TVXOHOF, 2021 BIRTHDAY HONORS LIST - "THE VIEW"

2021 BIRTHDAY HONORS LIST

Last year when I was doing weekly inductions into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, I brought in the televersion of a different real-world show on the last Friday of each month.  We had TV shows from almost every genre – among the 2020 class were  ‘Star Trek’, ‘Hollywood Squares’, ‘I Love Lucy’, ‘Columbo’, ‘Gunsmoke’, ‘The Twilight Zone’, and even the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

This year, I’m using my birthday induction to bring in another worthy inductee….

“THE VIEW”

From Wikipedia:
The View is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. In its 24th season, the show has aired on ABC as part of the network's daytime programming block since August 11, 1997. It features a multi-generational panel of women, who discuss the day's "Hot Topics", such as sociopolitical and entertainment news. In addition to the conversation segments, the panel also conducts interviews with prominent figures, such as celebrities and politicians. Production of the show was originally held in ABC Television Studio 23 in New York City. In 2014, it relocated to ABC Broadcast Center, also in New York City. For now, the series is broadcast remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout its run, The View has had 22 permanent co-hosts of varying characteristics and ideologies, with the number of contracted permanent co-hosts ranging between four and eight women per season. The original panel comprised Walters, broadcast journalist Meredith Vieira, lawyer Star Jones, television host Debbie Matenopoulos, and comedian Joy Behar, while the current lineup consists of Behar, entertainer Whoopi Goldberg, lawyer Sunny Hostin, television personality Meghan McCain, and television host Sara Haines. In addition, the show often makes use of male and female guest panelists, including television personality Ana Navarro, who came aboard as a weekly guest co-host in season 22.

'The View' has won 31 Daytime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Talk Show, Outstanding Informative Talk Show, and Outstanding Talk Show Host. The show has received praise from the Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, as well as The New York Times, which deemed it "the most important political TV show in America". Beginning in its tenth season, the series became subject to on-air controversies and media criticism involving its panel of co-hosts. It was transferred from the helm of ABC's entertainment division to that of ABC News in 2014 following a decline in ratings. Two years later, the series saw viewership growth, averaging 2.5 million viewers by 2020.

There is ‘The View’ as seen in the Trueniverse and then there is ‘The View’ which is broadcast in Toobworld which differs from the real show in having fictional topics, fictional situations happen during a show; and fictional characters have appeared as guests.

‘The View’ also gets mentioned/watched in shows which take place in other Toobworlds – ‘The West Wing’, ‘Doom Patrol’, and a couple of shows in the horror world known as “Nosferatoob” – ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and ‘iZombie’.  Plus it has become a cottage industry to be spoofed in Skitlandia (thanks to ‘SNL’ and ‘MAD-TV’) and in the Tooniverse.  (‘Family Guy’ and ‘The Simpsons’ for example.)

O'Bservation - Seen here is 'The View' as seen in an episode of 'Spin City', which had to be sent to an alternate Toobworld because the televersion of Rudy Giuliani was already the NYC Mayor in Earth Prime-Time... for better or worse.

The following shows are all part of Earth Prime-Time and their characters have acknowledged the existence of ‘The View’ as being a TV series in their lives:

‘The Mountain’, ‘‘The Nanny’, ‘Gilmore Girls’, ‘Third Rock From The Sun’, ‘Just Shoot Me’, ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’, ‘Will & Grace’, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’, ‘Scrubs’, ‘Reba’, ‘Veronica Mars’, ‘Bones’, ‘Entourage’, ‘Law & Order: SVU’, ’10 Things I Hate About You’, ‘Greek’, ‘Community’, ‘Cougar Town’, ‘Modern Family’, ‘Psych’, ‘Chuck’, ‘The Office’, ‘Drop Dead Diva’, ‘Hot In Cleveland’, ‘Happy Endings’, ‘90210’, ‘Workaholics’, ‘Us & Them’, ‘The Neighbors’, ‘Looking’, ‘Melissa & Joey’, ‘Faking It’, ‘Last Man Standing’, ‘Revenge’, ‘2 Broke Girls’, ‘Justified’, ‘The Jack and Triumph Show’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘Orange Is The New Black’, ‘’Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’, ‘The Muppets’, ‘Fuller House’, ‘Loosely Exactly Nicole’, ‘NCIS’, ‘The Goldbergs’.

