Batman (1966-1968)

Egghead was my favorite of the villians mainly because it was Vincent Fucking Price. I liked some of the bizarre one-offs like the evil pianist played by Liberace or Shelley Winters as Ma Barker.

I'm curious to see if anyone in this thread dares to argue that Julie Newmar was not the best Catwoman.

Favorite villain: Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, mainly for his giggly laugh.

I used to love this show. My favorite element was how, at the end of the first part, B&R would be literally seconds away from death. At the beginning of the second part, they'd have all the time in the world to enact their escape.

Also, you have to love the crossover with 'The Green Hornet'. In a just world, Kato would have totally mopped the floor with Robin.

Riddler was all but forgotten before Frank Gorshin.

Anyone ever hear the story about Two-Face being considered as a guest villain? He was rewritten from a DA to a TV newsman who had some video equipment blow up in his face, scarring him. The actor offered the role was Clint Eastwood.

You know who made several appearances on the show as various goons/henchmen? Joe E. Tata, who would go on to become Nat, owner of the Peach Pit on 90210.

You know who's ashamed they knew that off the top of their head?

I'll argue that all votes for Eartha Kitt need to be counted, though I have to admit I was Newmar's to toy with from the days of My Living Doll.

My most desired DVD set.

Grew up with this show, and it remains a sentimental favorite -- Romero and his make-up covered mustache, Gorshin's ridiculous laugh ... and Yvonne Craig. Oh my. How I wanted to be tied in that inescapable human knot with her.

IMDB's trivia page for this is funny and heartbreaking.

Have these people who think Batman started out all gritty and gothic ever even seen an early Batman comic? Hell of a lot closer to the Adam West version than any of the others.

One might argue that "most comics fans" despised the series in retrospect (though I'd dispute that), but at the time it was on TV, "most comics fans" were kids like me, and we loved it to death.

Robin, then Batman, then the rest of the Rogue's Gallery, then all of Gotham City.....

This show hit when I was four, so I was profoundly affected. I was crazy for this show. It's a pity it didn't last longer, but how many scripted shows could last being on tv twice a week?

That's some O Henry shit right there.

Nope, sorry. Kitt is the Shemp to Newmar's Curly.

I think I was 12 or so before I realized that wasn't Burgess Meredith's real nose.

SHUT UP.

That may explain why of all the episodes that one plays it so straight and serious. Not a trace of camp or winking at the camera happens. It plays like a more colorful episode of Mission: Impossible.

In high school I found out that one of the girls that I was friends with was the niece of Victor Buono (King Tut). She was surprised that I knew who her Uncle was initially, and then seemed a little disturbed at how excited I was that she was related to him. I absolutely loved the show.

I actually know some Stooge-philes that would argue the primacy of Shemp in the first place, but let's face it-- hot as Newmar was, no one could purr like Eartha Kitt.

When we visited my Grandmother up in Maryland, one of the things I looked forward to was that one of her local stations played 2 Batman episodes back-to-back in the afternoons, followed by the 60s Spider-Man.

And I have a DVD set of the series that I grabbed at a Dragon*Con a few years ago for about $50. Not much better clarity than a VHS tape, but I have it. I was hoping it would work like Freakazoid did--not even 3 months after I picked it up on bootleg, it came out on DVD officially.

This show was like Mac N Cheese for me as a youngin'

Favorite villain was the Riddler because of Gorshin's performance. It goes to show that a charismatic actor can make an impression even with a lame character. Cesar Romero's Joker was actually pretty bland, but Gorshin just ate up all scenery whenever he appeared.

Tough whenever Julie Nemar or Yvonne Craig appeared I pretty much ogled them and ignored whatever else was going on.

Burgess Meredith as the Penguin was always my fav. He put so much into it you could clearly see he was having a lot of fun with the role. I believe he appeared on the show more than any other special guest star super villian. Shame how much the character today has fallen out of favor. It's hard to believe now in this everything Batman must serious and gritty, but there was a time for many, many years when the Penguin was second only to the Joker in Batman's rogues gallery.
And it's a shame they never used Posion Ivy. There were a lot of '60s sex kittens who would have been perfect to play the part. Juliet Prowse, Jill St. John (I know she was on once as the Riddler's girl, but they still could have recast her) Stella Stevens, Stephanie Powers.

I went back and watched a ton of episodes this past summer for the first time since I was a kid. It was an interesting experience. I felt really torn about it because there were times when the squareness of it drove me nuts (especially with Robin's dialog and acting, as he's like Wesley Crusher, but ten times worse), but some of the villains were surprisingly captivating.

I was particularly impressed with The Riddler, (Julie Newmar's) Catwoman, and Egghead. The Riddler and Catwoman were always my favourites as a kid, but watching them as an adult, it's clear to me that they were the best written and performed characters. The biggest surprise to me was The Joker. I didn't enjoy a single one of his episodes. I found the plots he was in uninspired and the way the character was played very dull and one note. I don't blame the actor so much as the writers.

