The Addams Family readership and did not want it associated with characters who could be seen on television by just anybody. After Shawn's 1987 retirement, the characters were welcomed back to "The New Yorker". The Addams Family's first animated appearance was on the third episode of Hanna-Barbera's "The New Scooby-Doo Movies", "Scooby-Doo Meets the Addams Family" (a.k.a. "Wednesday is Missing"), which first aired on CBS Saturday morning, September 23, 1972. Four of the original cast (John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan, and Ted Cassidy) returned for the special, which involved the Addamses in a mystery with the Scooby-Doo gang. The Addams Family characters
Addams Family Reunion the morbid but basically good Addams clan". The producers wanted to bridge the gap in continuity between the Paramount films and the new series, and reached out to Anjelica Huston and Christopher Lloyd to reprise their roles as Morticia Addams and Uncle Fester, but both declined. Director Dave Payne, however, denies that Huston and Lloyd were considered for the film's casting. Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman were too old to reprise their roles as Wednesday and Pugsley Addams. The only actors to reprise their roles from the Paramount films were Carel Struycken as Lurch, and Christopher Hart as Thing. Recast