Shark Bytes

Why did Gotham City ever bother having a police department? Everytime a villian commited a crimes or crimes; Commish Gordon would call the batphone.

This show never jumped because it was never good to begin with, but it was entertaining, which is all that it tried to be. How come no one could see past Robin's fortress of secrecy, the eye mask, and figure out that it was Dick Grayson? Frank Gorshin as the Riddler was classic and there has never been a hotter site on television than the cat woman suit painted on to Julie Newmar. Also, the Batman Theme and opening credit sequence was one of the best in the history of television.

The problem with the final season of Batman wasn't the introduction of the mouthwateringly sexy Yvonne Craig as Batgirl.It was in the cutting down to only 30 minutes a week,instead of the two episodes a week with a cliff-hanger ending on Tuesday to get the viewer to tune back in on Wednesday night.A half hour was not enough time for proper storyline development.These episodes are still watchable because of Batgirl's skintight costume,so to me,anyway,this show never really "jumped"...

It jumped on the second season. Ironically, it attracted a Twilight Zone quality guest cast list - even better - like it or not, names like Tallulah Bankhead, Otto Preminger, Elli Wallach,Van Johnson almost never did TV, if they ever did. But scripts were lousy. The writing staff overplayed the campy comedy. I understand why. Probably a mix of economic reasons- sitcomy is cheaper -and play up the difference with Green Hornet (more serious). Plus, no original Riddler in all of 60 plus episodes. Now they say it was a scheduling problem. Don't buy it. It was probably money. Gorshin got nominated for an Emmy- and unlike regular guests Buzz Meredith and Butch Romero, his career was poised to launch, rather than having a resurgence. If I had to pick one episode that put the nail on the coffin I would say it's the Leslie Gore episode, sadly. The first part has virtually no plot and lousy comedy. Batman learns on the first act that Robin is brainwashed and acting like a bully, and yet he is surprised when he faces him?? The beating up by Robin is humilliating, but the lack of foresight is what makes Batman truly ridiculous. On that very scene the Catwoman gang enters holding guns, every single one of them except Robin, and yet Batman gets into a fight with them as if nothing. It is evident that the episode meant to address every single criticism of the show - Robin looks more athletic than Adam West, why nobody never traced the batphone to the batcave, what if Batman took Catwoman to the batcave, why Aunt Harriet never wondered about Bruce's study (she puts the question to Alfred on the first part). Evidently they were going for broke, not realizing that it was not a question of more comedy - it was the irony of playing it up straight that was comedic. To say the show could have been saved earlier is a bit disingenuous, but it was definitely on its way out from then on. Having said this, I enjoyed the Batgirl season - the single episodes are hard on the plotting but, come on, take a look at the last of season two, including the aforementioned episode, and you realize that the two parter was a strain already to fill up with material. So, in a way, the third season, minimal sets and all, was a bit of an improvement, but the formula was broken already.

According to the final pages of Adam West's autobiography, here are some of the likely plot scenarios that would have been incorporated had BATMAN & WIFE been made:

Years of imprisonment have supposedly cured Edward Nigma--aka The Riddler--of his criminal mischief. Or have they?

The Joker goes "legit"--and starts running powerful businesses which rival those of Bruce Wayne!

Catwoman marries into a royal family--and is determined to dethrone Batman and his new wife at all costs!

The Penguin, released on parole, is found homeless in a Gotham alley--and is nursed to health by Bruce and Vicky!

Batman and Batwife head to Macho Mountain to find the source of a powerful drug that greatly accelerates the aging process, which is being concocted by possibly a new supervillain viewers never heard of!

In a film similar to the one from 1966, Batman and Batwife would be joined by Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Superman and others in a "Challenge" sequence involving The Riddler, Joker, Lex Luthor and other supervillains.

Catwoman becomes an animal rights activist, possibly by murdering poachers and creating a moral problem for Batman, who might agree with her-- much to the consternation of his Batwife!

As West duly noted, having Bruce and Vicky answer the call by going into the Batcave in matching costumes could well have had audiences smiling broadly...or network executives frowning. We'll never know if Adam West and Joyce DeWitt would have made a terrific Bat-couple or not...

I just want to say that the 60s Batman never jumped, but I think Batman jumped in the Dark Knight era. C'mon...you can really take that Dark Knight stuff seriously?? The 60s version seems much more realistic to me. Holy satire, Batman!

The program jumped because the plots got old and tired within about eight months. "Batman" fit in perfectly with the psychedelic mid-sixties (you can see the acid influence during many of the fight sequences); it was an overnight success in early 1966 but the novelty faded by November '66 and the ratings plummeted.