Plus, there are at least three series in which ‘The View’ is not only mentioned, but characters from those shows appear on the talk show and interact with the televersions of the real-life hosts – Jenna Maroney of ’30 Rock’, Casey McCall of ‘SportsNight’, and a fictionalized ‘Bette’ Midler whose life in the eponymous sitcom is very different from that of Trueniverse Bette.  (Sorry about the quality of Bette's pic.  It came from a multi-generation copy on YouTube.)

O'Bservation - In that second image from '30 Rock', this was O'Bviously not the true televersion of Barbara Walters.  As to who it was, that has to be determined.  Master of Disguise? Professional Baba Wawa impersonator? Shapeshifter? Android? Alien?  Too bad we can't see if she has bent pinkies....

They may not be the only characters from other shows who will appear on the televersion of ‘The View’; I wouldn’t be surprised if there will be others to come.  Definitely there will be other references to the televised gabfest on other fictional programs in the future.

Welcome to the Hall!

TVXOHOF, JUNE 2021 - PUGSLEY & WEDNESDAY ADDAMS

JUNE 2021

It has been a tradition that in June the Television Crossover Hall of Fame celebrates pairs, if not actual twins.  And since we’re celebrating ‘The Addams Family’ this year, who better than siblings Pugsley and Wednesday?

Unlike with the other members of the Addams Family being inducted, the rules had to be bent a bit for Pugsley and Wednesday. (Probably more so for Wednesday.)

Let’s begin with the older sibling….

PUGSLEY ADDAMS

From Wikipedia:
Pugsley is the oldest child of Morticia and Gomez Addams. He is a young boy (his age is given as eight years old in the pilot episode but is changed to 10 years old in the second episode) who is almost always seen wearing a striped T-shirt and shorts. Originally unnamed (as were all of the family members), the character who was apparently the prototype for Pugsley first appeared in the Charles Addams cartoons in The New Yorker during the 1930s. In this first incarnation, he was portrayed as a deviant child with a vicious nature, shown committing deplorable acts with his sister. In all incarnations, he is overweight. In the television series, Pugsley usually eats over five pieces of cake at birthday parties.

"An energetic monster of a boy…blond red hair, popped blue eyes and a dedicated troublemaker, in other words, the kid next door…genius in his own way, he makes toy guillotines, full size racks, threatens to poison his sister, can turn himself into a Mr. Hyde with an ordinary chemical set…his voice is hoarse…is sometimes allowed an occasional cigar."
— Charles Addams

When the characters were given names for the television series, he was originally going to be called "Pubert" (a derivation of the word puberty, possibly a reflection of his age) but it was rejected as it sounded too sexual, and the name Pugsley was chosen instead.

In the American television series, Pugsley is played by child actor Ken Weatherwax. This incarnation of the character is more jovial and inventive; he displays outlandish engineering skills, including the invention of a disintegrator gun, an anti-gravity gun, and other devices. He and Gomez created a computer named Whizzo and a robot named Smiley (played by Robby the Robot). Pugsley and his younger sister Wednesday often play together, rarely exhibiting signs of sibling rivalry; they share an interest in spiders, dynamite, guillotines, and other dangerous "toys."

In an early episode, "Morticia and the Psychiatrist", the rest of the family is concerned that Pugsley is engaging in behavior they consider "odd": wearing a Boy Scout uniform, playing with a puppy, etc. When sent to a psychiatrist, Pugsley tells of boyhood incidents involving hangings, machine guns, and grenades, with no clue that others might find these accounts unusual.

In the 1977 TV movie, Ken Weatherwax played a grown-up Pugsley, who has become a witch-doctor. In the interval between the original TV series and this movie, his parents have had two more children, who look just like the original Pugsley and Wednesday.

Pugsley, as played by Ken Weatherwax, is being inducted as a multidimensional.  Not only does he exist in Earth Prime-Time with the TV series and the reunion TV movie, but Weatherwax also voiced Pugsley in one episode of the animated series.  (All of the characters from ‘The Addams Family’ oeuvre are multiversal, but we’re only concerned with those characters played on TV by the same actor.)

