J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
Next Thursday (January 12th) marks the 40th anniversary of a major milestone both in the history of television entertainment programming and American popular culture.
It was on that evening, Wednesday, January 12th, 1966, when "Batman" premiered on ABC. "Batman" was well-known to comic-book fans long before 1966, the character had been created in 1939 by cartoonist Bob Kane and had 27 years of success in comic books behind it by the time the Caped Crusader came to TV, as well as having been adapted twice, in 1943 and again in 1949, into fifteen-chapter movie serials.
But the TV version would go on to become (at least for a time) a smash hit and would end up making a major impact on pop culture.
Although the "Batman" character started out (and has since become again) a dark, no-nonsense, avenging crimefighter-in-the-night, the Batman of the TV show was based on the Batman of comic books at the time: a caped crimefighter who fought in a colorful, almost pop-art Gotham City. Yes, the TV version was campy, but so were the "Batman" comics of the period. The TV adaptation was very close to the "Batman" comic books circa 1966.
I had heard that the show had been created as a one-hour, once-a-week program intended for an early-evening broadcast starting in September of 1966. But ABC bought the program, and after a disasterous start to their 1965/66 season, the network decided to dump a number of low-rated series in January of 1966, and put on several new shows to replace the losers. Apparently, there were only two half-hour early-evening timeslots (Wednesdays and Thursdays, 7:30-8 P.M. ET/PT) open, so ABC made the unorthodox move of spliting each week's episoe into two parts, running the first part on Wednesdays and the conclusion the next evening. The unique scheduling was likely the major reason "Batman" became a hit.
The "cliffhangers", which always left Our Heroes in the clutches of evil super-criminals, were supposedely intended only to last through a station break, but with the twice-a-week scheduling, the cliffhangers weren't resolved for almost 24 hours. During 1966, children at recess and adults at water coolers alike talked about how would Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) would get out of this latest mess.
"Batman" was a high-adveneure show if you were younger than twelve or thirteen. If you were older than that, it was a hilarious spoof that made you laugh. During it's run, I was in the former category (having turned twn about two and a half weeks before "Batman" premiered). Whenever I see an episode of "Batman" today, I still regard it as high-adventure, perhaps because of when I first saw the show.
Before they passed away, my parents confessed that when they watched "Batman" with me, they smiled but never laughed out loud because it would destroy my perception of "Batman" being a high-adventure show.
Both installments finished among the top ten prime-time series of the 1965/66 season (with the Thursday show having the larger audience). Although the ratings began to dip (especially the Wednesday episode), the show remained quite successful through the 1966/67 season. Lots of "Batman" merchandise hit the stores in 1966. And for a time, "Batman" comics became the biggest-selling of all comic books (although "Superman" would again regain his traditional position as the #1-selling comic book in 1967).
For it's final (1967/68) season, the show was cut back to once a week (Thursdays, 7:30-8 P.M. ET/PT). That move probably sealed the show's fate. While "Batman" might not have lasted too much longer anyway, I feel that had the Wednesday/Thursday two-part scheduling remained for the rest of the series, "Batman" probably would have remained on the air until the Spring of 1969, maybe even a little longer.
But becaue of it's twice-a-week scheduling, 120 episodes were filmed in a little more than two years, more than enough for the reruns to be syndicated, where they have been seen for years.
To me, "Batman" was well ahead of it's time. Today, the show looks more "modern" than most television series of that period.
Although the regular cast was all-but-unknown, the "Special Guest Villians" were often top Hollywood character actors and major "A-List" stars, back before the term was invented. Among them: Cesat Romero (The Joker), Burgess Mereduith (The Penguin), Victor Buono (King Tut), Julie Newmar (The Catwoman, also played in a few 1967 episodes by Eartha Kitt and in a 1966 feature film by Lee Meriwether), Vincent Price (Egghead), Milton Berle (Louis The Lilac), and even Liberace (as Chandel). And even the narration (by producer William Dozier) added to the show.
The Riddler (played by Frank Gorshin), the villian in the "Batman" pilot, was at the time actually a minor villian in the "Batman" universe (he had, to the best of my recollection, appeared only twice in "Batman" comic prior to the TV series---once in 1949, the other time in 1965 shortly before the TV pilot was filmed). But thanks in part to Gorshin's portrayal of the character, The Riddler re-appeared on the TV series several times, and since 1966 has also been a major villian in "Batman" comics as well.
In my opinion, there's no doubt about it: "Batman" was one of the most influential series (as regards pop culture) in TV history----and one of three shows that were very influential to pop culture that premiered in 1966. The others, in my opinion, were "The Monkees" and "Star Trek".
Feel free to post your Bat-Memories here. Thanks!