The producers attempted to remedy the stale situation by introducing a few three-part episodes in early 1967 but even that didn't seem to work. The third year (cut back to once a week) was extremely subpar and didn't even air repeats during the subsequent summer.

It would have been interesting to see the program play without the "camp" element like "The Green Hornet". NBC did express interest in picking "Batman" up in 1968 but the sets had been destroyed and NBC did not want to spend the money needed to rebuild them. A shame, because it would be intriguing to see what the series would develop into had it been granted a fourth year.

Nowadays, unfortunately, the program is absolute torture to watch.

Thankfully, a 1980s version of the Batman TV series in which Joyce DeWitt was mentioned as a co-star candidate--the project was called BATMAN & WIFE--was never picked up by any of the TV networks.

In B&W, Bruce Wayne's ward, Dick Grayson, would have moved on to college, while Alfred and Aunt Harriet would still reside at the manor. Barbara "Batgirl" Gordon would have taken up new digs in Austin, Texas.

Which leads us to Bruce, who falls in love with Vicky Vale (Joyce DeWitt), reporter for Gotham City television station KGC-TV, who is covering a jewelry heist. Vicky emulates The Batman's crimefighting style; and the rest would have been history.

The only redeeming quality to BATMAN & WIFE would have been seeing Joyce DeWitt wearing the exact same costume as her husband, since she liked wearing pantyhose underneath her shorts! (Remember, Ms. DeWitt was a spokeswoman for L'eggs!) Otherwise, this series probably would have lasted three episodes before going into oblivion.

I was in love with this show when I watched it in the early '70s when I was 4-5 y.o..

Batgirl was an early role model for me - I wanted her as my best friend. Thank God I'm all grown-up & cynical now.

Batman never really jumped, it just got old. I watch the episodes on DVD and after an hour or two it becomes obvious that there was a set pattern that every episode was cut to fit. The only differences between episodes would be the villian and what they were after this time. I still love the episodes and watch them but ever since I grew up and bought the DVD's this structural problem has become overly apparent. Going to single episodes and bringing in Bat-girl didn't solve it. I'm glad Universal never finalized their plans to pick up the show for a forth season. If they had kept it in the same vein as before it would have completed the task of running it into the ground.

To Bill Koenig
After the show was cancelled, DC Comics made some major changes in the Batman comic book. Robin was sent off the college and Batman and Alfred moved to a penthouse in Gohtam City and Batman returned to his original role as a dark grim avenger of the night with a few more modern touches. The stories were darker and more serious. The loosening of the Comics Code restrictions allowed them to restore the JOker to his original maniacal self and to bring back other old favorites such as Two Face. Robin only made occasional apperances after that and he and Batman often argued as time went on. This paved the way for the Dark Knight graphic novel.

It took a noticable dip with the budget cuts and single episode stories, but those were counteracted with the arrival of Batgirl and some fun third season episodes (my favorite was the aforementioned Surfin' episode). I vote for "never jumped".

when ertha kitt joined the show i would say it was over then, julie newmar was much better... i have not read the book that robin wrote something about my years in tights.. however adam west seemed a little gay like on t.v.!!

I first began watching this show as reruns in the mid-70s. I was a kid and could not wait until 4:00 and my local station showed it. I would be on pins and needles until the next day when I would learn of Batman and Robin's fate. That was the highest level of drama I had as a kid. And the bright colors are kind of cool too!

Today, the show has aged quite well. As an adult, I get the campy humor and I totally appreciate the time capsule that it is.

Batgirl didn't ruin it for me, neither did The Joker surfing or John Astin as The Riddler. Looking back now, the whole surfing thing was silly, Frank Gorshin made a much better Riddler, and Batgirl was still smokin' hot!

If only our kids had their own campy superhero show that didn't take itself so seriously...

Jumped big time when Joker (for some reason) used a special device to steal a champion surfer's abilities right out of his brain. (I know, they were just cashing in on the Frankie and Annette beach movies, and giving Yvonne Craig an opportunity to wear a swimsuit...yummy!) Anyway, he then challenged Batman to a surfing contest. Rather than put Caeser Romero into a purple-and-green striped, old-fashioned one-piece men's bathing suit (which would have been perfect!) and extra white makeup for his arms and legs, THEY MERELY SLIPPED BATHING TRUNKS OVER HIS JOKER SUIT! AND DID THE SAME WITH ADAM WEST! -- Holy Missing The Point, Batman!