Here are the credits which are getting Pugsley into the Hall:

The Addams Family
64 episodes

The Addams Family
- The Addams Family at the Kentucky Derby
(Voice only)

Halloween with the New Addams Family
(TV Movie reunion)
Now known as:
Pugsley Sr.

And now we turn our attention to his little sister.  (In other words, don’t turn your back on her….

WEDNESDAY ADDAMS

From Wikipedia:
In Addams' cartoons, which first appeared in The New Yorker, Wednesday and other members of the family had no names. When the characters were adapted to the 1964 television series, Charles Addams gave her the name "Wednesday", based on the well-known nursery rhyme line, "Wednesday's child is full of woe". The idea for the name was supplied by the actress and poet Joan Blake, an acquaintance of Addams. She is the sister of Pugsley Addams.

Wednesday Addams is obsessed with death. Wednesday does most of her experiments on her brother Pugsley Addams for fun or for punishment. Wednesday has tried to kill Pugsley many times. She likes raising spiders and researching the Bermuda Triangle. She has a tendency of freaking most people out due to her gothic personality.

Wednesday's most notable features are her pale skin and long, dark braided pigtails. She seldom shows her emotions and is generally bitter. Wednesday usually wears a black dress with a white collar, black stockings and black shoes.

In the 1960s series, she is sweet-natured and serves as a foil to the weirdness of her parents and brother, although her favorite hobby is raising spiders; she is also a ballerina.

Wednesday's favorite toy is her Marie Antoinette doll, which her brother guillotines (at her request). She is stated to be six years old in the television series' pilot episode. In one episode, she is shown to have several other headless dolls as well. She also paints pictures (including a picture of trees with human heads) and writes a poem dedicated to her favorite pet spider, Homer. Wednesday is deceptively strong; she is able to bring her father down with a judo hold.

Wednesday has a close kinship with the family's giant butler Lurch. In the TV series, her middle name is "Friday".

In the 1977 television holiday-themed special, "Halloween with the New Addams Family", Lisa Loring plays a grown-up Wednesday, who mostly entertains their party guests with her flute, and can hear and understand coded help messages by bound-up members of the family, and dispatch help to free them. In the time interval between the original TV series and this television movie, her parents had two more children who look just like the original Pugsley and Wednesday.

Here are the official credits for Wednesday’s eventual induction:

The Addams Family
64 episodes

Halloween with the New Addams Family
(TV Movie reunion)
Wednesday Sr.

As you can see, she only has two general credits, one less than needed to achieve eligibility.  But I think we have a way around that….

It took me a long time to finally accept it, but I finally, begrudgingly, accepted that computer content from the Internet could be integrated into the greater mosaic of Toobworld.

So why not use that to my advantage?

Probably the most popular moment for Wednesday during the run of the series could be the scene in which she taught Lurch how to dance the Drew:

With the advent of the Internet and YouTube, variations began to crop up:

I have no problem in accepting these to be part of the Toobworld Dynamic.  And there are more out there; probably more to come....

Who says that Wednesday only danced the Drew with Lurch that one time?  Perhaps it became a daily routine in which Wednesday continued Lurch's dancing lessons, with a different song used each day.

Some of these songs didn’t come out until after the TV series ran its course.  Again, no problem.  These are the Addamses!  Think of all the weird things about the family – not just the freakish physical attributes (Cousin Itt of course, but also Cousin Bleak with that drooping middle eye, Grandpa Slurp with two heads), but also the adventures undertaken by some of their ancestors.  (Usually ending with them being executed.)

So why couldn’t one of them be a time traveler?  They could have gone into the future and brought back Tomorrow’s music for Wednesday during a visit unseen by the audience back home in the Trueniverse.
Therefore, I’m including those YouTube reworkings as minisodes acceptable to Toobworld Central.

Welcome to the Hall, Pugsley & Wednesday! 

I'm inducting you both on a Wednesday in honor of Wednesday Friday Addams.

Sorry, Pugsley, but she scares me....

O'Bservation:
This is my first attempt at using the updated method to add videos.  I'm hoping it worked....