I can't explain why, but somehow they always managed to come up with better material for Catwoman and The Riddler than The Joker. As for Egghead, in my memory I've always thought of him as an example of the show at its cheesiest, but if you actually watch his episodes with the right expectations, they're kind of brilliant. His constant egg puns are hilariously clever and Vincent Price's charisma is off the charts.

The Green Hornet crossover was really fun, with Roger C. Carmel doing the same fun hammy schtick he did on "Star Trek" as Mudd. I loved his wacky machine making Green Hornet into a cardboard cut out and Bruce Lee's martial arts stance, although I kinda wish he'd had more to do. Maybe it's better that he didn't since even with the little he was given, he apparently manhandled Burt Ward.

The Riddler was my favorite, loved him almost more that the Bat. It is cool to see some of the people that played second fiddle to the main villains in that show, Jock Mahoney who had been Tarzan a couple year earlier played a henchmen to Cat woman in her first show. Harvey Lembeck, Eric Von Zipper from the beach party films, played a one of the Penguins henchmen in a episode. Jill St John was the Riddlers girlfriend in the first episode, and Donna Loren also from the beach Party films was the Jokers girl friend in and episode, and Linda Harrison from PLANET OF THE APES playes a cheerleader in the same episode. THe show was cool at first, but it got real old fast.

I'll rasie my hand and say this (aside from the early 90's cartoon) is my favorate version of the Bat. I got into a long debate with a nerd friend of mine (who loves the grim and gritty take) once that almost resulted in my (future) wife thinking better of dating with me.

The important thing is, however, she agrees with me.

Edited to add as I type this I'm sat at work drinking coffee out of a replica 1960's Batman mug.

How much do I love this show? Well, lets just say it's a general source of amusement amongst my family just how disappointed dad was when 'dada' turned out to be the *third* word I learnt to speak instead of the expected second.

Oh, and despite the fact that Batwoman and Batgirl were created for the comics to offset the impression that Batman and Robin were gay, Yvonne Craig becoming a masturbatory fantasy for generations of young men proves that it was all destiny.

Yeah, lots of neato guest spots. One that really stood out to me was Leslie Gore showing up as Catwoman's henchgirl for a few episodes, and at one point, singing a song that was clearly just free publicity for her new single.

I thought about Anne Margarette but I doubt she would have done TV back then.

Meredith, Gorshin, and Newmar's interpretations are definitive. Jim Carrey did little but imitate Gorshin.

Did any of them have fetal alcohol syndrome?

This is the funniest piece of trivia I have ever read and it probably made me laugh harder than anything I've ever read on the Internet. Just imagining the conversation made me laugh. "Uh, Mr. Tracy, we're not sure that would fit with the tone we're going for on this show". Tracy's suggestion is so wrong, what's funny is the number of ways it's wrong, and the idea that he wouldn't be able to consider even one of them before making it.

Tracy had a sense of humor, believe it or not.

Romero's Joker is still more horrifying than Ledger's.
And there's not a man alive who would fuck Eartha Kitt. Give me a break.

My favourite episode is the one where Gotham is besieged by exploding mechanical rats, so Batman must act as a "pied piper" of sorts and leads the rats out of the city by skipping along while playing gentle, sweet flute music. I died laughing at that.

In general I prefer Mark Hamill's Joker, but Romero had the laugh that was deliriously insane. Ledger forced it and Nicholson rarely got beyond a chuckle.

He could have been kidding, but it's more fun to imagine that he wasn't. I thought Cesar Romero was okay (I really liked his laugh), but I wish the show had come up with better plots for his character, and he didn't quite have the pathos of the animated and cinematic Jokers and even The Riddler on the same show. As silly as Gorshin's Riddler was, he also did an excellent job of conveying a serious obsession with Batman.

He had all these manic monologues where he would go on and on about how badly he wants to be the one who is famous for succeeding where all the other villains had failed in killing Batman. He would do stuff like telephone Commissioner Gordon directly to inform him that he has killed Batman and Robin or send a note to Gordon about it. One of my favourite moments in the show is when he sends Gordon a note, and Gordon reads it out loud. It says at the end, "P.S. Batman and Robin are dead". Awesome.

Also, one of my favourite parts of the movie based on the show is when The Joker is getting annoyed with The Riddler insisting on firing these bigass rockets that will spell out riddles in the sky. The Joker says he's crazy and is going to lead Batman and Robin right to them if he doesn't stop with his stupid riddles, and The Riddler says something like, "but I must! It's my only joy in life!". Seriously, despite the campy tone, that's some real pathos there, and I love it.

The interview with Burt Ward on an early ep of Late Night with Conan O'Brien was one of the most uncomfortable times I had watching TV at that age. The guy acted like a total dick.

