MONSTERS NEVER TRULY DIE, and neither do Munsters. The original ’60s TV show reworked Universal’s horror IP into a family-friendly sitcom starring loveable Frankenstein’s monster Herman, his undead wife Lily and her cranky Dracula-esque father Grandpa, lasting for two seasons of wholesome cobwebbed hijinks.
In 1981, the original cast reunited for a so-so TV movie, The Munsters’ Revenge, intended as a try-out for a new series. The special flopped, but as the ’80s ushered in a ’60s nostalgia boom, Universal’s TV arm MCA remained keen to scratch that Munsters itch.
In 1984, Universal spun off one of its other classic sitcoms, Leave It To Beaver, from a reunion special to a new weekly cable series, which eventually landed on Ted Turner’s cable network TBS. As part of the deal, Turner planned to colourise both the original black and white Beaver episodes along with The Munsters, and expressed interest in a new Munsters series too.
For a time, there were two proposals under consideration – The Munsters Rise Again and The New Munsters, developed by the Arthur Company (named after its founder Arthur L Annecharico). “They specialised in cheap production values, fast turnarounds, and their product showed it,” says Alan Moskowitz, who wrote for the rival project after his Rise Again concept ran aground. “The Munsters Today looked tacky and cheaply made.”
Lloyd J Schwartz was the first Munsters Today showrunner, hired to develop the format. The son of The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island creator Sherwood Schwartz, he’d cut his teeth working on his father’s shows. “They called me up and asked would I like to do a revival of The Munsters, and I said no,” Schwartz recalls. “It was a classic and I couldn’t see what I would add to it.