TVXOHOF MAY 2021 - MORTICIA FRUMP ADDAMS

 
This month, the Television Crossover Hall of Fame continues its mini-theme for 2021 of inducting select members of the Addams Family… but only the incarnations from Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld and one of Morticia's Tooniverse appearances.

And per tradition, a new May Queen is crowned, so it only makes it O’Bvious that the May 2021 would be….

MORTICIA ADAMS

From Wikipedia:
Morticia Addams (née Frump) is a fictional character from ‘The Addams Family’ television and film series. The character was created by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1933.

Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams and mother of Wednesday and Pugsley Addams. The character originated in the Charles Addams cartoons for The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s. In the cartoons, none of the family members had names. When the characters were adapted to the 1964 television series, Charles Addams' selection of her name was inspired by "mortician". Morticia's maiden name is "Frump" and she has an older sister named Ophelia (also played by Carolyn Jones, in the original TV series). In the television series, her mother (Uncle Fester's sister) was named Hester Frump (played by Margaret Hamilton). Her mother-in-law is Grandmama Addams.

Morticia is described as a witch; she is slim, with extremely pale skin and long flowing straight black hair. In one episode she is seen wearing a black pointed hat. She commonly wears black hobble dresses to match her hair, tightly form fitting, with a fringe of octopus-like cloth "tentacles" at the lower hem. According to Wednesday, Morticia applies baking powder to her face instead of actual makeup. In each episode, she easily allures her husband Gomez by speaking French (or any other foreign language for that matter).

Morticia is musically inclined, and is often seen freely strumming a Japanese shamisen. She frequently enjoys cutting the buds off of roses, which she discards (keeping only the stems), likes cutting out paper dolls with three heads and making sweaters with three arms, collecting the mail from the hand-in-the-box Thing, and cooking unusual concoctions for her husband, including eye of newt. Her personal pet is Cleopatra, a fictitious breed of carnivorous plant called an African Strangler, to which she feeds hamburgers and other various meat.

Morticia's family tree can be traced back to Salem, Massachusetts, and witchcraft is also implied at times in the television series. For example, Morticia likes to "smoke," an activity that does not involve cigarettes or cigars (such as her husband frequently enjoys), but smoke instead emanates from below her.

In 2009, she was included in Yahoo!'s Top 10 TV Moms from Six Decades of Television for the time period 1964–1966. AOL named her one of the 100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters.

Morticia was portrayed by Carolyn Jones in the TV series.  Jones also voiced this character in an episode of ‘The New Scooby-Doo Movies’ that featured the family.

From ADDAMS FAMILY WIKI:
Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams, and the mother of [Wednesday, Pugsley, Wednesday Jr., [and] Pugsley Jr. She is also the sister of the daisy-headed Ophelia Frump and daughter of Granny Frump and Grandpa Frump.

Morticia also has an affinity for making certain that her family upholds the traditional Addams way, and is usually the most taken aback when one of the clan goes astray and does something "pleasant."

From HEROES WIKI:
Her creator Charles Addams describes her as the real head of the family, being low-voiced, incisive and subtle, has stunning beauty, and has a fierce loyalty to her family. She has a garden full of deadly nightshade, henbane and dwarfs hair.

She also wants the her family to uphold the Addams Family traditions.

VOGUE:
Morticia Addams. Passionate wife, hostess, mother of two boys to whom she leaves everything to do… she has become a role-model to women all over the world, thanks to her confidence and glamorous allure. Morticia Addams makes the gothic style sexy and is revered as an object of absolute desire. In both film and television, she has been regarded by many actresses as having quite a legendary charm.

Carolyn Jones

On September 18, 1964, the ABC channel introduced the television version of ‘The Addams Family’. After winning over audiences in The New Yorker, Charles Addams and his family find new life in a series that depicts the daily life of a family like no other. To play Morticia Addams, the producers chose Carolyn Jones. Pale complexion, long black hair, doll face… Carolyn Jones represents the ideal image of a femme fatale, in every sense of the word. When taking on the role, she enjoyed a certain amount of freedom to play the character originally. Carolyn Jones plays the zesty and irresistible personality of a character that is still iconic today. The actress then reprises her role as Morticia in the TV movie “The Addams Family: It's Party Time” in 1977.

