If not Astin, then who?

[Riddlersgurl]

There was no saving that episode, in my opinion.

Frank did his best, to be sure; but the script itself was pretty stupid.

Like most of Season Three.

[mattman]

There were some gems. The Penguin stories were ok,as was the Shame tale.
Then of course theres Tut.
But I get your jist

[Riddlersgurl]

Tut is always fun to watch.

Victor Buono certainly knew how to chew up the scenery, if nothing else.

[Batfan 66]

I think Jerry Lewis would be a great choice too!
Cant imagine Doctor Smith(Jonathan Harris) as the Riddler..oh the pain!
Don knotts would indeed make an interesting scarecrow!
Don Rickles..cant say the name without laughing! I'm not sure Rickles would work, the cast wouldn't be able to get through a scene without busting up! "Hey Batman, riddle me this you hockey puck!!!" Too funny!
Anna Gram was a great henchwoman, my favorite part is where she kicks Robin in the shin!

[clavierankh]

Let me ask this question. If Astin had been the first Riddler what you hav thought of him? I know that;s hard to answer , but that's my point.

If after the first season of Addams family John Astin had gotten into a contract dispute and been replaced by Frank Gorshin I think people would have hated it. John was Gomez. JUst as after eight first season episodes and a movie Frank was Riddler

John would have been marvelous as a villain that could use the kind of wit he delivered as Gomez, but he could never be the Riddler.

I also got the feeling the script was written for Frank and had few rewrites. His Am I not the King monologue sounds more like Frank. That makes it eve harder for an actor when he is trying to do material specifically written for another actor.

[Riddler Fan]

Phyically, Astin was more correct for the role of Riddler judging by his few (a grand total of 3!!!)appearances in the comics by the time the show aired in 1966. But of course the real Riddler had no mustache and Astin had only grown his for the role of Gomez Addams. He had been in another sitcom before Addams Family aired without his famous cookie duster. The real Riddler was more of a diabolical fiend in the comics and nowhere near as giddy as Gorshin portrayed him to be. I think Astin would have been better received if he had originated the role, rather than filling in for Gorshin. If that had happened, we'd probably be complaining about how Gorshin was a weak replacement Riddler.

[exm]

Clavierankh's first question is easy to answer. Nobody would have minded Astin as the Riddler in season one - the Riddler's personality was a blank slate, at that point. The comics just had an egotistical guy who came up with riddles.

This also kind of points towards the question: why wasn't Frank Gorshin cast as the Joker to begin with? I personally suspect ABC had orders for its shows to feature regularly-appearing minority characters, and Dozier basically got around that by casting a Hispanic in a role that nobody would associate with any ethnicity, considering the facial features were covered by white make-up.

I could be wrong, of course - maybe the manic, giggling portrayal Gorshin brought wasn't something the producers had anticipated for the Riddler. Another possibility is just that Gorshin was offered it and said no to wearing all the make-up, but I believe Jose Ferrer had been offered the role prior to Romero

[epaddon]

He had been in another sitcom before Addams Family aired without his famous cookie duster.

"I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" with Marty Ingels. The first half of those episodes were released on DVD incidentally and Yvonne Craig appears in the pilot episode and also does a commentary for it.