A New Generation for ‘Addams Family’

For video fans, the best thing about Paramount’s “The Addams Family” movie, which comes out in theaters today, is that episodes of the TV series are finally being released on cassette.

To capitalize on interest in the film, Worldvision has released six 45-minute cassettes, each containing two episodes of the famed black-and-white, half-hour sitcom about the comically sinister family headed by Carolyn Jones and John Astin. Each cassette sells for $9.95.

Gary Delfiner, Worldvision’s vice president of marketing, reported that the company has shipped 150,000 copies of the six cassettes, with a sizeable share going to discount stores. By Christmas, he said, the company hopes to ship an additional 100,000.

“How the movie does will affect the sale of future tapes,” he said. There are plans to release more of the 66 episodes in the winter. They will be released in the order that they appeared on TV, he said.

Worldvision, which bought the home-video rights from Orion Television a few months ago, is hoping the movie is a smash hit that will inspire a new generation of fans to watch the TV series. “It might be like ‘Batman,’ ” Delfiner said. “The success of the movie pushed sales of the old TV product--to a lot of new fans.”

The company did not have to spend money to spruce up the master prints--often necessary when old TV shows are released on home video. “The masters were in great shape,” Delfiner reported.

Instead, it invested in duplicating at the fastest speed, SP (standard play), which results in the best possible picture. Frequently, tapes that sell in the $10 range are made in the slowest speed, EP (extended play), which is less expensive but commonly produces an inferior picture.

Worldvision produced “The Addams Family” tapes in SP partly to ensure quality and partly for economics. “Some video stores won’t sell EP tapes,” Delfiner explained. “We wanted to ensure that the tapes got the widest distribution possible, so we decided to spend the extra money.”

Pearl Harbor Tapes: With the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor coming Dec. 7, some related tapes are being marketed on home video.

J2’s “Target: Pearl Harbor,” a 70-minute documentary selling for $9.95, came out late last month. Its big attraction is footage from the Japanese perspective.

MPI, meanwhile, has repackaged its half-hour “The Day They Bombed Pearl Harbor” as “The 50th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor” ($19.98). The company also plans to market a Dec. 5 ABC News special about Pearl Harbor, also at $19.98.

Due Nov. 27 from Turner, at $19.98, is the one-hour CNN documentary, “Pearl Harbor: 50 Years After,” featuring extensive newsreel footage.

CBS-Fox’s entry is “Remember Pearl Harbor,” featuring retired Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and Charles Kuralt. This 55-minute documentary is due Dec. 5 at $14.98--two days before the footage will be seen as part of a two-hour special on CBS, also hosted by Schwarzkopf and Kuralt.

Of the feature films related to Pearl Harbor that are available on home video, the two best are the 1953 best-picture Oscar winner, “From Here to Eternity,” (RCA/Columbia), which ends with the Pearl Harbor attack, and “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (CBS-Fox, 1970), which stars Jason Robards and Joseph Cotten and boasts what some people consider the most spectacular war footage ever filmed.