WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1!Wednesday season 1 pays tribute to the most iconic line spoken by Lurch in the original Addams Family sitcom. While the kooky characters have been around since Charles Addams’ cartoons in the 1930s, the Addams family truly became a pop culture phenomenon during the original dark sitcom. The series ran from 1964 until 1966, with its iconic gothic premise being adapted again on numerous occasions. Tim Burton’s Wednesday makes it a priority to pay homage to the classic iterations of the Addams Family that came before, including one of the sitcom’s most famous lines spoken by the Addamses’ spooky butler Lurch.
Whenever The Addams Family’s sitcom characters summoned the butler with a bell pull that elicited a loud gong noise, the typically-mute Lurch instantly appeared and remarked in his deep voice, “You rang?” The line has often been repeated often in pop culture as a reference to The Addams Family’s butler, with Wednesday briefly paying tribute to Ted Cassidy’s Lurch. When Wednesday Addams rings a bell to call for Tyler in Wednesday season 1, episode 3, Tyler then comes into the frame and answers, “You rang?” It’s a very quick moment, but is apt to greatly appease fans of the original sitcom.
Why Doesn't Lurch Speak In The Wednesday Show?
In The Addams Family sitcom, Lurch was a man of very few words, which is part of why his frequent “you rang” line became so famous. Netflix’s Wednesday takes this trait to another level by only having Lurch communicate through grunts. Considering Lurch only appears in a few scenes of Wednesday season 1 when dropping off the Addamses at Nevermore Academy and later picking Wednesday up in the finale, it’s not surprising that the character had no dialogue. Lurch’s lack of interest in speaking also contributes to his gloomy demeanor, with the gothic Wednesday Addams likely preferring the silence on their drives together.
Lurch is reminiscent of a Frankenstein’s monster-type creature, so Tim Burton's Wednesday show appears to be running with this inspiration by only giving the butler grunts for communication. Like the original character in The Addams Family sitcom, George Burcea’s Lurch in Wednesday is seemingly capable of speech, but prefers to communicate through inarticulate moans. Since Thing only communicates through hand gestures, Cousin Itt communicates through indiscernible chattering, and Lurch grunts, speech isn’t a requirement for the Addams family’s communication, which adds to the kooky outcast family’s charm.
How Netflix's Wednesday Still Honors The Original TV Show & Movies
Wednesday season 1 features plenty of Easter eggs and references to the original Addams Family sitcom and the 1990s movies. In addition to Tyler’s “You rang?” quote, Wednesday season 1 repeats the iconic Thanksgiving speech from Christina Ricci’s Wednesday in 1993’s Addams Family Values movie. The Netflix series also has subtle Easter eggs to the original sitcom sprinkled throughout, such as a flashback featuring the guillotine Wednesday used to cut off her dolls’ heads.
Easter eggs for The Addams Family sitcom also include a stuffed bear in Principal Weems’ office that references the same trinket from the Addams mansion, photos of Addams family characters like Cousin Itt in the Nightshades Library, and harpsichord notes in the score reminiscent of sitcom’s theme song. Perhaps the most obvious reference to the original show and movies in Wednesday is the double snap code used to enter the Nightshades Library, which pays tribute to The Addams Family's iconic theme song.