The Munsters’ Near-Forgotten ’80s Revival Ran Longer Than The Original Series

The original “Munsters” series only ran for two seasons, from 1964 to 1966, but it made a major mark in a short time. In fact, it was enough of a landmark show that it came back in 1988 for a revival sitcom called “The Munsters Today.”

“The Munsters” was pretty similar to “The Addams Family,” which quite literally aired around the same time from 1964 to 1966. Ultimately, the “Munsters” revival series — which ran for three seasons, from 1988 to 1991 — was nearly forgotten over the years in favor of its much more famous predecessor. But here’s where it gets interesting: “The Munsters Today” actually ended up running longer than “The Munsters.”

There were 72 episodes, including the two pilots, made of the original series across two seasons, while the revival’s episode count across three seasons comes in at 73, including the pilot.

For obvious reasons, the original actors were no longer age-appropriate for their parts, so “The Munsters Today” had to recast the fam. In the ’80s version, John Schuck played Herman Munster, Lee Meriwether played his wife Lily, and Howard Morton portrayed Grandpa. Jason Marsden took on the role of Eddie, while Hilary Van Dyke played niece Marilyn. 

The reboot had a similar premise, but with a twist: An unexpected crash of lightning causes the family to fall into an open-ended deep sleep. When the Munsters finally wake up years later, they come face to face with the reality that they now exist in a completely different era — the 1980s — and must do what they can to get with the times. Producer Lloyd J. Schwartz revealed years later that he specifically came up with that premise so the show could “comment on society today” at the tail end of the 1980s.

Interestingly enough, this wouldn’t be the only reboot of “The Munsters” over the years. In 2012, “Pushing Daisies” creator Bryan Fuller developed a now-forgotten reboot series called “Mockingbird Lane,” but the pilot episode never got a series order partly due to the tonal shift the show took from the original. It starred Jerry O’Connell as Herman, Portia de Rossi as Lily, and Suzy Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, but despite the star power, the pilot was relegated to a Halloween special on NBC that year.

Horror maestro Rob Zombie also tried his hand at reviving one of America’s spookiest and kookiest families. He wrote and directed a Munsters reboot film in 2022 — but with a twist. The movie, simply titled “The Munsters,” was a prequel to the original series. The project featured Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman, Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily, and Daniel Roebuck as Grandpa, with a cameo from Elvira herself, Cassandra Peterson.