Retro : Munster Mash : NICK SPENDS THE SUMMER WITH YOUR YOUR NOT-SO-TYPICAL AMERICAN FAMILY

It’s ghouls night out every Monday this summer on Nick at Nite. The campy cable channel recently added the 1964-66 sitcom The Munsters to its lineup and is airing six back-to-back episodes of the series every Monday throughout the summer.

“The Munsters” debuted on CBS the same year as that other macabre delight, ABC’s “The Addams Family.” Though “The Addams Family” has grown in reputation over the decades (spawning two hit feature films), “The Munsters” was originally the more popular of the two. In its first season, “The Munsters” placed No. 18 in the ratings; “The Addams Family” was No. 23.

A delightful take on family values, “The Munsters” lived in a musty, old gothic home at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Mockingbird Heights. They were a warm, loving family who just happened to be--well, er--monsters.

Fred Gwynne, who had starred in the “Car 54, Where Are You?” TV series with Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster), was cast as the lovable dad Herman Munster. He stood taller than 7 feet and looked like a kissing cousin of Frankenstein’s monster. Herman had a rather insignificant job at the funeral home of Gateman, Goodbury & Graves, but was always trying to better his situation.

Yvonne De Carlo played his Vampira of a wife, Lily, and Butch Patrick was their son Eddie, who was one hormone away from turning into the Wolfman. Lewis’ grandpa had a habit of turning into a bat at the drop of a hat. Beverly Owen was their normal-looking niece Marilyn, whom the Munsters regarded as rather abnormal. When Owen left the series in December, 1964, to get married, she was replaced by Pat Priest.

The Munsters even starred in their own feature film comedy, the 1966 piffle “Munster, Go Home!,” which found the family traveling to England after they inherited a castle. Debbie Watson (“Tammy”) played Marilyn in this outing.

From 1988-91, a syndicated version of “The Munsters” aired starring John Shuck as Herman and Lee Meriwether as Lily. The series continued through 1991. Fox will air a new version “Here Comes the Munsters” during the Halloween season starring Edward Herrmann as Herman, Veronica Hamel as Lily and Robert Morse as Grandpa.

Monday’s lineup:

8 p.m.: Eddie grows a beard after drinking Grandpa’s magic milkshake.

8:30 p.m.: Grandpa turns into a bat so Eddie can take him to the school pet fair, only to have Eddie trade him for a squirrel.

9 p.m. Herman and Grandpa are mistaken for bank robbers.

9:30 p.m. Herman takes dance lessons at a crooked dance school. Don Rickles and Joyce Jameson guest.

10 p.m. Herman becomes a mail-order detective. Lily thinks he’s having an affair.

10:30 p.m. Lily tosses Herman out of the house after he stays out too late at the office party.

“The Munsters” air Mondays from 8-11 on on Nickelodeon.