The Addams Family - "Puttergeist" (1992)

[Wednesday and Pugsley dressed as you know who.]

I checked out "Puttergeist", the Halloween episode of the 90s "The Addams Family" cartoon. This was my first exposure to the show and it's um... pretty weird. Or maybe I'm pretty weird. Who can say?

The plot of this episode is that it's Halloween night and the Addamses are preparing for two things: 1) spooky festivities and 2) the appearance of the legendary Puttergeist. In a not subtle reference to Caddyshack (1980), a foolhardy golfer dies at the 13th hole during a thunderstorm after being struck by lightning. Now every Halloween, he haunts the neighborhood on a souped up golf cart, launching golf balls at unlucky residents. 

The voice acting for this show is all excellent though Debi Derryberry's (real name?!) performance as Wednesday is probably too monotone to the point of distraction. I appreciate her commitment to the bit, but she was out-shined by legends like Carol Channing, Rip Taylor, John Astin, Edie McClurg, etc. The animation is goofy and well done, but the voice acting talent they managed to wrangle into the studio is where it's at. 

The big joke that made me laugh out loud featuring Gomez having his back walked/stomped on by Lurch to make him less relaxed. Afterwards, as he's suffering in pain quietly, Morticia asks him to stop being selfish and scream loud enough so the whole family can enjoy it. He then proceeds to crawl around on the floor, bleating in pain. 

The adult humor the creators snuck in is smartly tempered by a mountain of absurdity, which I greatly appreciate. Obviously, this is par for the course -see what I did there?- for Addams adaptations. I recommend this episode, but I can't tell how I feel about the series overall based on this small sampling. I suppose I'll need to see more than just "Puttergeist".  

Live. Laugh. Lurch. I guess. 

Halloween TV Specials and Episodes 2020 - Part 3

I’ve always felt that Halloween should be New Year’s Eve because I get so hyped up around this time of year that November 1st consistently feels like the New Year’s Day to me. It’s true, All Saints’ Day is so weird and refreshing that I feel like I need to get my Schmidt together like time will slip away from if I don’t get something huge done. So here I am bloggin’ up a storm for ya.

It’s hard to believe how much spooky stuff my wife and I squeezed in between the cracks of the movies this month. We managed to watch all this stuff AND sixty or so films. Jeez Louise! We are such cool people. The biggest disappointment in this list right off the bat is that Grace Under Fire episode. That show made me so angry. All of the supporting characters are great but Brett Butler’s unthinkable sarcasm made me want to throw a skull at my TV.

I have to take a moment to say thanks to my pals and podcast co-hosts, Jeffrey and Simon, for hooking me up with some seriously cool specials that I was having trouble getting my greedy claws on. I finally got to see the Halloween episode of Pete & Pete that’s been eluding me forever. That was one of the best and I will definitely be adding it into my yearly rotation. And somehow, I’d never seen an episode of Clarissa Explains It All before. Needless to say, I loved both of them in this list. One booboo that I keep making is that “Monsters in my Room” episode of Tales from the Darkside. LeEtta has to keep reminding me that it’s a Christmas episode. Woops!

Grace Under Fire - “The Ghost and Mrs. Kelly” S4 E6 (1996)
Are You Afraid of the Dark? - “The Tale of the Twisted Claw” S1 E4 (1992)
Clarissa Explains It All - “The Darling Wars” S3 E2 (1992)
Clarissa Explains It All - “Haunted House” S1 E6 (1991)
Party of Five - “Personal Demons” S3 E7 (1996)
Saturday Night Live - “Halloween Special” (199?)
Home Improvement - “Crazy for You” S3 E6 (1993)
The Simpsons - “Treehouse of Horror” 5, 6, 7 and 12
The Fall Guy - “October the 31st” S4 E7 (1984)
Tales from the Darkside - “Halloween Candy” S2 E5 (1985)
Tales from the Darkside - “Monsters in My Room” S2 E12 (1985)
Bewitched - “To Trick-Or-Treat or Not to Trick-Or-Treat” S6 E7 (1969)
Bewitched - “A Safe and Sane Halloween” S4 E8 (1967)
Midsomer Murders - “The Magician's Nephew” S11 E5 (2008)
Psychoville - “Halloween Special” S2 E0 (2010)
Hey Dude - “Ghost Stories” S2 E6 (1989)
Salute Your Shorts - “Zeke the Plumber” S1 E2 (1991)
The Adventures of Pete & Pete - “Halloweenie” S2 E7 (1994)
The Secret World of Alex Mack - “The Secret” S2 E4 (1994)
The New Lassie - “Dangerous Party” S1 E6 (1989)
The Lawrence Welk Show - “Halloween” S4 E7 (1958)
Witch’s Night Out (1978)
Over the Garden Wall (2014)
How To Carve Great Faces For Halloween with Gordy Falk “The Pumpkin Man” (1988)
Basic How-To Halloween Makeups (2007)
The Jeffersons - “Now You See It, Now You Don't” S6 E4 (1979)
Square Pegs - “Halloween XII” S1 E5 (1982)
The Facts of Life - “The Halloween Show” S5 E6 (1983)
Roseanne - “Boo!” S2 E7 (1989)
NewsRadio - “Halloween” S3 E5 (1996)
NCIS - “Murder 2.0” S6 E6 (2008)
NCIS - “Code of Conduct” S7 E5 (2009)
NCIS - “Thirst” S9 E6 (2011)
Garfield in Disguise AKA Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (1985)
Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular (2003)
Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy (2005)
The Angry Beavers - “The Day the World Got Really Screwed Up” S2 E10 (1998)
Hey Arnold! - “Arnold's Halloween” S2 E7 (1997)
Rocko's Modern Life - “Sugar-Frosted Frights/Ed Is Dead: A Thriller!” S3 E3 (1995)
Jem - “Trick or Techrat” S2 E16 (1987)

