TV Quote of the Day (‘The Addams Family,’ As Morticia Demonstrates Her Knowledge of American History)

Morticia Frump Addams [played by Carolyn Jones]: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.'"

Gomez Addams [played by John Astin]: “Lincoln?”

Morticia: “Jefferson.”— The Addams Family, Season 2, Episode 10, “Gomez, the Reluctant Lover,” original air date Nov. 19, 1965, teleplay by Charles R. Marion and Leo Rifkin, directed by Sidney Lanfield

What better intro to the Fourth of July weekend than this unexpected morsel of U.S. history?

I would love to see Morticia Addams on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. True, she might need an English major (especially one familiar with the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson) as a lifeline. But it would be so much fun to watch this delicious matriarch of the offbeat Sixties sitcom hobble over to the podium in those tiny steps in that black form-fitting gown.

Her answers would be so loopy that fans would boo the real ones offered by the host as dreadfully uninspired. And, with the devoted but delightfully demented Gomez cheering her on in the audience, anything could happen. (How about Lurch as the next host, with Thing silently but visibly providing the answers?)