Marilyn (Beverly Owen * for the first 13 episodes Pat Priest * for the rest of the series), the pretty blonde Unfazed Everyman of the series, Marilyn is the shockingly normal muggle niece of the family.He sometimes reports being discriminated against by his neighbors - not because he's a blood-sucking demon of the night, but because he's European. A combination Count Dracula and Mad Scientist, Grandpa is an Omnidisciplinary Scientist with at least one degree in Occult Magic. Grandpa (Al Lewis), Herman's Lancer and usually the instigator for the show's zany scheme of the week.She and Herman have one of TV's most successful marriages-during the series they celebrated their 100th Anniversary! Lily had some progressive traits for a housewife of her time: she's spunky, unafraid to speak her mind, and is fairly independent and never hesitates to find a job outside the home if need be, and sometimes more unusual jobs than what when were expected to do, like fortune telling or modeling. Often seen bailing Herman and/or Grandpa out of trouble. The child of immigrant parents, Lily is more keenly aware of social standards than the rest of her family, but nevertheless cheerily goes about her bizarre habits anyway. Lily ( Yvonne De Carlo), Herman's doting housewife is a vampiress with a touch of Bride of Frankenstein.He stands out from other sitcom dads for having a more active role in his son's and niece's lives for a 60s dad and not just sitting there yelling at them from behind his paper. Later, it is established that a British family named Munster had adopted Herman. It is worth noting that Herman is considered to be the most successful of Doctor Frankenstein's many efforts-presumably since he didn't tear apart the countryside. Employed as a gravedigger for Gateman, Goodbury and Graves Funeral Parlor. Though he believes himself to be a Standard '50s Father, he's really more of a Bumbling Dad and loveable idiot. Herman ( Fred Gwynne), the 7-foot-tall Frankenstinian patriarch of the family.(This is itself an extension of the socioeconomic angle: Blue Blood 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.) 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. And while the Addamses are borderline supernatural in some vaguely defined way, the Munsters are explicit monsters based on well-known horror archetypes. 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, while the Munsters are working-class recent immigrants (Grandpa having immigrated from Transylvania), and Herman has a quite coarse sense of humour. Though the Munsters themselves are often compared with the eponymous Addams Family, there are considerable differences. They also helped set the standard for what a healthy marriage looked like not only were Lily and Herman among the first TV couples to be seen sharing a bed together, but their marriage is over a hundred years old! They also showed a realistic relationship, in that while they would have occasional disagreements and sometimes even argue, they still remained extremely supportive of one another and rather than make grand romantic gestures, their love was shown in the little ones, like Herman famously giving Lily pecks on the cheek before work. with the exception of cousin Marilyn, who didn't inherit "The Family Look". The humor of the series came from the odd juxtaposition of many "cartoon" antics in a live-action series, namely "Fast Motion", as well as the fact that despite their gothic appearance, the family doesn't seem to think they're different from anyone else. The Munsters experienced surprisingly high ratings during the period before the Batman TV series came on, revolutionizing color TV. A Mundane Fantastic Dom Com, originally airing on CBS from 1964–66, about a working class family of would-be monsters.
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