The Munsters (1964)
A family of friendly monsters that have misadventures all while never quite understanding why people react to them so strangely.
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When Eddie reads a school composition entitled “My Parents – An Average American Family” to his class, his teacher believes the boy is exhibiting symptoms of an overactive imagination. The school principal suggests that Eddie’s wild exaggerations might be motivated by an underprivileged home life. It is decided that a visit to the Munster home is in order.
To cure Herman of his hiccoughs, Grandpa puts him into a trance with the Transylvanian Brain Freeze. Meanwhile, a couple of fraternity pledges are sent to spend a night in the Munster house as part of their initiation. Thinking that sleeping Herman is a dummy, they bring him to a sorority house, where he awakens from his trance.
A massive argument erupts between Grandpa and Herman after Herman accidentally destroys a go-cart the two of them constructed for Eddie. Since Grandpa claims to own half of the house, Herman draws a white line down its center and insists that Grandpa remain on his side of the line.
Herman buys a convertible for Marilyn from a fly-by-night used-car dealer named Fair Deal Dan. Once he gets it home, it explodes into a piece of junk. Herman later finds out that the car is a stolen piece of junk when he is placed under arrest.
Eddie longs for the companionship of a younger brother, so Grandpa builds him a robot named Boris. Eddie becomes resentful of this silent, mechanical boy who is so considerate and well-behaved that he garners all of Herman’s attention and admiration.
Grandpa’s magic transforms Eddie from a rotten trumpet player into a classical music virtuoso. But when he needs to duplicate the potion for a command performance for Herman’s boss, Grandpa can’t remember the exact formula. Eddie is accidentally turned into a jazz-playing, jive-talking hipster.
Eddie gives Marilyn a ring he found in the attic as a birthday present. Grandpa recognizes it as the Fregosi Emerald, a centuries-old ring with a Transylvanian curse. Herman doesn’t believe in such a silly superstition; he is intent on proving that the ring does not bring about bad luck. He quickly regrets trying to do this.
A lady in Sioux City, Iowa, has placed an advertisement offering a reward for the return of her lost husband, who is Grandpa. Grandpa claims to have never seen this woman before in his life – but when he discovers that she’s filthy rich, he’s ready to sign an affidavit stating that she is his spouse.
With inheritance money from Cousin Wolverine, Grandpa and Herman develop an invention for transporting an electrical current without wires. Lily and Marilyn use the rest of the money to operate their own beauty salon. Both endeavors turn out to be disasters, causing various parties to take legal action.
The Munsters are heading for a vacation in Buffalo Valley when Herman gets off for a rest stop at Indian Flats. He wanders into the village of an Indian tribe that specializes in luring the tourist trade. The tribe’s eldest member mistakes Herman for an ancient spirit leader.
Herman is struck in the head by a bolt of lightning from one of Grandpa’s experiments. It causes him to become so disfigured that he ends up resembling officer Francis Muldoon from CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? (or how Fred Gwynne looks without makeup). Lily hopes to restore Herman’s old face with plastic surgery.
Herman tries to teach Eddie a lesson about the folly of gambling: he takes the money in Eddie’s piggy bank and bets it on a long shot at the racetrack. When the horse comes in a winner, it ruins the point of Herman’s lesson and leads to his entanglement with organized crime.
Herman advises Eddie to turn the other cheek when he gets pushed around by a bully. Shortly thereafter, Herman is the victim of a practical joke at work. Grandpa takes the situation in hand by teaching both Eddie and Herman how to box.
While searching for a fuse box in the dungeon, Herman and Grandpa discover a secret chamber and a clue to the pirate treasure hidden on the Munsters’ property.
The Munsters’ pet Spot runs away from home and is mistaken for a dangerous monster when he is sighted in the sewer. When Herman goes down the manhole to search for Spot, he too is mistaken for a dangerous monster. The Mayor vows to rid the city of these menaces by using TNT.
Eddie borrows a tape recorder belonging to the disc-jockey father of one of his friends. Herman records a version of DRY BONES, accompanying himself on the guitar. The following day, the disc jockey plays the song on his radio show – and it becomes an instant hit. Herman identifies himself as the mystery singer and quickly turns into an egomaniacal would-be celebrity. Grandpa comes to the rescue with his Nothin’ Muffins.
Herman gets promoted to hearse driver and has to renew his driver’s license. This requires him to take a road test, which he fails. Grandpa convinces him that he’d have better luck taking the test in a one-horse town. He turns out to be extremely correct.
To provide poor unfortunate Marilyn with a future husband, Grandpa tries to turn a frog into a prince. Conveniently, he chooses a nearsighted frog who won’t be put off by Marilyn’s hideous looks. Not realizing that the potion has failed, Grandpa and Herman mistake a passing stranger for their princely frog.
A 300-pound safe drops on Herman’s head, causing him to develop amnesia. In order to get him released into her custody, Lily petitions the court to adopt Herman as her son. Until he restores his memory, he is treated as Eddie’s brother John.
Herman becomes insanely jealous of Chester, a mysterious boarder whom Lily has bought into the household in yet another of her schemes to acquire a little extra cash. After searching Chester’s room, Herman concludes that he’s a gangster. In fact, he is a lieutenant for the police department.
When Herman visits the hospital to see Eddie, who is having his tonsils out, he is mistaken for an accident victim and is immediately given a dose of laughing gas. Grandpa rescues him and brings him home, where Lily assumes that Herman has been drinking.
Herman and Lily want to buy each other an elaborate gift for their 100th Anniversary. Without telling each other, they both take night jobs as ship welders. Since the job requires them to wear protective helmets that conceal their faces, they don’t realize whom they’re dealing with when they start flirting with each other.
When Eddie is called Lead Foot by the other kids on his track team, Herman offers to become his athletic coach. While demonstrating his out-of-this-world prowess in shot put, discus-throwing and pole-vaulting, Herman causes untold destruction and makes a fool of himself. Grandpa decides to come to the rescue by creating a magic speed pill that will make Eddie a champion runner.
Herman takes up amateur photography and accidentally snaps a picture of two men making their escape from a bank robbery. Herman has visions of getting a big reward for his evidence, but the bank robbers track him down and decide to hold up with the Munsters until the heat is off. This episode revisits the show’s recurrent fascination with criminality, especially bank robberies.
In yet another example of Eddie’s misguided regard for his father’s natural abilities, the young Munster enters Herman’s name in the bucking bronco contest at the local rodeo. Lily is unable to talk Herman out of such a dangerous task: he is intent on being a hero to his son in spite of the fact that he’s scared stiff. Meanwhile, the promoters plan to have Herman ride a horse that is guaranteed to break every bone in his body.
In this Cold War episode, a Russian fishing trawler picks up a scuba-diving Herman in its haul of fish and mistakes him for the missing link. The crew members report their find to Moscow, claiming it puts the Soviets ahead in the “missing link race”. The response from the Commissar is that Herman is an American spy.
Eddie is upset that his family does not treat him cruelly because he thinks this means they don’t care about him. When Eddie decides to run away from home, Herman employs a little child psychology, which naturally backfires. Various circumstances eventually lead to Herman’s getting involved with a dancing bear.
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A family of friendly monsters that have misadventures all while never quite understanding why people react to them so strangely.
Universal Television , Kayro-Vue Productions
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