MartinHafer During the 1970s and into the 80s, a ton of classic TV comedies were brought back though made for TV movies. What revivals of "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Leave it to Beaver", "The Andy Griffith Show", "Green Acres" and other programs have in common is that the reunion shows were painful to watch. Much of it is because you simply cannot recreate the magic and much of it is because the writing was so bad and much of it is because several of these revivals were ruined by dead cast members. For example, with the "Leave it to Beaver" special, Hugh Beaumont was dead so scenes with him were done by having June talk to Ward at his grave!! In the case of "The Beverly Hillbillies" too many old cast members were dead or refused to do the reunion...so they did it anyway!So how does this "Addams Family" reunion stack up with the rest? Well, in some ways it's quite a bit better. The only dead cast member was Blossom Rock (Grandmama) and she was not a pivotal member of the cast. In addition, several very familiar old 60s TV guest stars (Parley Baer and Vito Scotti) were there as well. So at least in this sense the show achieved something...though the house set was gone and the Addams' new house just isn't the same. As far as the most important part goes, the show is only fair...at best. The writing and pacing of the show TRY to recreate the magic but cannot. The plot is only okay at best and the laugh track didn't work because the laughs and goofiness were just not there. Overall, mildly interesting for die-hard fans but like all the reunion shows I mentioned, it's still a mistake...albeit a better than usual mistake for the genre. A score of 4, while not good, is lightyears better than the "Green Acres" and "Beverly Hillbillies" reunions...and slightly better than the others I mentioned.

John Young As stated by others, this is not as well-crafted as the more recent movies, but this was a pilot attempt to revive the original series in 1977.Nearly all the cast returned, and new young children (Wednesday Junior and Puglsey Junior) were also added. Unlike the sound stage original, this special was shot on video in a real house, with props added, including good ol' Thing.But, like many other shows that made the black and white to color transformation, the Addams' gallows dark humor seems lost in a bright colorful world of early video tape. Still, hats off to the performance of the original cast especially John Astin, Caroline Jones, Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy.

mrlanceb Like so many movies that revisit an old TV series, this one misses the mark. The stark look of the video tape it was shot on, the bright color, and the set lighting that looks more like a nighttime landscape showcase do nothing to capture the charm of the old show. I wouldn't go as far as to say it should have been in black and white, but film instead of videotape, please, and do something with the lighting to give it a more appropriate look. The house is nothing like the old Addams mansion - rather it looks like a place where Hollywood types frequently party.The original actors are all good, but the story is not. After awhile it all seems inane and boring. And the Halloween song near the end... please... make it stop (or at least hit the MUTE button.) Another opportunity to pay proper homage to a classic 60's show is lost. I know it was a TV-movie, but if that's the result, why bother?

jumbobrain This low-budget, color video followup to the 1960s Addams Family series was a hardcore stinker. The original series, which in my opinion was never as clever as the original Charles Addams cartoons which inspired it, nevertheless had a certain charm and atmosphere that made a big impact on me as a kid. This special had none of that, and was little more than a chance to point the camera at the same group of actors (or at least the surviving ones). I mean, it ends with the family singing a Halloween carol! How lame is that? I had the good fortune to meet Charles Addams shortly before he died in 1988. While he was politely dismissive of the original series (he called it a kids' show, but not a bad one), he mentioned the reunion show as being singularly terrible. I agree.