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PODCAST

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966

Like many who grew up in the "60s and "70s (and perhaps even "80s and later), Tim and Paul had the course of their lives changed by the 1966 Batman TV show, from the types of play they did growing up to their present-day interests. In this series, they discuss the show"s allure and its failures, the arc of the show from satire to sitcom, its influences (the "40s serials and the comic books themselves) and the things it, in turn, influenced. SUPPORT "To the Batpoles!" and DeconstructingComics.com via

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All Episodes

01:07

Bat Bits #04 now LIVE on Patreon: "Batman comics...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/10/06

On the latest BAT BITS podcast, we discuss another anti-Batman article from 1966! Is it possible to hate Batman comics, but think they're great compared to the TV show??

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BAT BITS #03 now LIVE on Patreon! Batman:...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/09/19

A 1966 article by journalist Paul Molloy takes down NY Congressman Frank Horton for praising "Batman" for its heroes "heroic power for good", saying it was inspirational and a good message for kids. Molloy, on the other hand, sees the GCPD's reliance on Batman as swipe at all police. Do either one of these guys really understand the show!? Tim and Paul discuss the article, kindly provided by the Message Board's "Mr. Glee". Available only on Patreon!

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0:39

BAT BITS #02 now LIVE on Patreon: Wondering where the...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/09/05

Famously, Burt Ward has said that, in the episode BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, he was placed above a pit of tigers, with meat hanging above him that encouraged the tigers to jump. Meanwhile, in THE OFFICIAL BATMAN BATBOOK, Joel Eisner says there were no live tigers, just a clip from an old movie. Who's right? The answer may surprise you! Scott Sebring has shared his interesting research on this topic with us, and we share it in this episode - available only on Patreon!

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02:08

BAT BITS #01 now LIVE on Patreon!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/08/22

The first episode of our book-writing-hiatus Patreon podcast is now live! We discuss memos among the Greenway and Fox teams about Adam West's chronic lateness on the set, and answer the question: How is Bill Clinton separated by three degrees from Batman '66?? Support us for two dollars a month and get BAT BITS every two weeks!

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57:21

#219 Who was Stafford Repp?

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/07/18

All the supporting players on Batman had many years of acting experience — considerably more than the stars of the show did! That also goes for Stafford Repp, playing stereotypical Irish cop Chief O’Hara. But what was his background? When did he get into acting? What are some of his other roles, pre- and post-Batman? This time we take a closer look at Repp. Also: Bat-Audio of Adam and Burt on Entertainment Tonight in 1987, your response to several recent episodes, and a special announcement

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0:38

Schedule Note

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/06/20

Sorry! We're going to have to delay the next episode by a week or two.

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01:34:18

#218 “The Adventures of Batman” (1968): A...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/06/06

Six months after Batman’s final broadcast on ABC, CBS premiered The Adventures of Batman, the character’s first animated show, produced by Filmation. While the look of the show is totally divorced from the Adam West version, relying mainly on the comics, the influence of the live action show can definitely be felt in the writing; just ask “millionaire Bruce Wayne” at “Stately Wayne Manor.” This is a show we never saw as kids, or really at all until now, so this time we take a look at the cartoon,

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01:04:24

#217 A well-planned bat-reunion: The Wil Shriner...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/05/09

There have been many Batman cast reunions on talk shows over the years, particularly as the 1989 Batman movie’s release approached. Previously we talked about the 1988 reunion on The Late Show with Ross Shafer, an overbooked, poorly stage-managed affair. This time we look at another reunion in 1988, on The Wil Shriner show. Shriner’s show kept the number of guests to a manageable number, and Shriner was more knowledgeable about the show than Shafer, making this reunion about the best you could hope

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01:36:50

#216 Putting a Finger on the Clock King script

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/04/11

The Clock King’s Crazy Crimes/The Clock King Gets Crowned is the one Batman ’66 arc written by Bill Finger, now credited as a co-creator of the character, and Charles Sinclair. Unsurprisingly, the first draft of the script reveals a writer not well versed in the rules of Hollywood, such as that an actor who says one word on screen is more expensive than one in a non-speaking role. This time we look at the first draft, final, and revised final scripts of the Clock King story, finding bits that

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01:29:39

#215 Women in Season 3, pt. 1: Villains (and heroes!)...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/03/14

One of the most striking things — in a good way, for once! — about Batman’s third season is the number of villains who are women. Also, of course, this is the season of Batgirl, who is more aggressively “feminized” than any other woman on the show, perhaps because she’s doing “a man’s job.” This time we begin a look at how the show presents women in season three by looking at the season's first five episodes, and we’re joined again by novelist Nancy Northcott. PLUS: What if King Crimson performed

