The WORST episodes of The Munsters
Every episode of The Munsters ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Munsters!
At 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights, lived one of America's strangest sitcom families, The Munsters. Strangest looking, that is, for beneath Herman's Frankensteinian facial features, Lily's vampiric visage, Grandpa's Dracula countenance and Eddie's Wolfman looks, lurked possibly the sweetest and most sensitive sitcom family ever to grace the small-screen. This, of course, was the nub of the series: that a family so weird could overcome the everyday problems of modern living - and the fact that people ran away from them, screaming - by their generosity, gentleness and belief in traditional American values.
#1 - Will Success Spoil Herman Munster?
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/2/1965
Eddie borrows a tape recorder belonging to the disc-jockey father of one of his friends. Herman records a version of DRY BONES, accompanying himself on the guitar. The following day, the disc jockey plays the song on his radio show - and it becomes an instant hit. Herman identifies himself as the mystery singer and quickly turns into an egomaniacal would-be celebrity. Grandpa comes to the rescue with his Nothin' Muffins.
#2 - Zombo
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/17/1966
Eddie, an avid fan of ghoulish TV host Zombo, becomes the winner of the ""Why I Like Zombo Contest"" and gets to be on the Zombo show. Herman becomes jealous of Eddie's new hero and wants to appear equally outlandish. But his efforts to impress his son fail. Eddie eventually learns that Zombo is not a real person but a phony character played by an actor.
#3 - Big Heap Herman
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/20/1966
The Munsters are heading for a vacation in Buffalo Valley when Herman gets off for a rest stop at Indian Flats. He wanders into the village of an Indian tribe that specializes in luring the tourist trade. The tribe's eldest member mistakes Herman for an ancient spirit leader.
#4 - A Man for Marilyn
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/18/1965
To provide poor unfortunate Marilyn with a future husband, Grandpa tries to turn a frog into a prince. Conveniently, he chooses a nearsighted frog who won't be put off by Marilyn's hideous looks. Not realizing that the potion has failed, Grandpa and Herman mistake a passing stranger for their princely frog.
#5 - Eddie's Brother
Season 2 - Episode 27 - Aired 3/24/1966
Eddie longs for the companionship of a younger brother, so Grandpa builds him a robot named Boris. Eddie becomes resentful of this silent, mechanical boy who is so considerate and well-behaved that he garners all of Herman's attention and admiration.
#6 - Munsters on the Move
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 3/25/1965
In order to accept a promotion, Herman has to shuffle his family off to Buffalo. Eddie, who happens to be doing great on the baseball team, throws a temper tantrum. Since Grandpa has already sold the house to a wrecking company, the Munsters have no choice but to wage war.
#7 - The Midnight Ride of Herman Munster
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/3/1964
After going to the car to find something Herman falls asleep in the back of his car with the keys in the ignition. The car is then stolen by bank robbers who don't know that Herman is sleeping in the back seat. When Herman wakes up he wanders into their hideout and is thought to be Big Louie, a gang member who has taken twenty years of beatings in the boxing ring. Herman winds up as an accomplice in a bank robbery.
#8 - A Visit from Johann
Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/17/1966
Dr. Victor Frankenstein IV from Germany visits Mockingbird Heights and brings with him Johann, Herman's look-alike cousin. Johann is quite primitive and behaves like the Frankenstein monster from the movies. It is up to Herman to try to civilize him and teach him English. Lily is not informed of this; mistaking Johann for Herman, she takes him away for a romantic weekend getaway.
#9 - Herman's Lawsuit
Season 2 - Episode 31 - Aired 4/21/1966
Herman is struck by a car. He isn't hurt, but the car that struck him is totaled. The uninjured driver assumes she has disfigured Herman, and her attorney suggests that she try to settle with him for $10,000. When Herman receives the offer, he wrongly assumes that this is the amount he owes for the damage he caused to the car. He runs away from home rather than face the problem of financial ruin for his family.
#10 - The Fregosi Emerald
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/10/1966
Eddie gives Marilyn a ring he found in the attic as a birthday present. Grandpa recognizes it as the Fregosi Emerald, a centuries-old ring with a Transylvanian curse. Herman doesn't believe in such a silly superstition; he is intent on proving that the ring does not bring about bad luck. He quickly regrets trying to do this.
#11 - Grandpa's Lost Wife
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/3/1966
A lady in Sioux City, Iowa, has placed an advertisement offering a reward for the return of her lost husband, who is Grandpa. Grandpa claims to have never seen this woman before in his life - but when he discovers that she's filthy rich, he's ready to sign an affidavit stating that she is his spouse.
#12 - Dance with Me, Herman
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/18/1965
In order to accompany Marilyn to her school dance, Herman decides to take dancing lessons. He goes to Happy Havemeyer's Dancing School, where he is suckered into signing a ten-year contract for 1500 lessons (at $7.50 a lesson). Herman is under the wrong impression that he is going to become a dancing instructor for the school.