Halloween TV Specials And Episodes 2020 - Part 2

Be sure to check out part one of this witchy extravaganza if you haven’t already. So yeah, LeEtta and I continue to attempt to overdose on the Halloween spirit because life in 2020 is so awesome and fun (sarcasm). A few favorites this time around from The Lawrence Welk Show and Ned’s Declassified Survival Guide, which would’ve been my favorite show of all time when I was 10 years old. It’s frickin’ brilliant. I saw my first ever episode of The Commish and well, I’ll never do that again. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how astonishingly dull the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula episode was. Not even the legendary Paul Williams could save that snoozer. It’s a two-parter! Why?! I don’t know. More treats to come, folks.

Night Court - Halloween II: The Return of Leon (Season 4, Episode 4) (1986)
Highway to Heaven - The Devil and Jonathan Smith (S2, E5) (1985)
WMAQ Channel 5 - Kidding Around - Halloween '82 (1982)
Magnum, P.I. - The Woman on the Beach (S2, E3) (1981)
Hunter - Killer in a Halloween Mask (S2, E5) (1985)
iCarly - iScream on Halloween (S1, E7) (2007)
The Fairly OddParents - Scary Godparents (S2, E12) (2002)
Growing Pains - Happy Halloween (S6, E7) (1990)
Charlie’s Angels - Haunted Angels (S3, E6) (1978)
The Lawrence Welk Show - Halloween Party (S24, E6) (1978)
SpongeBob SquarePants - Scaredy Pants (S1, E13) (1999)
Tales from the Darkside - Trick or Treat (Pilot) (S1, E0) (1983)
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide - Halloween & Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts and Zombies (S3, E3) (2006)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It (S2, E7) (1997)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Episode LXXXI: The Phantom Menace (S4, E6) (1999)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - The Halloween Scene (S5, E6) (2000)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Murder on the Halloween Express (S6, E4) (2001)
Clueless - Trick or Treat (S2, E6) (1997)
Beverly Hills, 90210  Halloween (S2, E13) (1991)
Clueless - Scream Again Murray, Scream Again! (S3, E5) (1998)
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)
Happy Days - Haunted (S2, E6) (1974)
Halloween Safety (Centron Corp.) (1977)
Halloween Safety (Updated) (Centron Corp.) (1985)
Halloween Party (Encyclopedia Britannica Films) (1953)
The Carol Burnett Show - Episode #6.11 (S6, E11) (1972)
EastEnders - Episode #1.74 (S1, E74) (1985)
Poirot - Hallowe'en Party (S12, E2) (2011)
21 Jump Street - Old Haunts in the New Age (S4, E6) (1989)
The Commish - The Witches of Eastbridge (S2, E5) (1992)
The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror XII (S13, E1) (2001)
The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror XXIII (S24, E2) (2012)
The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror XXVI (S27, E5) (2015)

Halloween TV Specials and Episodes 2020 - Part 1

Since September 1^st of this year, my wife LeEtta and I have been watching a whole mess of Halloween stuff because damn it to hell, we wanted to do things right for a change. So, for these installments of spooky ooky scary hairy witchy gobliny whatever stuff posts, I’m listing them by the order in witch we watched them. I’m not including movies this time since those will be in a separate post. I have included season number, episode number, and year released to help you track this stuff down. There are a few that I just have no clue when they aired or what the actual heck is up with them. Anyway, good luck and have a haunted time. If you have any TV specials or Halloween episodes you love to watch every year, throw them in the comments!