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01:07:42

#214 “Mr. Terrific”: A tough pill to swallow? Pt 2

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/02/15

Mr. Terrific was cancelled after half a season, but… was it really a terrible show? Is star Stephen Strimpell partly to blame? This time, we push back on Thirteen Week Theatre’s take on Strimpell, consider why pill popping was such a common way to get superpowers in the Sixties, and the show’s …. agressive … laugh track. Also, were the network execs commissioning superhero sitcoms really trying to imitate Batman, or just cash in? Plus, The Music Within’s bass guitar cover of the Batman theme, more

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01:04:48

#213 “Mr. Terrific”: A tough pill to swallow? Pt 1

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/02/01

This time we look at the other sitcom that tried to cash in on Batman, CBS’s Mr. Terrific. It’s goofier than Captain Nice and not as funny (although the laugh track clearly doesn’t think that!), but with a surprisingly good cast. We discuss the unaired pilot, and the first 8 episodes of the 17-episode series, which is quite different from the pilot, with an utterly different cast and different situation for Mr. T’s alter ego, Stanley Beamish. Plus: Max Diaz Music’s “punk” version of the theme,

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01:18:46

#212 That’s no bat, boy, that’s Captain Nice!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2024/01/04

When Batman hit in early 1966, it set a trend of superheroes in pop culture that many rushed to emulate. By the time many of these bat-mimics were ready for public consumption, the trend was on its way out. One such wave-rider was Captain Nice, created by Buck Henry, and repeating some gags from Henry’s hit Get Smart. While Captain Nice brought some really funny moments, it failed to catch on with audiences. Was this simply because the bat-bubble had burst? Or was it that Henry wasn’t the right

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01:23:09

#211 Holy overbooking! The Late Show’s Batman reunion

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2023/12/07

On April 28, 1988, the then-fledgling Fox Network’s The Late Show with Ross Shafer hosted a Batman reunion. However, due to poor time management and a second-rate host, among other problems, the reunion can be a bit of a tough watch - especially the way Alan Napier was shortchanged on airtime at the end as he and Shafer struggled to communicate with each other. Video of the episode, unavailable when we looked for it years ago, surfaced last year, and this time we discuss the problems as well as the

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01:02:06

#210 The Sandman Cometh Alone (part 2)

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2023/11/23

We conclude our look at Ellis St. Joseph’s original Sandman script with the sleepwalker-filled second part of the arc, originally titled “A Stitch in Time.” We discuss our impressions of the script, the episode we got instead, and which one we might have preferred. We also share more impressions of the script from the denizens of the ’66 Batman message board, and listen to the world’s most enthusiastic kid, “The Colour Boo”, sing a mostly original song about the Caped Crusader. The Sandman Cometh,

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01:15:56

#209 The Sandman Cometh Alone (part 1)

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2023/11/09

Midway through Season Two, Julie Newmar appeared along with Michael Rennie as guest villains Catwoman and Sandman in The Sandman Cometh. But originally, this script by Ellis St. Joseph featured only the Sandman, with Robert Morely picked to play the role. This time, we get into how the teamup came about as we begin a look at St. Joseph’s original draft script. Also, Below the Staff Music takes a stab at a jazz version of Hefti’s Batman theme, Adam West and Burt Ward cameo on the SImpsons, and we

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01:16:04

#208 The Pilot Audience Report: Why did Batman seem...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2023/10/12

Even after Batman made ABC’s “second season” schedule, to start in January 1966, there was still concern about how audiences would react. Will they get the joke? Should a laugh track be used? In a memo dated January 14, 1966 - the day after the second episode, Smack in the Middle, was first broadcast — Joseph Schrier, Director of Program Development at ABC, reports on audience testing on the pilot. While some adults got the joke, others weren’t quite sure if the show was meant to be funny. Audience

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02:02

Next episode topic, and vote for new Patreon podcast...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2023/09/23

What will we cover in our next episode? Also, what will be the topic of the next patrons-only podcast? Listen to hear how you can help to decide the answer to the latter question, and to hear the answer to the former!

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01:10:45

#207 The Bat-bible, and Buck Henry’s rejection of camp

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2023/08/17

In television, a show’s “bible” is a collection of the rules for the world of a particular show, to keep writers on track with their scripts. The makeshift bible that Lorenzo Semple, Jr., wrote for Batman is lost to history, but what might have been in it? What are the rules that we can see the show following? Tim has compiled some and presents them here — and asks for your suggestions. In a recent Bat Inbox, we discussed some comments writer Buck Henry made about Batman and camp shortly after the

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01:09:53

#206 Neil Hamilton: From silent film star to Gotham’s...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2023/07/20

He’s best remembered as the Gotham City Police Department’s Commissioner Gordon, the Dynamic Duo’s #1 cheerleader. But Neil Hamilton had a long Hollywood career decades before Batman, dating back to the silent film era. This time, we talk about the hills and valleys of his decades in film and television, capped off with the Batman role that earned him the funds to retire. PLUS: More of Adam West’s 2014 appearance on the YouTube channel Cinefix, the Scott Community High School Band version of the

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257 results

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