I SAW WEDNESDAY: SEASON 2 (THE 1ST FOUR)

Jenna (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice/X/Scream 5-6) Ortega has returned as Wednesday Addams in Netflix/MGM/Tim Burton's Season 2 (with a four-episode kickoff), where the titular lass heads back to Nevermore Academy (after a summer derailing Haley Joel Osment's Kansas City Scalper) to undergo Hyde-thwarting, celebrity worship and questionable, communal assimilation. 

This time, her psychic powers burn with determined woe as she contends with her ardent mom, now a Nevermore, gala organizer. How Wednesday matches the matter is the crust of the plot, in addition to an impressive, Hitchcockian, crow assault that appears to usher our bittersweet protagonist toward another Kolchak-ish unveil, though one sprinkled with maniacal traces of Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, thanks to a frantic, asylum sojourn. 

Wednesday's colorful, lycanthrope compatriot, Enid Sinclair, portrayed by Emma Myers, also returns, along with the expected, Addams members: Isaac Ordonez's Pugsley (taller, wiser and Nevermore's zombie-conjurer outcast), Catherine Zeta-Jones' Morticia, Luis Guzman's Gomez, Fred Armisen's Fester, Joonas (Chewbacca) Suatomo's Lurch (replacing George Burcea) and Victor Dorobantu's Thing, with Joanna Lumley's Hester "Grandmama" Frump making her riveting, if not judgmental debut. 

Linking to this eccentric chain is Hunter Doohan's Tyler "the Hyde" Galpin, Jamie Shane's Sheriff Donovan Galpin, Christina Ricci's alive-and-sort-of-well Laurel Gates (aka Marilyn Thornhill), Joy Sunday's Bianca Barclay, Moosa Mostafa's Eugene and Georgie Farmer's Ajax, joined by a fresh crop of supporting performers that includes Billy Piper, Steve Buscemi, Thandiwe Newton, Heather Matarazzo, Anthony Michael Hall, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Casper Van Dien, Noah B. Taylor, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Lady Gaga and famed, former Fester, Christopher Lloyd in a nifty nod to his Amazing Stories ("Go To the Head of the Class") role. 

The episodes that dropped on August 6 are quite good, and it's a shame that we must wait until September for the next four. Why not have released one episode a week after the introductory quartet? It would have sustained the melodramatic suspense, though without such a frustrating, double-snap gap.  

Be that as it may, it's nice to (re)experience Tim Burton's quirky side (and all the better when embolden by Danny Elman's orchestrations), proving that the filmmaker was ideal to enliven Charles Addams' concept. As a result, the sequel crackles with wicked camp, referencing the kooky hijinks of the 1960s sitcom, though with mature insertions where and when needed. 

Time (and patience) will tell where Wednesday's latest journey goes. I'm anxious to see what crawls beyond the sinister tease, though I'm confident I'm not the only who craves more.  

R.I.P. LISA LORING...

You set the respectable standard, bringing to life Charles Addams' wee one, Wednesday, on the weekly sitcom, The Addams Family and later, in the television special, Halloween with the (New) Addams Family.

In addition to playing that splendid character (not to mention, making her a household name), you visited such productions as Iced, Savage Harbor, Blood Frenzy, As the World Turns and The Pruitts of Southampton, as well as Dr. Kildare, your first film appearance. 

Your life was sometimes tough and at other times exploited, but you kept the faith and trudged on, showing us all how to fight the good fight.

May you now find peace beyond your earthly adventure, knowing that you've left an everlasting presence for all to appreciate and admire. 

I saw Wednesday...

Jenna Ortega stars as the eponymous Wednesday in Netflix's Gothic series, directed by Tim Burton (along with James Marshall and Gandja Monteiro), which gives the Charles Addams' concept a Nancy Drew slant. It doesn't hurt, either, that this teenage Wednesday possesses sporadic, psychic abilities that abet her Kolchak-ish delvings. 

Accompanying its detective strand, this eight-part series grazes social allegory, taking misleading jabs at conservative ventures, but also the hypocritical juxtaposing of its sometimes lefty factions (vampires, lycans, sirens, mystics, et al) that ought to know better when it comes to tossing judgmental stones. In other words and for better or worse, everyone is fair game in this reimagined tangent. 

Fans should be pleased that, in addition to Ortega's portrayal, most of the established Addams' are installed, with Catherine Zeta Jones as Morticia; Luz Guzman as Gomez; Isaac Ortonez as Pugsley; Victor Durubantu as Thing (enacted via convincing CGI); Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester; and George Bursea as Lurch.  