"Tune-In Tomorrow! Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!".
It was on that evening, Wednesday, January 12th, 1966, when "Batman" premiered on ABC. "Batman" was well-known to comic-book fans long before 1966, the character had been created in 1939 by cartoonist Bob Kane and had 27 years of success in comic books behind it by the time the Caped Crusader came to TV, as well as having been adapted twice, in 1943 and again in 1949, into fifteen-chapter movie serials.
But the TV version would go on to become (at least for a time) a smash hit and would end up making a major impact on pop culture.
Although the "Batman" character started out (and has since become again) a dark, no-nonsense, avenging crimefighter-in-the-night, the Batman of the TV show was based on the Batman of comic books at the time: a caped crimefighter who fought in a colorful, almost pop-art Gotham City. Yes, the TV version was campy, but so were the "Batman" comics of the period. The TV adaptation was very close to the "Batman" comic books circa 1966.
I had heard that the show had been created as a one-hour, once-a-week program intended for an early-evening broadcast starting in September of 1966. But ABC bought the program, and after a disasterous start to their 1965/66 season, the network decided to dump a number of low-rated series in January of 1966, and put on several new shows to replace the losers. Apparently, there were only two half-hour early-evening timeslots (Wednesdays and Thursdays, 7:30-8 P.M. ET/PT) open, so ABC made the unorthodox move of spliting each week's episoe into two parts, running the first part on Wednesdays and the conclusion the next evening. The unique scheduling was likely the major reason "Batman" became a hit.
The "cliffhangers", which always left Our Heroes in the clutches of evil super-criminals, were supposedely intended only to last through a station break, but with the twice-a-week scheduling, the cliffhangers weren't resolved for almost 24 hours. During 1966, children at recess and adults at water coolers alike talked about how would Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) would get out of this latest mess.
"Batman" was a high-adveneure show if you were younger than twelve or thirteen. If you were older than that, it was a hilarious spoof that made you laugh. During it's run, I was in the former category (having turned twn about two and a half weeks before "Batman" premiered). Whenever I see an episode of "Batman" today, I still regard it as high-adventure, perhaps because of when I first saw the show.
Before they passed away, my parents confessed that when they watched "Batman" with me, they smiled but never laughed out loud because it would destroy my perception of "Batman" being a high-adventure show.
Both installments finished among the top ten prime-time series of the 1965/66 season (with the Thursday show having the larger audience). Although the ratings began to dip (especially the Wednesday episode), the show remained quite successful through the 1966/67 season. Lots of "Batman" merchandise hit the stores in 1966. And for a time, "Batman" comics became the biggest-selling of all comic books (although "Superman" would again regain his traditional position as the #1-selling comic book in 1967).
For it's final (1967/68) season, the show was cut back to once a week (Thursdays, 7:30-8 P.M. ET/PT). That move probably sealed the show's fate. While "Batman" might not have lasted too much longer anyway, I feel that had the Wednesday/Thursday two-part scheduling remained for the rest of the series, "Batman" probably would have remained on the air until the Spring of 1969, maybe even a little longer.
But becaue of it's twice-a-week scheduling, 120 episodes were filmed in a little more than two years, more than enough for the reruns to be syndicated, where they have been seen for years.
To me, "Batman" was well ahead of it's time. Today, the show looks more "modern" than most television series of that period.
Although the regular cast was all-but-unknown, the "Special Guest Villians" were often top Hollywood character actors and major "A-List" stars, back before the term was invented. Among them: Cesat Romero (The Joker), Burgess Mereduith (The Penguin), Victor Buono (King Tut), Julie Newmar (The Catwoman, also played in a few 1967 episodes by Eartha Kitt and in a 1966 feature film by Lee Meriwether), Vincent Price (Egghead), Milton Berle (Louis The Lilac), and even Liberace (as Chandel). And even the narration (by producer William Dozier) added to the show.
The Riddler (played by Frank Gorshin), the villian in the "Batman" pilot, was at the time actually a minor villian in the "Batman" universe (he had, to the best of my recollection, appeared only twice in "Batman" comic prior to the TV series---once in 1949, the other time in 1965 shortly before the TV pilot was filmed). But thanks in part to Gorshin's portrayal of the character, The Riddler re-appeared on the TV series several times, and since 1966 has also been a major villian in "Batman" comics as well.
In my opinion, there's no doubt about it: "Batman" was one of the most influential series (as regards pop culture) in TV history----and one of three shows that were very influential to pop culture that premiered in 1966. The others, in my opinion, were "The Monkees" and "Star Trek".
Feel free to post your Bat-Memories here. Thanks!
"Tune-In Tomorrow! Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!".
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