The Munsters Today

Lore & Background

The sequel series starts with Grandpa creating 'Sleeping Chambers', coffins that make the user fall asleep for a selected time. He insists the entire family try them out. After Grandpa sets the dial for 30 minutes and shuts the door, a flash of light and a falling beam change the dial to 'Forever'. Twenty-two years later, a man named Mr. Prescott and his assistant explore the Munsters' house with plans to turn it into a parking lot when they unknowingly awaken the Munsters from their Sleeping Chambers. Finding themselves in the 1980s, the Munsters work to adjust to the current time period.

Reader's Guide

The Munsters Today broadcast 72 episodes from October 8, 1988, to May 25, 1991, giving it more first-run episodes than the original series. It was created following a failed attempt to revive the show with most of the original cast in the 1981 NBC telefilm The Munsters' Revenge. The series lasted three seasons in syndication and proved popular with international audiences. It premiered in the United Kingdom on Saturday, January 6, 1990, on selected regions of ITV, continuing until June 1996. In the United States, reruns aired on digital subchannel Retro Television Network from August 2008 until their distribution agreement with NBCUniversal expired in June 2011.

Did You Know?

• The pilot explained the 22-year gap following the original series by showing the family testing a machine that allows sleep without aging, then an accident causes them to sleep until 1988.
• The series starred John Schuck as Herman, Lee Meriwether as Lily, Howard Morton as Grandpa, Hilary Van Dyke as Marilyn, and Jason Marsden as Eddie.
• The Munsters Today had 72 episodes, more first-run episodes than the original 1964–66 series.
• The show aired in the United Kingdom on ITV from January 6, 1990, to June 1996.