Remember the “Donna Reed Show” from 1958? Remember the opening credits? Let us jog your memory: Donna sees her children off to school and her husband off to work, displaying a lovely family morning routine. Ring any bells? That’s because the opening credits of the first season of “The Munsters” are almost identical.
Featuring Lily Munster greeting everyone in her family as they go off to start their day, the similarities are uncanny. The second season opening is different and doesn’t appear to be inspired by any specific show.
Grandpa's Heritage
Lily Munster is a vampire. That much we know. Her father, granted, is also a vampire. This makes their lineage pretty easy to track — Transilvania, Romania, although the place is referred to a little differently in the show.
Whenever Grandpa talks about the good old days (which is quite often), he refers to his birthplace as the Holy Roman Empire. You know, the same Holy Roman Empire where Dracula was born.
The Munster's #1 Fans
One of the show’s biggest fans, Charles and Sandra McKee from Waxahachie, Texas, was so drawn into "The Munsters" that when it was time to build their dream home, they decided to create an exact replica of the Munster family’s original mansion.
The house they built was nearly a spot-on clone of the Munster mansion and even mimicked its crooked weathervane and a grand staircase that opened up. And every time Halloween arrived, the McKee couple would hold a big party that was intended for charity. If Charles and Sandra McKee doesn’t take the #1 spot of "The Munsters" list of biggest fans, we have the right to know who was chosen over them and why.
Happy Birthday, Herman!
Herman Munster's driver's license shows that he was born on July 21, 1815, which would have made him about 150 years old at the time when the first episode was aired.
Those of you who are interested in astronomy might also recognize this date as the summer solstice. For those of you who aren't so interested in astronomy — the summer solstice is the day with the longest daylight time of the year. Pretty ironic, considering Herman married a vampire who doesn't do well with sunlight!
The People Weren't Done with the Munsters
Even though "The Munsters" had been shut down, there were plenty of attempts made to revive the beloved monster family, albeit in different forms, including a move and even an animated series. In 1981, a TV reunion was created. Titled "The Munsters Revenge," it featured Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, and Al Lewis performing their actual characters.
Later on, in 1998, the show returned to the TV screen, this time as "The Munsters Today," which ran for a total of 72 episodes and three seasons. Furthermore, there were two additional television movies made in 1995 and 1996 titled "Here Come the Munsters" and "The Munsters’ Scary Christmas."