Title card
Batman is an American live-action television series based on the DC Comics character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin—two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City from a variety of archvillains. It is known for its camp style, upbeat theme music, and its intentionally humorous, simplistic morality (aimed at its largely teenage audience). This included championing the importance of using seat belts, doing homework, eating vegetables, and drinking milk. It was described by executive producer William Dozier as the only situation comedy on the air without a laugh track. The 120 episodes aired on the ABC network for three seasons from January 12, 1966, to March 14, 1968, twice weekly during the first two seasons, and weekly for the third. In 2016, television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz ranked Batman as the 82nd greatest American television series of all time. A companion feature film was released in 1966 between the first and second seasons of the TV show.
Batman held the record for the longest-running live-action superhero television series (in terms of episodes) until it was surpassed by Smallville in 2007.
Overview[edit source][]
The series focuses on Batman and Robin as they defend Gotham City from its various criminals. Although the lives of their alter-egos, millionaire Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson are frequently shown, it is usually only briefly, in the context of their being called away on superhero business or in circumstances where they need to employ their public identities to assist in their crime-fighting. The "Dynamic Duo" typically comes to the aid of the Gotham City Police Department upon the latter being stumped by a supervillain, who was accompanied in his/her appearances by several henchmen and an attractive female companion. Throughout each episode, Batman and Robin follow a series of seemingly improbable clues (also known as "bat logic") to discover the supervillain's plan, then figure out how to thwart that plan and capture the criminal.
For the first two seasons, Batman aired twice a week on consecutive nights. Every story is a two-parter, except for two three-parters featuring villainous team-ups (the Joker and the Penguin, then the Penguin and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds) in the second season. The titles of each multi-part story usually rhyme. The third and final season, which aired one episode a week and introduced Yvonne Craig as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, consist of self-contained stories. Each third-season story ends with a teaser featuring the next episode's guest villain, except for the series finale. The cliffhangers between multiple-part stories consist of villains holding someone captive, usually Batman or Robin, with the captive(s) being threatened by death, serious injury, or another fate. These cliffhangers are resolved early in the follow-up episode with Batman and Robin getting themselves out of every trap.
Ostensibly a crime series, the style of the show is intentionally campy and tongue-in-cheek. It exaggerates situations and plays them for laughs, though the characters take the absurd situations very seriously.
Cast and characters[edit source][]
Main article: List of Batman (TV series) characters
Regular cast[edit source][]
- Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman: A multi-millionaire industrialist whose parents were murdered when he was a child and who now secretly uses his vast fortune to fight crime as the masked crime fighter Batman. Producer William Dozier cast Adam West in the role after seeing him perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik television commercial. Lyle Waggoner had screen-tested for the role, though West ultimately won out because, it was said, he was the only person who could deliver his lines with a straight face. West later voiced an animated version of the title character on The New Adventures of Batman.
- Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin: Batman's sidekick, dubbed the "Boy Wonder": a high school student noted for his recurring interjections in the form of "Holy ________, Batman!" The series avoids referencing Robin's origins as Bruce Wayne's fellow "crime orphan," as whose legal guardian the courts appoint Bruce. Ward voiced an animated version of this character on The New Adventures of Batman. Since the death of Adam West on June 9, 2017, Burt Ward is now the only surviving main Batman cast member.
- Alan Napier as Alfred: Batman's loyal butler and Batgirl's discreet confidant. He is the only person who knows the true identities of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Barbara Gordon.
- Neil Hamilton as Commissioner Gordon: The Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department and one of Batman's two major police contacts. He summons the Dynamic Duo via the Batphone or the Bat Signal.
- Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara: Gotham City's Chief of Police, and Batman's other major police contact. The character was created by Semple for the series, as someone for Gordon to talk to, and later briefly added to the comics. In 2013, DC revealed this incarnation's first name to be "Miles" in their Batman' 66 comics.
- Madge Blake as Harriet Cooper: Dick Grayson's maternal aunt. She first appeared in the comics, two years before the series premiered, to give Bruce and Dick a reason to be secretive about their dual identities.
- Yvonne Craig as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl: Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Gotham City librarian, and crime-fighting partner for Batman and Robin in the third season. Occasionally, this threesome was nicknamed the "Terrific Trio."
- William Dozier as Narrator (uncredited).
According to Adam West's memoir Back to the Batcave, his first exposure to the series concept was through reading a sample script in which Batman enters a nightclub in his complete costume and requests a booth near the wall, as he "shouldn't wish to attract attention." It was the scrupulously formal dialogue, and the way that Batman earnestly believed he could avoid standing out while wearing a skintight blue-and-grey costume, that convinced West of the character's comic potential.
Recurring villains[edit source][]
- Cesar Romero as The Joker: A clown-themed, prank-loving villain and Batman's arch-enemy, who leaves behind jokes as clues to his next crime.
- Burgess Meredith as The Penguin: A penguin-themed gentleman thief who commits crimes using multipurpose umbrellas.
- Frank Gorshin (Seasons 1–3) and John Astin (Season 2) as The Riddler: A criminal who leaves behind riddles as clues to his crimes.
- Julie Newmar (Seasons 1–2) and Eartha Kitt (Season 3) as The Catwoman: A cat-themed jewel thief and cat burglar in a complicated love-hate relationship with Batman.
- Victor Buono as Professor William McElroy/King Tut: An Egyptologist who developed a split personality after being struck on the head during a student protest. Each time he is hit on the head, he switches between the personalities of a university professor and a reincarnated version of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.
- George Sanders (Season 1), Otto Preminger and Eli Wallach (Season 2) as Dr. Art Schivel/Mr. Freeze: A mad scientist who, after exposure to a freeze solution, now needs below-freezing temperatures to survive. His weapon of choice is a freeze-blast gun, capable of freezing its target solid. In his first appearance, the gun can also produce a heat/incendiary beam.
- David Wayne as Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter: A formally dressed villain with an obsession for collecting hats (he steals the hats from his victims, then knocks them out with a mesmerizing ray that pops out of the top of his hat).
- Vincent Price as Egghead: A smug, bald-headed genius whose crimes and speech patterns involve eggs.
- Carolyn Jones as Marsha, Queen of Diamonds: A criminal with a fondness for jewelry.
- Cliff Robertson as Shame: A Western-themed villain whose partners at various times include Okie Annie and Calamity Jan. The three of them spoof famous Western characters from the movies (namely Shane, Annie Oakley, and Calamity Jane).
- Anne Baxter as Olga, Queen of the Cossacks: A Russian villainess often paired with Egghead. Before this role, Baxter first appears in one story as "Zelda the Great," a magician criminal.
- Milton Berle as Louie the Lilac: A gangster with a fondness for flowers.
Producers did develop several tentative scripts for Two-Face, but never produced any of them. Clint Eastwood was allegedly considered for the role shortly before the series was cancelled.