From SYFY WIRE:
Morticia Addams is a bad witch in the best way. She’s the brainchild of cartoonist Charles Addams, whose talent for creating ghoulish and darkly humorous characters led to the infamous Addams Family single-panel comics in The New Yorker during the late 1930s. Actress Carolyn Jones expertly brought the slim, pale, and black-clad family matriarch to life in 1964's ‘The Addams Family’ television show which detailed the aristocratic odd family’s constant culture differences with their neighbors.

The series only lasted for two seasons, but later gained a cult following with re-runs as well as two '90s movies with Anjelica Huston giving a brilliant take on Morticia, complete with raised eyebrows and red lips. Most TV moms during the show's original run had a June Cleaver type of vibe as exemplary homemakers with immaculate kitchens, scheduled meals, and rather bland personalities. Or they were supernatural beings who desperately tried to assimilate to our world, like Samantha Stephens [of ‘Bewitched’], but Morticia bucked societal norms in several ways.

She oozed sexiness with a signature style featuring a form-fitting black dress, long black tresses, and a decidedly pale face — a look that inspired millions of future goth girls. She wasn't afraid to be overtly sexual with her husband Gomez by enticing him with “the look,” relishing in his peppered kisses on her arms, donning new lingerie, or whispering sweet nothings in French.

It was a stark contrast to the squeaky-clean portrayal of '60s TV marriage that didn’t even allow most couples to sleep in the same bed, much less show sexual advances from a wife. This passion carried over into the movies with Morticia instructing her hubby to let her do the torturing and complimented him on, ahem, a job well done the previous night. Yesssss.

Her marriage is absolutely #RelationshipGoals for anyone who wants a healthy long-term relationship because it challenges the stereotype that years of love and kids automatically leads to passive misery. Her guy is passionately in love with her, views her as his equal, supports her endeavors, respects her thoughts sans mansplaining, and frequently compliments her brains and beauty. Oh, and let's not forget that he's filthy rich. It’s a bold, refreshing portrayal of a marriage that was certainly revolutionary then and isn’t explored as often as it should be on TV today.

Morticia is the voice of reason and the queen of zen, even when things get a little chaotic in her home. Her ability to find beauty in thunderstorms (literal and metaphorical) and other things normally perceived to be dark while exhibiting a relentless optimism about life is admirable and inspirational. She’s valuable and interesting outside of her mom and wife roles and has imperfect moments that root her in reality.

Typical “ladylike” activities like knitting, picking fresh flowers, and cooking are never mundane with Morticia as she makes items out of odd materials, conjures up strange concoctions, and arranges thorny stems in vases. And what other witch is an expert at cultivating carnivorous plants, playing the shamisen, emitting smoke from her body, challenging local politicians, taming beasts, fencing, painting, and being effortlessly cool while chilling at home 99% of the time? Morticia is truly the GOAT of all activities.

Her excellence is also exhibited via her unconventional yet supportive and smart parenting style. Yeah, she allows Wednesday and Pugsley to raise poisonous spiders and play with guillotines, but she also listens to them, values their feelings, and encourages their autonomy. She will quickly jump into action in their best interests, whether it involves hiring a psychologist or advocating for changes at their school. When Pugsley joined the Boy Scouts — which was their equivalent of him joining a wayward gang — she was concerned but she gave him the space to explore things on his own terms. He was her “unconventional” child who sometimes wanted to be like everyone else and Morticia didn’t try to force him fit perfectly into their family dynamic. She was generally patient, kind, and respectful towards her children and encouraged them to stay true to themselves even when it goes against the grain.

Morticia Addams expertly balances family and her unconventional personal interests alongside a rosy general outlook on life. She has a partner who adores her and works with her in a partnership to solve problems and rear their children with a loving hand. And she’s no doubt a witch icon, from her fashion sense to her occasional penchant for potions and “smoking.” We absolutely stan this creepy, kooky, and incredibly dope character who is dearer to us than all the bats in all the caves in the world.

Here are the appearances by Carolyn Jones in the role which qualified the multidimensional Morticia Addams for membership in the TVXOHOF:

The Addams Family
64 episodes

Halloween with the New Addams Family
(TV Movie)

The New Scooby-Doo Movies
- Wednesday Is Missing (1972)
(voice)

Welcome to the Hall, Mrs. Addams!

