] as well as hard workers who want to assimilate while keeping their own traditions from the old country. That it was very popular for an era that was not always very accepting of foreigners says a lot.

* ValuesResonance: The episode "Eddie's Nickname", which aired a few months after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, had Herman teach Eddie that "It doesn't matter what you look like...you can be tall, or short, or fat, or thin, or black, or yellow, or white...it doesn't matter. What DOES matter is the size of your heart and the strength of your character." In 2020 this clip has become more relevant than ever with current events.
** Lily is meant to be a satirical take on the June Cleaver type of {{Housewife}} who is completely devoted to home and family, and she is, but she also never hesitated to take on jobs outside the domestic sphere to help support everyone.
** Actually, in one of the episode where Lily secretly gets a job, the situation seems so bad that even Marilyn offers to drop out of college to help out financially, but Lily quickly vetoes that, insisting that Marilyn get an education. The show was made in a time where college wasn't seen as necessarily for girls as it is today, and at best could be used to find a future husband.
** There are several episodes where people are actually quite accepting of the Munsters, despite their scary appearances and strange habits. The Munsters can ''very'' easily be seen as representing foreigners or anyone living a very unusual lifestyle, which for a show made in the early 1960s gives it an extra touching layer.

* InformedWrongness: In "My Fair Munster", the Dailys are portrayed as utterly snobbish and mean for being displeased that their son invited the whole Munsters clan. But it's pretty understandable why so.ekne would be upset; they may not have enough space or refreshments to go around.

* TheWoobie: Marilyn. Everyone in the family, including herself, thinks she's hideous, and anytime she tries to form a relationship with a boy the family scares him off or something else goes wrong.

* There are several episodes where people are actually quite accepting of the Munsters, despite their scary appearances and strange habits. The Munsters can ''very'' easily be seen as representing foreigners or anyone living a very unusual lifestyle, which for a show made in the early 1960s gives it an extra touching layer.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped:
** Herman's famous speech to Eddie, mentioned below, about how having good character should matter far more than the color of your skin.
** In the first episode, Herman is laughed at when his real face is revealed under his King Arthur costume at the masquerade party the parents of Marilyn's beau are throwing. Herman doesn't even notice but Lily is outraged on his behalf and makes her family leave. It ends up not working out between Marilyn and Tom, who doesn't apologize for his parents' and friends' rudeness. Lily rightly remarks that having money clearly doesn't give you manners.

** In the first episode, Herman is laughed at when his real face is revealed under his King Arthur costume at the masquerade party the parents of Marilyn's beau are throwing. Herman doesn't even notice but Lily is outraged on his behalf and makes her family leave. It ends up but working out between Marilyn and Tom, who doesn't apologize for his parents' and friends' rudeness. Lily rightly remarks that having money clearly doesn't give you manners.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Just like ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'', the original TV series was wildly popular in Mexico during it original run.

** It's been said that the Munsters can be considered Jewish, and it's not that far off. The family does have rather different traditions in food, clothing, behavior, their culture is significantly unusual enough to startle outsiders. Furthermore, Grandpa's birth place of Transylvania had over 160,000 Jews lived in the northern part of that region and Romania had a sizable Jewish population prior to the Holocaust. Though the family does mingle with people at large, it is when someone really stops to notice any of them, especially Herman or Grandpa, that their "otherness" becomes apparent.

** It's been said that the Munsters can be considered Jewish, and it's not that far off. The family does have rather different traditions in food, clothing, behavior, their culture is significantly unusual enough to startle outsiders. Furthermore, Romania had a sizable Jewish population with over 160,000 Jews living in northern Transylvania prior to the Holocaust. Though the family does mingle with people at large, it is when someone really stops to notice any of them, especially Herman or Grandpa, that their "otherness" becomes apparent.

* ContestedSequel: ''The Munsters Today'' gets a lot of flack, particularly because of its initial premise being that the Munsters of the original show ended up in the late 1980's because of being in suspended animation for over 20 years, but it still has its share of fans.

** It's been said that the Munsters can be considered Jewish, and it's not that far off. The family does have rather different traditions in food, clothing, behavior, their culture is significantly unusual enough to startle outsiders. Though the family does mingle with people at large, it is when someone really stops to notice any of them, especially Herman or Grandpa, that their "otherness" becomes apparent.

** "Follow That Munster" uses the slur "wetback" in dialogue, and one of Herman's detective disguises is an Asian caricature with glasses and buck teeth that would be considered offensive today.

* "Follow That Munster" uses the slur "wetback" in dialogue, and one of Herman's detective disguises is an Asian caricature with glasses and buck teeth that would be considered offensive today.