The Addams are an eccentric old-money clan who delight in the macabre and the grotesque and they are seemingly unaware or unconcerned that other people find them bizarre or frightening.

Members of the family were introduced one by one, with Morticia first, Gomez (based on Thomas E. Dewey) joining four years later, Pugsley, and finally Wednesday and Fester shortly after.

These stories were eventually anthologized in From the Dust Returned (2001), with a connecting narrative, an explanation of their collaboration, and the artwork Addams had created for the project in 1946.

[15][14] In the early 1960s, NBC executive David Levy stumbled across one of Addams' books in a New York bookstore and realized that the tone would be perfect for television.

Producer Nat Perrin took a "less evil" approach to the characters and stories than Addams had in the cartoons, emphasizing lighter, more comedic elements.

It was shot using a house set that had been constructed for the horror film Ben, which didn't resemble the original Addams mansion and caused technical issues with lighting.

A fan quoted by Cox credited the tone of the Addams family for its success in 1980s Australia, noting that the characters were "less American" than the Munsters, and that Australians had a different life-style.

Astin reprised his role as Gomez for a 1989 episode of Nick at Nite's Sitcom Zone, in which he introduced reruns of shows for a two-hour programming block.

The film featured a new cast, Blossom Rock (Grandmama) having died in 1978, Ted Cassidy (Lurch) in 1979, Carolyn Jones (Morticia) in 1983 and Jackie Coogan (Fester) in 1984.

Production on the film was troubled, with Sonnenfeld blacking out on set, and a burst blood vessel in Raul Julia's eye further delaying the shoot.

Director of photography Owen Roizman quit the production three months from completion, forcing Sonnenfeld to take on the role in addition to his existing responsibilities.

[22] A second film in 1993, Addams Family Values was highly regarded by critics but performed poorly at the box office unexpectedly, and earned less than half the revenue of its predecessor.

That year a pinball machine based on the franchise was also released, featuring original voice acting from Julia and Huston as Gomez and Morticia.

In 2007, Elephant Eye Theatrical announced that they had obtained the rights to a musical adaptation of the comic series, which at that time were held by the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation.

Miles Millar and Alfred Gough began work on a live action spin off series entitled Wednesday in 2019, financed by MGM.

According to the film version, the family credo is, Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc (pseudo-Latin: "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us").

[30] In the 2019 film, the Addamses live in an abandoned asylum located in the outskirts of the state of New Jersey which is haunted by a disembodied resident who demands the property to remain undisturbed.

Although most of the humor derives from the fact that they share macabre interests, such as putting each other and themselves in the way of bodily harm (none of which seems to have any effect), the television Addamses are not evil.

Four members of the original cast (John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan, and Ted Cassidy) returned for the special, which involved the Addamses in a mystery with the Scooby-Doo gang.

The cast included Glenn Taranto as Gomez Addams, Ellie Harvie as Morticia, Michael Roberds as Fester, Brody Smith as Pugsley, Nicole Fugere (the only cast member from Addams Family Reunion to return) as Wednesday, John DeSantis as Lurch, Betty Phillips as Grandmama and Steven Fox as Thing.

In 2021, Netflix announced a live-action TV series adaptation based on Wednesday Addams, produced by MGM Television and starring Jenna Ortega as the title character.

[37] In addition, Fred Armisen appears as Uncle Fester, George Burcea as Lurch, Victor Dorobantu as Thing, and Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley.

Hunter Doohan, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, Emma Myers, Naomi J. Ogawa, Joy Sunday, Percy Hynes White, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane and Gwendoline Christie were also added to the cast as series regulars.

It has no relation to the Paramount movies, being in fact a full-length pilot for a second live-action television version, The New Addams Family, produced and shot in Canada.

The only actors in this Warner Bros./Saban Entertainment production to have played in the previous Paramount films were Carel Struycken as Lurch and Christopher Hart as Thing.

[47] By October 2017, Conrad Vernon had been hired to direct the film, which he will also produce along with Berman and Alex Schwartz, based on a screenplay written by Pettler, with revisions by Matt Lieberman.

Bill Hader played a new character named Dr. Cyrus Strange, while Javon replaced Finn Wolfhard as the voice of Pugsley Addams.

In 1994, the actors cast as the Addamses in the first two films (sans the recently deceased Raul Julia) were in several Japanese television spots for the Honda Odyssey.

[67] The production was directed by Matthew White and it opened at Edinburgh Festival Theatre on April 20, 2017, starring Samantha Womack, Les Dennis and Carrie Hope Fletcher.

[74] Similarly, Time has compared "the relevance and the cultural reach" of the family with those of the Kennedys and the Roosevelts, "so much a part of the American landscape that it's difficult to discuss the country's history without mentioning them".