How Batman killed the Munsters tv show

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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Lou Szabo
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Re: How Batman killed the Munsters tv show

Post by Lou Szabo »

As a little kid, I enjoyed the Munsters. It’s a shame they couldn’t coexist, but that sort of theme can run out of gas in a couple of years. Still miss my Munsters lunchbox. Has there been any prime time monster series that lasted more than 2 or 3 years?

It does make sense that these live on in reruns, as every year there’s a new batch of young viewers that discover the show. Sesame Street follows a similar pattern.

I guess the challenge all these show face is how to keep the existing audience, but add to it faster than you lose any existing members.

Maybe these new models of binge watching short seasons can help. Even those need a longer thread running through them.
Some days you just can't get rid of a ... SHARK!
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Therin of Andor
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Re: How Batman killed the Munsters tv show

Post by Therin of Andor »

Interesting that "Munster, Go Home!", made in colour, premiered on June 15, 1966, in NYC (and more widely on August 6, 1966) and the "Batman" feature on July 30, 1966. Both movies made to introduce international audiences to the characters.
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Therin of Andor

(aka Ian McLean, from Sydney, Australia)
Commodore Schmidlapp
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Re: How Batman killed the Munsters tv show

Post by Commodore Schmidlapp »

I'm a huge Munsters fan, and like Batman, even though it had a short run, it did pretty much run its course. The later episodes of The Munsters are similar to Batman's third season in that the envelope of absurdity was being pushed to the brink.

I actually love the absurdist angle in both shows, as well as Green Acres, which also went off the deep end in later seasons. But I know fans of these shows, as well as the actors, weren't necessarily on board. In one of the bonus features from the Munsters' DVD sets, Al Lewis (Grandpa) expressed his dislike of the later storylines.

Fred Gwynn was actually relieved when The Munsters got cancelled, as it was an hours-long daily grind getting made up as Herman Munster.

Munster Go Home was completely underwhelming. It was odd seeing them in color, and the studio not allowing Pat Priest to play Marilyn made it feel different from the tv show; especially since the Marilyn character was such a big part of the Munster Go Home plot.
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STEPhonIT
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Re: How Batman killed the Munsters tv show

Post by STEPhonIT »

The Munsters was wonderfully written and it was shame the show was cancelled, I can't remember how many shows during that year is still watched and beloved to today. It was unfortunate the network perceived The Munsters had similar themes when it didn't and had better ratings because of the time slots. This just showed the Networks didn't know what they had and like the smear of the genre namely comic book horror they snub their nose on it and were embarrassed by the source material.
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