Paraphrasing from memory: "[Adam West] is a nice guy. Just don't let him near your wallet or your wife."

Here's what I'm wondering: is the movie really representative of the show, or did they just jack up the ridiculousness to 11? I ask because the 1966 movie is one of the most gleefully ridiculous/stupid films I've ever seen, and I genuinely loved every minute of it. I don't have many clear memories of the show, though I do remember seeing the tail end of a Mr. Freeze episode (don't remember which actor, though) that was quite silly.

Anyway, the movie was great for many reasons, but my favorite scene in the whole thing might be Batman's utterly straight-faced eulogy to the porpoise who nobly sacrificed himself to save them from a missile. Adam West deserves a lot of credit for making this so much funnier than if he was in on the joke. I also loved the villains, particularly Burgess Meredith and Frank Gorshin, who are both clearly having the time of their lives.

Seems to me I read somewhere not too long ago Jerry Lewis was originally approached to be the Joker. That would've been quite interesting.

The movie is representative of the show.

Surely West had to have been in on the joke?

Either way, the imdb quote page for the movie is a goldmine:

Commissioner Gordon: It could be any one of them... But which one? Which ones?
Batman: Pretty *fishy* what happened to me on that ladder...
Commissioner Gordon: You mean where there's a fish there could be a penguin?
Robin: But wait! It happened at sea... Sea. C for Catwoman!
Batman: Yet, an exploding shark *was* pulling my leg...
Commissioner Gordon: The Joker!
Chief O'Hara: All adds up to a sinister riddle... Riddle-R. Riddler!
Commissioner Gordon: A thought strikes me... So dreadful I scarcely dare give it utterance...
Batman: The four of them... Their forces combined...
Robin: Holy nightmare!

Reruns of this show and Super Friends were my first introduction to the DC Universe and I have fond memories of both. Being a little kid, you don't really appreciate the campy humor of the Adam West version until you are older. I've been rewatching episodes on this new cable channel called the Hub at 11:30 pm and the show really holds up many years later.

Gorshin's performance cemented the Riddler as my favorite Batman villian of all time. While I think the John Glover version from the 90s animated series is a better interpretation of the character, Gorshin is like a force of nature in the West series. Plus, the West series did two things for the character. The series took the Riddler from being a minor villian to being one of Batman's main foes and it also was the first place where they gave the character his question mark business suit. That look would eventually get incorporated into the comics and the other times the character appeared in film and tv.

And if the internet existed in the 60s, a Salma Hayek style picture thread would have been created for Yvonne Craig.

Actually, in his first few appearances, Batman was pretty grim and noir-ish. He even, famously, used a gun. I believe there was some pressure to make the character lighter, and by the time Robin appeared, obviously, things had indeed gone into traditional comic book camp. But it's not unreasonable to say that, for the first year or so of his existence, he was pretty dark and pulpy.

A lot of early Golden Age comics are surprisingly grim and gruesome. Superheroes killed people, they extracted confessions with their fists, there were all kinds of grotesque monsters and villains...check out the earliest Dick Tracy strips, for instance. And yes, people got up in arms about the moral content back then, too. My favourite is a Little Orphan Annie strip where it's strongly implied that Daddy Warbucks stone-cold executes a couple of burglars off-panel just for breaking into their house. They even beg him to take them to the police, and he laughs it off. Seriously.

You got to remember the general early age of comics didn't have a comic code authority that censored the companies until 1954.

Once the code was established there were rules about how violence could be used. So its not too surprising to know about the darker batman before the code.

This is my useless bit of trivia. There was talk about casting an American as James Bond for Diamonds are forever. Adam West was considered for Bond. I learned this from the making of DAF feature on the DVD.

Yeah, the absurd leaps of logic in that movie and show were incredible. There's something brilliant about the transcendent stupidity of it all too sometimes. When I was more cynical, I used to look down at the show for this, but now I realize this is all part of its charm. The nonsensical behaviour makes it more endearing.

I remember when I was watching the movie with a friend, he asked me, "If The Penguin is meant to be in disguise, why is wearing a monocle, smoking, and QUACKING?". At least Batman figured out who The Penguin was immediately. I don't know if I could suspend my disbelief enough to accept Batman not being on to him immediately.

It's so good to see so much love for Gorshin's Riddler. I've always thought of the animated series Riddler as being the reason he's always been my favourite Batman villain, but the talk here makes me realize that my childhood affection for Gorshin's performance predisposed me to like that character most before he even made his first '90s animated appearance. Glover's performance (and the great design and characterization) just reinforced those feelings for me.

Yes, but I think there was an official offer/hire with either John Gavin or James Brolin.

Loved the show. Kato really should have gotten a real opportunity to waste robin.

And I only ever needed Julie Newmar and Yvonne Craig to be certain of my sexual orientation. Ever.