New characters intermingle with and/or bounce off them: Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair (a bubbly wolf girl in denial and Wednesday's roommate); Gwendoline Christie as Ms. Larissa Weems (Morticia's old, school chum and watchful principal); Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin (Wednesday's kind-of boyfriend and diligent, java-shop attendee); Jamie McShane as Sheriff Donovan Galpin (Tyler's austere but sensible dad); Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe (Wednesday's other kind-of boyfriend, who renders mystical art); Calum Ross as Rowan Laslow (an irksome, telekinetic "Potterhead"); Tommy Earl Jenkins as Mayor Noble Walker (the stern founder of Pilgrim World); Iman Marson as Lucas Walker (a bad kid who's really not so bad); Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay (the series' preeminent, spiteful siren/bad girl); Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropoulis (a heedful gorgon); Moosa Mustafa as Eugene Otinger (an impish beekeeper); Riki Lindhome as Dr. Kinbott (an avid therapist) and (by golly!) Christina Rici as Marilyn Thornhill (a botany teacher with a secret). 

Part of the series covers Wednesday's investigation of a murder Gomez was to have committed in his youth at Nevermore, a prestigious, Poe-themed (reform) school. However, this is but a ruse for the longer thread: Wednesday's persistence to uncover a murdering campus monster, aka a Hyde, which one might think the lass would befriend, but then this Addams creation doesn't march to its expected drum, only its moody and (sometimes) wry ambiance. (There's insinuated witch persecution, revenge, reincarnation and redemption in the plot, as well.) 

Danny Elman's score reinforces the show's Burton feel, but the series has trouble maintaining a seamless flow, coming across at times like a CW, adolescent melodrama and other times like Can't Take It With You meets Addams Family Values, with classic-horror trimmings, though Fester's participation does grant it solid footing during its final phases. 

To the show's persistent advantage, Ortega is ideal as the titular youth. Her dance-social gyration is one for the books, but it's her deft delivery that permeates, just as it should. Wednesday admirers won't be disappointed. 

All Wednesday episodes are now queued for viewing, so cuddle up with your headless, Marie Antoinette doll and pry your way in.   

I saw the Addams Family (2019)...

Charles Addams' famous New Yorker comic feature has gone through several incarnations over the decades, the most famous being the '60s sitcom, but the '90s movies are pretty darn popular, too.

"The Addams Family '19" is the latest take, an animated submission, directed by Vernon Conrad and Greg Tiernan and penned by Pat Pettler and Matt Lieberman. It returns to its New Yorker roots, perhaps not on all levels, but most. It's modern, after all, and its wry jokes connect to the neo-scheme of pop-cultural life.

In this instance, the vignettes are strung per a television, how-to concept, led by a crafty host named Margaux Needler (voiced by Allison Janney), who wants to revamp the Addams' New Jersey home for improvement (if only to sell pretty counterparts that she can't if the estate stands). The motif indirectly relegates our offbeat family to the Osbournes and Kardashians (if one wishes to push the point), and in so doing, puts the clan in conflict with the so-called, "regular" world: a grand tradition for this eccentric group.

Its interludes make the movie work, bending the confines of everyday existence with skewed sensibilities. These collected moments also bring to mind Frank Capra's "You Can't Take it With You". The Addamses, like the zestful folks of Capra's movie, simply want to enjoy life, even if their antics enter the bizarre, if not sometimes dangerous. 

There's also an undeniable, shared love among the family members, which include Gomez (Issac Oscar), Morticia (Charlize Theron), Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll), Grandmama (Bette Midler), Wednesday (Chole Grace Moretz), Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard), the Frankenstein-ish Lurch (Conrad Vernon), Cousin It (Snoop Dogg); the disembodied Thing (playing itself, obviously); and Needle's daughter, Parker (Elsie Fisher) who becomes a surrogate Addams member, if only by rebellious default. These specialized characters support one another in such a way that most modern families don't (at worst, criticizing one another only so that all stay safe). Perhaps this fond bond is what makes the Addamses so peculiar: ironic, considering that its members have been traditionally perceived as kooky and therefore, some would say dysfunctional. 

No matter the classification or time relegation, I've always enjoyed these far-out folks. This new version of the family is no exception, as it forges forth a cry for acceptance over assimilation. Those who've criticized the recent display of friendship between Ellen DeGeneres and George Bush would be wise to watch this entry. "The Addams Family '19" has the ability to teach, as well as entertain.