Its protagonists were monsters, in the broadest sense of the word. One of the great series of the golden 60s that, due to a series of bureaucratic misunderstandings, only had two seasons and was even lost being able to be seen in color.
Here in Spain it was seen, like everything in those years, in rigorous black and white. Many years later, the next generation to which I subscribe had the opportunity to see it thanks to that great TVE program that was The Crystal Ball. If the characters of the program presented by Alaska were strange, Herman, Lily and the rest of the dark clan won the affection of the viewers... and without any fear.
The Monster Family was the brainchild of Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher and marked a milestone in sitcoms in the United States. The reason? Compared to a large number of series set in family units, this one showed the same thing but with somewhat different characters. They, the Monsters, did the same things but the difference was that the grandfather was a vampire, the father of the family a monster similar to the one created by Dr. Frankenstein, the mother a vampire dressed in rags and the little one, a werewolf.
The niece was the strangest of all, since she was a human with blonde hair who went to the High School every day and lived with them completely normally. If the characters were strange, the house was no less so: a doorbell that sounded like a howl, everything covered in cobwebs, dust, old furniture and a central staircase that rose like a garage door and hid the shelter where grandfather had his laboratory. As a general rule, his inventions were failures and there were always sounds of explosions and smoke, a lot of smoke.
The house was a mansion and was located near a cemetery. How scared the postman or the visitors were when the matriarch of the family thought of having a snack inviting the neighbors!
Color killed the Monsters
The Monster Family, broadcast in Spain by TVE, was produced by CBS and aired in the United States between 1964 and 1966. It only had two seasons and seventy episodes were made. Even today it is considered by many to be a cult series.
Despite its great success, the series was canceled due to a financial disagreement between the network and the producers when they decided that the series would be recorded to be broadcast in color.
Herman, the patriarch of the family
The clan was headed by grandfather, Lily's father and the only one who had lived many years ago in Transylvania. Sometimes he had moments of melancholy and longed for his land back in Romania.
The patriarch of the family - although a bit scatterbrained - was Herman, always up to mischief, but he madly loved his wife, the vampire Lily; and his son Eddie. The latter went to school and, naturally, was the “weirdo” in class. Lastly there was Marilyn, Lily's human niece who had her family very worried. The girl could not find a boyfriend and they believed it was because she was not "physically attractive", when the reality was that boyfriends fled when they met the young woman's monstrous family.
Like every American series, The Monsters also had mascots: Spott, a small dragon; Kitty, a sweet kitten who roared like an enraged lion; and Igor, the bat that always accompanied grandfather on his adventures.
The Monsters starred in its main roles by Fred Gwynne (Herman), Yvonne de Carlo (Lily), Al Lewis (grandfather), Beverly Owen and Pat Priest (there were two Marilyns so similar that the change was not noticeable) and Butch Patrick (Eddie). The role of Lily, as we say, was played by one of the great stars of the golden age of Hollywood cinema: Yvonne de Carlo (The Ten Commandments, Criss Cross, The Free Slave) and this series meant for her to re-emerge and enjoy new of the so-called honeys of success.
