Next week (Wednesday the 23rd, to be exact), the Netflix streaming service will be releasing the eight episode first season of their Addams Family spin-off series Wednesday – and with just a few more days left to go before the show is available, we here at Arrow in the Head decided to compile a list of The Best Addams Family Episodes to Watch Before Netflix’s Wednesday. Since Wednesday is the star of the new series, we went back through episodes of the classic The Addams Family sitcom from the ’60s to find some that shined more of a spotlight on the character. You can see the results right here:
THE ADDAMS FAMILY GOES TO SCHOOL – SEASON 1, EPISODE 1
Wednesday’s schooling is a big deal in the upcoming Netflix series, and it also happens to be at the center of The Addams Family’s debut episode. Wednesday is the first Addams family member we meet, as she opens the door for a truant officer who has come to find out why she (6 years old) and her brother Pugsley (8 years old) have never been to school. Although Grandmama has been handling the children’s education up to this point, the Addams agree to send the kids to public school… where they experience some culture shock. We don’t see what happens at the school, but we do see Wednesday come home in tears after hearing a story about a dragon being killed by a knight in shining armor. The poor dragon!
WEDNESDAY LEAVES HOME – SEASON 1, EPISODE 10
A rare Wednesday-centric episode of The Addams Family, this one begins with little Wednesday being disciplined for setting off all of Uncle Fester’s dynamite caps. (She likes them better than the weaker explosives she’s given.) The punishment: she’s forbidden to play with her pet spider Homer for two weeks. That’s too harsh for Wednesday’s liking, so she decides to run away from home… or at least convince her parents that she has. Wackiness ensues, the police get involved, and along the way we find out that Wednesday’s middle name is not Thursday. It’s Friday. Jesse White has a fun guest role in this episode as Sgt. Haley, the cop who finds dealing with the Addams family to be quite mind-boggling.
ART AND THE ADDAMS FAMILY – SEASON 1, EPISODE 14
Wednesday displays some her artistic skills in this episode, which begins when Grandmama takes up painting. The Addams call Picasso to come over from Spain and be Grandmama’s art teacher – but they mistakenly hire struggling artist Sam Picasso instead of the legendary Pablo Picasso. When they realize they have the wrong Picasso, they encourage his artistic endeavors by shutting him in the dungeon (they call it the Play Room) so he can focus on painting. Unbeknownst to her parents, Wednesday joins Picasso in the Play Room to do some painting of her own, creating paintings that art critic Bosley Swain hails as masterpieces. And Picasso takes the credit for. We don’t get to see much of Wednesday’s art, but Swain sure is impressed.
AMNESIA IN THE ADDAMS FAMILY – SEASON 1, EPISODE 22
When Gomez accidentally hits himself in the head with a pair of clubs, he not only develops amnesia, he also takes on a personality that is the opposite of his normal self. He no longer fits in with the other Addams family members, and they find him to be insufferable. A comedy of errors ensues, as it’s discovered that another whack on the head will restore Gomez to his normal self. Problem is, most of the family is out to hit Gomez and make him himself again, so he keeps getting hit and switches back and forth between personalities multiple times. There are a couple great scenes with Wednesday in this one, including a scene with her pet lizard Lucifer and another where she convinces Pugsley that he needs to club their dad back to normal.
HALLOWEEN, ADDAMS STYLE – SEASON 2, EPISODE 7
What does Wednesday Addams wear when she goes trick-or-treating? Well, of course, she goes as the most terrifying creature of all: a little princess! Sadly, Wednesday doesn’t have a good time trick-or-treating this year. Not only does she not manage to scare anybody, but she comes home heartbroken because a neighbor told her that witches don’t really exist. So her family goes searching for a witch who can come over and confirm for Wednesday that witches do indeed exist. It’s fun to watch the Addams family celebrate Halloween, which they consider to be their “very own holiday”, complete with pumpkin carving and bobbing for apples. And a séance. Plus we get a brief appearance by Cousin Cackle, who is an entertainingly odd fellow.
FEUD IN THE ADDAMS FAMILY – SEASON 2, EPISODE 11
In one of the last episodes of season 1, we found out that Wednesday has a “boyfriend”; Woodrow, the invisible son of the Invisible Man. But by the time we reach the season 2 episode Feud in the Addams Family, Wednesday has a crush on a regular boy, Robespierre Courtney. She would have been better off sticking with Woodrow. But Wednesday’s family gives her tips on how to win Robespierre’s heart, making her into a miniature Morticia – and their love connection is encouraged by Robespierre’s mother simply because she wants to get closer to a wealthy relative of the Addams. (Gomez’s cousin by marriage, who Mrs. Courtney assumes is a closer blood relative.) This episode also shows that Wednesday is so skilled in judo, she can easily take down her own father.
CHRISTMAS WITH THE ADDAMS FAMILY – SEASON 2, EPISODE 15
The same neighbor who tried to ruin Halloween for Wednesday by telling her that witches don’t exist has now tried to ruin Christmas for her and Pugsley by telling them that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. To preserve their nice and gloomy Christmas, the Addams have to prove that he does. A plan that includes dressing Uncle Fester in a Santa costume and dropping him down the chimney. The Christmas present Wednesday is most hoping to receive is a new version of her favorite doll, Marie Antoinette. So she can cut her head off with a guillotine, like she and Pugsley did to the previous version of the doll. Pugsley is hoping to receive a bow and arrow set so he can shoot apples off of Uncle Fester’s head.
ADDAMS CUM LAUDE – SEASON 2, EPISODE 25
Like the very first episode of the series, this episode of The Addams Family deals with the education of Wednesday and Pugsley. When the kids get in trouble for playing with dynamite caps during recess at their public school, Gomez and Morticia decide it’s time to send them to a private school that won’t stifle their creativity. Wednesday and Pugsley get expelled from the private school for taking their pet octopus and gila monster to school with them – and rather than just accept that, the Addams family purchases the school, replaces the faculty (assigning a prominent job to Uncle Fester), and comes up with a whole new curriculum. As you can imagine, they have some very unusual ideas for the classes the children should take.
LURCH’S GRAND ROMANCE – SEASON 2, EPISODE 29
Wednesday is shown to have dancing skills multiple times throughout the sitcom’s two season run. In the episode Lurch Learns to Dance, she taught Lurch ballet moves that she had learned from Grandmama. In the episode Lurch the Teenage Idol, she’s shown dancing the Watusi. But it’s this episode that features the most popular display of Wednesday’s dance moves. Even if you’ve never watched any of The Addams Family, you might have seen the clip of Wednesday and Lurch dancing in Lurch’s Grand Romance. This moment comes about because Lurch has a crush on Morticia’s school friend Trivia and needs tips on how to win her over. So Wednesday shows him some dance moves in hopes that Lurch will be able to dance his way into Trivia’s heart.
MORTICIA’S ROMANCE: PARTS 1 & 2 – SEASON 2, EPISODES 2 & 3
Wednesday doesn’t have a lot of screen time in these episodes, but they are presented as if they are a story being told to her and her brother Pugsley. The story digs into the origins of the great romance between their parents, Gomez and Morticia, who met when they were both 22 years old. In these episodes, we learn that Grandmama had originally arranged for Gomez to marry Morticia Frump’s upbeat, blonde sister Ophelia, but when he got a glimpse of Morticia it was love at first sight. This also clarifies that Grandmama is Gomez’s mom, Lurch was their butler before Morticia arrived, Thing has been Gomez’s friend since childhood, Fester is Morticia’s uncle, and Cousin Itt is Gomez’s cousin.