#13 - A Visit from the Teacher
Season 2 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/12/1966
When Eddie reads a school composition entitled ""My Parents - An Average American Family"" to his class, his teacher believes the boy is exhibiting symptoms of an overactive imagination. The school principal suggests that Eddie's wild exaggerations might be motivated by an underprivileged home life. It is decided that a visit to the Munster home is in order.
#14 - Yes, Galen, There Is a Herman (a.k.a. My Friend Herman)
Season 1 - Episode 38 - Aired 6/10/1965
Herman saves the life of a young boy, Galen Livingston Stewart, by bending the bars his head is stuck between. They immediately become close friends. The only problem is that Galen's parents think Uncle Herman is a figment of the boy's imagination. They take him to a psychiatrist, played by Harvey Korman with a broad German accent.
#15 - Love Comes to Mockingbird Heights
Season 1 - Episode 31 - Aired 4/22/1965
The Munsters receive $180,000 in gold doubloons from Uncle Gilbert in Transylvania. When their bank's assistant manager arrives to pick up the money for deposit, he instantly falls in love with Marilyn. Grandpa and Lily do their best to encourage the romance, not realizing that this gentleman is only after Marilyn for her doubloons.
#16 - If a Martian Answers, Hang Up
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/21/1965
When Herman fools around with a ham radio in Grandpa's dungeon, he thinks he's contacted Martians. But he is actually speaking to two kids who are fooling around with walkie-talkies and just pretending to be Martians. The kids think Herman is also a kid, and a stupid one too.
#17 - Grandpa Leaves Home
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/24/1964
Grandpa feels neglected and decides to depart the Munster Family. In the beginning Lily and Herman believe this is just a ploy to get attention and they let Grandpa leave, expecting he'll soon come back. Shortly afterwards, they begin to miss him and try to track him down. The find out he's doing a magic act at a local nightclub.
#18 - Herman's Rival
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/31/1964
Lily thinks that Herman has lost all his savings through a bad investment - when in fact he loaned it to her brother, the Wolf Man. She decides to build-up the family's funds by taking a palm-reading job in a tea room. In a plot twist Grandpa and Herman suspect that Lily is sneaking out of the house to have a love affair.
#19 - The Musician
Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/3/1966
Grandpa's magic transforms Eddie from a rotten trumpet player into a classical music virtuoso. But when he needs to duplicate the potion for a command performance for Herman's boss, Grandpa can't remember the exact formula. Eddie is accidentally turned into a jazz-playing, jive-talking hipster.
#20 - Cyrano de Munster
Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/24/1966
After Herman has his poetry published in The Mortician Monthly, a shy coworker named Clyde asks him to compose love letters to help him attract the attention of a young lady he's fallen for. Herman obliges, but soon Lily discovers samples of this mushy writing and becomes suspicious. After a re-enactment of the ""hiding in the bushes"" scene from CYRANO DE BERGERAC, the object of Clyde's desire falls for Herman. Meanwhile, Herman mistakenly suspects that Clyde's object of desire is Lily.
#21 - Herman Picks a Winner
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/6/1966
Herman tries to teach Eddie a lesson about the folly of gambling: he takes the money in Eddie's piggy bank and bets it on a long shot at the racetrack. When the horse comes in a winner, it ruins the point of Herman's lesson and leads to his entanglement with organized crime.
#22 - Lily's Star Boarder
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/4/1965
Herman becomes insanely jealous of Chester, a mysterious boarder whom Lily has bought into the household in yet another of her schemes to acquire a little extra cash. After searching Chester's room, Herman concludes that he's a gangster. In fact, he is a lieutenant for the police department.
#23 - Munster the Magnificent
Season 1 - Episode 34 - Aired 5/13/1965
Eddie volunteers Herman as a performer for his school's Talent Night. Since Herman has no discernible talent, Grandpa conjures up a pair of magic ballet shoes that will transform whoever wears them into a gifted dancer. But Herman is uneasy about strapping on this footwear. Fortunately, Eddie already has him billed as the world's greatest magician.
#24 - Lily Munster–Girl Model
Season 1 - Episode 33 - Aired 5/6/1965
Fearing that she is not useful around the house, Lily searches for a job. She eventually lands a position as a fashion model, causing Herman to become wildly jealous as he entertains fantasies about the suave men she's liable to mingle with. With Grandpa's help, Herman transforms himself into a swinging playboy. Grandpa, in a disguise, poses as his beautiful blonde girlfriend.
#25 - Bronco-Bustin' Munster
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/30/1965
In yet another example of Eddie's misguided regard for his father's natural abilities, the young Munster enters Herman's name in the bucking bronco contest at the local rodeo. Lily is unable to talk Herman out of such a dangerous task: he is intent on being a hero to his son in spite of the fact that he's scared stiff. Meanwhile, the promoters plan to have Herman ride a horse that is guaranteed to break every bone in his body.