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
The Addams Family identified as a "cult film", while "Addams Family Values" was listed one of The 50 Best family films by "The Guardian" and nominated for the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Laughs at the turn of the century. Ricci's portrayal of Wednesday in the film series was ranked one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters by "Empire", and in 2011 AOL named Morticia one of The 100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters. Addams' original cartoons were one-panel gags. The characters were undeveloped and unnamed until the television series production. The family appears to be a single surviving branch of the Addams