They were originally considering using the live-action puppet from [tt=0096708] as the host, but they eventually decided that the puppet was too scary for the younger children and went with a cartoon likeness instead.
A child psychologist had to approve the scripts to make sure they weren't too scary for the kids.
In the second season, the Vault Keeper and the Old Witch made their first appearances outside of the EC Comics, serving as foils to the Cryptkeeper in trying to gain attention from the viewers by telling the stories or performing for show.
To market the Cryptkeeper to children, the show's creators had to somewhat water down his appearance, his characterization, and his puns. John Kassir would go on to say, "Nelvana created a kinder, gentler personality for the children's Crypt Keeper, and it feels a little uncharacteristic at times."
John Kassir provided the voice of the Cryptkeeper in Tales from the Crypt (1989) and this show concurrently, totaling to 132 episodes. This show contains 39 episodes and the live action show contains the reversal number of this show's amount, 93 episodes.