‘Curious Creations of Christine McConnell’ Is the Addams Family Reboot I Didn’t Know I Needed

There are a lot of shows you can cite when trying to describe Netflix’s creepy crafting show Curious Creations of Christine McConnell to the unconverted. It’s like Martha Stewart meets Mystery Science Theater 3000, or Rachael Ray if it was set in Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Or it’s like if Tim Burton produced a Pinterest TV show on the Food Network (after dark). But the show, the American pop culture institution, that I think Curious Creations really draws the most from is without a doubt The Addams Family. Yeah, Christine McConnell and her house of curious critters are an Addams Family for the 21st century, and it’s about damn time!

Seriously, after decades in the spotlight (well, in the shadows just outside the spotlight’s reach), the last couple decades have been shockingly free of America’s first family of fright. Originally introduced as one-panel cartoon gags in the pages of The New Yorker in 1938, the Addamses became icons of enjoyable ickiness with the debut of their live-action TV show in 1964. The show only lasted two seasons but those 64 episodes cast a long shadow over Hollywood.

The characters returned for an animated series in 1973 and the original cast reunited for a TV movie in 1977 (which you can stream on Hulu, if you know where to find it). Then two feature films were released, The Addams Family in 1991 and Addams Family Values in 1993, introducing new generations to their homely horror. A new cartoon aired around that time, too, and another syndicated live-action TV show aired on cable from 1998-1999. The only new Addams action in the new millennium was the 2010 Broadway musical that closed after 22 months. After being all over TV and movie screens for 35 years, the lights went out on the Addams house.

For the starved Addams fan like me, Curious Creations of Christine McConnell flicks on those lights again (but it doesn’t clear the cobwebs, because cobwebs are #onbrand). The show fills an Addams-shaped void in my life that I didn’t realize existed–and it fills it frighteningly, surprisingly well considering Curious Creations is ostensibly a craft and cooking show!

But as vital as McConnell’s creations are (the majority of each episode’s runtime is devoted to closeups of her hands and, like, edible werewolves and latex bat wings), the narrative surrounding those lessons is 100% Addams. The characters (Christine, mummy cat Rankle, hodgepodge critter Rose, newly adopted werebeast Edgar) all form a dysfunctional family unit, one tied together by love (both genuine and begrudging). That’s the twist integral to both Curious Creations and The Addams Family: these oddballs care about each other, and Christine looks after all of the beasts in her care the same way Morticia tends to her morbid kids.

And just like the Addams Family, both families are rounded out by even stranger members on the periphery, like Thing and Cousin Itt. The Curious cast also features basement monster Bernard, a tentacled beast in the fridge, and a ghost named Vivienne (Dita Von Teese) who mostly hangs out in Christine’s mirror.

Like the original Addams sitcom, which is my personal definitive take on the bunch, Curious Creations sets almost all of its action within the confines of their macabre manor. We spend time with these lovable weirdos in their own home, meaning they have to play host to the perplexed outside world when they warily knock on the front door. The tone struck in these interactions is exactly the same on both shows: Christine and the Addamses just want to play nice with their guests, even if those guests are terrified.

The humor is also so similar, filled with nonstop macabre misdirects that are delightful every single time. Like here’s Gomez and Morticia’s reaction to Pugsley joining the Boy Scouts.

Here’s Christine reminding Rose of an important life lesson.

Morticia reminding Wednesday of table manners.

And Christine and Rankle being thrilled about Rose and Edgar getting along.

See? It’s great, every single time! These are two families that know how to set up jokes and swat them down satisfactorily. And as similar as the shows are in structure and aesthetic, it’s really this joke-writing formula that acts as the black tendrils connecting these two. The shows not only look alike, but they sound alike.

And that’s one of the many, many reasons why Curious Creations of Christine McConnell has warmed my heart this Halloween season. In addition to just being the weirdest, most charming new addition to Netflix in quite a while, it also resurrects that Addams Family feel that’s been missing from my life for so, so long. I’m so glad Curious Creations came along and picked up all that kooky slack.

Stream The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell on Netflix

Stream The Addams Family on Hulu