TVXOHOF, APRIL 2021 - FESTER FRUMP

This month we’re kicking off a mini-theme which will eventually have five inductions from the same TV series – four in succession and then the last saved for the penultimate ceremony.

One of the oldest TVXOHOF traditions is the celebration of The Fool in Toobworld.  So to begin this theme, there was no better candidate than….

FESTER FRUMP

From Wikipedia:
Uncle Fester is a member of the fictional Addams Family. He was played by Jackie Coogan in the original television series.

Uncle Fester is a completely hairless, hunched, and barrel-shaped man with dark, sunken eyes and often a deranged smile. He always wears a heavy, full-length fur coat.

Fester was derived from a character drawn by cartoonist Charles Addams, although these were single-page cartoons, with no stories or character names. Nevertheless, the character is recognizable in a number of cartoons, both by his appearance (bald, stooping, sunken eyes) and behavior (e.g. turning the shower to a special "scalding" setting, feeding his garden plants blood plasma, and releasing an eagle on the neighbor's homing pigeons). While he is occasionally seen with the rest of the family, particularly on anthology covers, he is also seen on his own more often than the others. He is sometimes indicated to live in a small shack surrounded by a wrought-iron fence.

Fester has a strange ability to generate electricity. He would often demonstrate this by putting a light bulb in his mouth, which would illuminate, accompanied by a loud, crackling noise. He claims to possess 110 volts of power in one episode of the sitcom, while in another episode he demonstrated his "magnetic" quality by levitating a metal paperweight up to his hand. When struck directly on the head by a fired cannonball, he appears only mildly dazed, while the cannonball bounces off his head.

Uncle Fester at times has severe migraines but appears to enjoy them. Fester relieves his migraines by placing his head in a large screw press and tightening it to levels that normal people would not be able to withstand. At times, Fester uses the screw press on his head simply for enjoyment.

Despite Uncle Fester's menacing look and bizarre behavior, he is gentle and caring to everyone. He shows great respect to Gomez and Morticia. He has always exhibited love and great care to his niece and nephew, despite their frequent naughtiness.

In the original sitcom of the 1960s, Fester is said to be Morticia's maternal uncle (his name rhymes with Morticia's mother Hester's.)

In the 1960s television series, Fester (played by Jackie Coogan) is uncle to Morticia Addams. In one episode, he became perplexed when asked his last name, suggesting he has somehow forgotten it.

In several episodes, Fester refers to the Addams lineage as if it were his own, possibly implying some degree of intertwined consanguinity in both their family lines, but the flashbacks in the episodes "Morticia's Romance, Parts 1 and 2," clearly establish him as Morticia's uncle, brother of her mother, Hester Frump, a.k.a. Granny Frump (Margaret Hamilton), whose maiden name was similarly unrevealed. In various episodes, he was a partner in typical sitcom schemes with Gomez, Morticia, or Grandmama Addams, indicating no real preference for any family member over others.

Fester's known ancestry dates back to his Great-Grandfather Blob (not to be confused with Gomez's Cousin Blob, a two-headed ghost), who received the gift of a sacred ruby after he had pried it from the head of a Hindu (to whom it was giving a terrible headache). The ruby remained in the family until Fester unthinkingly used his slingshot to hurl it at a yowling stray cat. "Well, it was the only rock in the house!" he said in his defense.

Per the 1960s sitcom, little is known of Fester's childhood, save that his father (Morticia's maternal grandfather) was an excruciatingly strict man who severely disciplined him, paddling him even when he was good and paying him to stay out of public. (Fester considered this to be experience in "public relations.") He refused to allow Fester to even touch a battle-axe (a treasured toy among people with the Addams's macabre tastes) until he was eight.

As an adult, Fester defended his father's strictness, pointing to his own character as proof of its effectiveness: "I didn't become what I am by accident! I had an upbringing like no other!" Sometime prior to Morticia's marriage to Gomez, Fester worked as a newspaper columnist, writing advice for the lovelorn, but left that job because people kept suing him.