Halloween Crazy (2011)
Halloween Crazier (2012)
Halloween Craziest (????)
The Trouble with Miss Switch (1980)
Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula (Season 2, Episode 1) (1977)
Cybill - Halloween (S4, E7) (1997)
Beverly Hills Teens - Halloween in the Hills (S1, E12) (1987)
The Wickedest Witch (1989)
The New Addams Family - Halloween with the Addams Family (S1, E1) (1998)
Recess - Terrifying Tales of Recess (S6, E1) (2001)
Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977)
Ghostbusters - Shades of Dracula (S1, E36) (1986)
DIY Halloween Fright House: Secrets Revealed (2010)
Home Improvement - A Night to Dismember (S7, E5) (1997)
Invader ZIM - Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom (S1, E12) (2001)
Benson - The Stranger (S7, E4) (1985)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - All the Way (S6, E6) (2001)
Doug - Doug's Halloween Adventure (S4, E4) (1993)
America's Funniest Home Videos - Halloween (2007?)
Sabrina The Teenage Witch - A Halloween Story (S1, E5) (1996)
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Romania (S4, E8) (2008)
Highway to Heaven - I Was a Middle Aged Werewolf (S4, E5) (1987)
Party of Five - Wrestling Demons (S6, E4) (1999)
7th Heaven - Halloween (S1, E6) (1996)
Sweet Valley High  The Curse of Lawrence Manson (S1, E7) (1994)
The Haunted History of Halloween (1997)
Halloween Tricked Out (2012)
3rd Rock from the Sun - Scaredy Dick (S3, E5) (1997)
The Beverly Hillbillies - Trick or Treat (S1, E6) (1962)
Martha Stewart - Halloween Episode (2009?)
My So-Called Life - Halloween (S1, E9) (1994)

Commander USA's Groovie Movies: Toxic Zombies

Darkroom: "Catnip"

One of the horror anthology TV shows from the 80s that seems to slipping into obscurity is Darkroom. This show hosted by James Coburn had some pretty cool stories on it. I'm not kidding. James. Coburn. Obviously, this was destined to be one of my favorite shows. And then it was gone with only a brief shot at reruns on various networks (which is when I believe I first saw it). Oh yeah, duh, Darkroom also had a fucking creepy as intro too.





There was one episode in particular that scared the crap out of me. But it was a vague kind of terror, a half-forgotten nightmare. Something about "Catnip" really freaked me out. Thankfully, the internet came through for me and I was able to get my hands on "Catnip". I confronted my fears and discovered an entertaining, silly, and yet frightening slice of made-for-TV horror.



Ronnie (played by Cyril O'Reilly) is a total jerkoff. He's fresh out of the military (probably dishonorably discharged), he lives with his poor, helpless mother, and he robs people for cash so that he can buy and deal drugs. He also has a hot girlfriend named Loretta (Karin Argoud) that he shares his drugs with. So yeah, things are going pretty well for Ronnie until an ornery black cat crosses his path. The cat belongs to an old witch (Jocelyn Brando) who lives across the street from his supplier.



For a normal person, this would not be a problem. But like I said, Ronnie is a jerkoff. When the old witch gives him grief for trying to hurt her cat, he gets the bright idea to assassinate the feline by planting a friggin' bomb on the cat-door. His plan goes awry and he accidentally blows up the old lady. The cat comes after Ronnie but now it has supernatural abilities. A battle ensues between man and cat and he vastly underestimates the kitty's powers. Did I mention that Ronnie is a jerkoff idiot bastard?



Spoilers

The final battle takes place in Ronnie's room. The black cat has managed to get inside his room and hide under the bed. He gets a katana out of his closet and goes after the cat. Ronnie slashes and slashes under his bed without looking and he thinks he's killed the cat. He looks under the bed and BAM! the old witch's head is under there hissing at him. This is where my memory kicks in and I know what happens next. Ronnie falls to floor, frozen with terror, and the cat proceeds to eat his tongue right out of his mouth! Of course, they don't show any gore but you know what is going on.

Spoilers over.



That ending totally freaked me the fuck out. I was afraid of cats. I was afraid of what was under my bed. I was afraid of Marlon Brando's sister! It was totally insane. Revisiting this episode years later was a real treat. "Catnip" is surprisingly good with moody music, cool camera filters and effects, and decent performances from everyone involved. It is impossible not to hate Ronnie and draw real delight from his undoing.

No Reservations - "Romania"

I love No Reservations. It is the best travel show on TV. It's host, Anthony Bourdain, goes places I would never go and does things I would never do. I'm a shut-in so that isn't really saying much. Okay, sometimes he makes me burn with jealousy. Most of the time however, I'm pretty content to just watch his shows in the safety of my living room.

The best episode of the show is his trip to Romania. Aside from being a complete disaster, it is also one of my favorite Halloween episodes of any show ever. While in Transylvania on Halloween night, Tony and his guide Zamir, visit a Dracula-themed hotel which turns out to be the single cheesiest and most embarrassing Halloween-related crap I've ever seen. Bourdain realizes this terrible mistake and starts drinking while Zamir plays along for the sake of great television.

While I do recommend that you watch the entire episode, the Dracula stuff can be seen if you skip to 8:35 in Part 1 and watch through 4:19 in Part 2.

Halloween w/ the New Addams Family

Hey, hold the phone! What is this? Halloween with the New Addams Family? This requires further investigation.