Fester has also offered contradictory information about his educational background. In the sitcom's first episode, he notes that he never went to school ("And look how [well] I turned out!"), but he later claims to have failed recess three times. As an adult, Fester took correspondence courses in various subjects, and his educational endeavors occasionally formed an episode's main plot. It may be from one such course that he obtained his fraternity paddle, which he once threatened to use on Wednesday in imitation of his father's punishment style; however, like many an uncle, Fester proved to have more bark than bite in dealing with the children.

When he suspects someone of maligning, cheating or otherwise mistreating anyone in the family, Fester is ever ready with his blunderbuss "Genevieve", eager to "shoot 'em in the back!" However, he is far less eager in meeting a malefactor in a face-to-face duel; he was briefly enthusiastic about a pistol duel with an enemy until he asked, somewhat timidly, "Does he get one too? .... Loaded?"

Another prized possession was his cannon, "Old Reliable", which he normally kept in his bedroom. Fester maintained a treehouse in the Addams yard and frequently retreated to his closet to think. After receiving the gift of a motorcycle in the episode "The Addams Family Meets a Beatnik", Fester often drove it through the living room, inevitably crashing in the conservatory (several episodes used identical recycled footage of this scenario). Fester also collects three-dollar bills.

Uncle Fester is a multiversal – several dimensions of the TV Universe, several dimensions of the Cineverse, Stage World, and whatever the video game world is called,  And it all began in that universe which houses the one-panel comic strips.

In the greater tele-mosaic, Fester can be found in Earth Prime-Time, Toobworld2, the Tooniverse, and at least one other alternate Toobworld.  He is being inducted as a multidimensional, but only for those incarnations which feature Jackie Coogan in the role.

Here are Uncle Fester’s qualifications for his membership:

EARTH PRIME-TIME

The Addams Family
64 episodes

The misadventures of a blissfully macabre but extremely loving family.

Halloween with the New Addams Family
TV Movie

A revival of the popular '60s TV comedy series "The Addams Family" has them preparing for Halloween in their own inimitable way.

The focus of the plot is around the holiday where the Addams will be celebrating all hallows eve. To them, it's their Christmas time. Before the end of the night, a legend by the name of Cousin Shy comes to give gifts and carve pumpkins. Meanwhile, a group of crooks led by the boss (Parley Baer) want to infiltrate the Addams' home to steal their family fortune by luring Gomez to a lodge meeting far away.

Simultaneously, Gomez (John Astin) is worried about his brother Pancho (Henry Darrow) having feelings for Morticia (Carolyn Jones).

For a TV movie, it very much feels like an extended episode to the show but all in good fun. It's rather shocking, considering the director, David Steinmetz, had no experience prior or after this event. Was he even directing?

THE TOONIVERSE

The Addams Family

16 episodes

The New Scooby-Doo Movies 

- Wednesday Is Missing (1972)
... Uncle Fester (Coogan's voice in both)

The gang's van breaks down near the Addams Family mansion. They end up staying with the creepy and spooky family after a ransom note is discovered in the house. Their daughter, Wednesday, has been kidnapped and will meet an uncertain doom if the Addams' estate is not given over to a mysterious stranger.

The third episode in ‘The New Scooby-Doo Movies’ is certainly the best so far. In the film, the Mystery Machine and its gang are driving through the swamp when once again the van ends up crippled. Being unable to drive, the group is visited by Lurch who then takes them to the creepy castle, which is owned by the Addams' Family. Soon the gang must start an investigation when Wednesday goes missing.

Again, there's no doubt that this third episode was the best of the series up to this point because it just has so many laughs and quite a bit of imagination. Unlike the earlier episodes, this one here makes good use of the supporting players as everyone in the Addams' clan is perfectly used. This is especially true for the terrific Lurch who is simply wonderful here and especially his introduction in the swamp. Both Gomez and Morticia are all extremely fun here as is Itt, Uncle Fester (voiced by Jackie Coogan) and Pugsley (voiced by Jodie Foster!!!). Scooby and Shaggy are also at the top of their game with some very funny moments throughout and especially the ones dealing with them constantly fainting when things get too scary.

[All summaries, descriptions, and critiques are from the IMDb.]

Welcome to the Hall, Uncle Fester!  I'm sure that comes as happy news!

You’ll be joined by other members of your ooky family soon enough… knock on wood.