Shark Bytes

Herman happily scribbled "Julie Newmar & Yvonne DeCarlo". Sadly, Herman (Munster?), Yvonne DeCarlo was Lily Munster in "The Munsters". You're thinking of Yvonne CRAIG, who played Batgirl. Stop drinking Grandpa's potions next time.

Making the quickie Batman movie was when the show jumped. Replacing Julie Newmar with Lee Merriweather definately took the juice out of it. Later adding Eartha Kitt as Catwoman put the stake in Batman. It was a great BAT-Ride while it lasted!!!

loved this show so much since i was a kid and still do its the best show ever please bring it back it would make people very happy to see it again
its a great memory to have and they did a great job with the batman series
i recommmend this show to anyone
love it and miss it

I loved this batman show as a kid and as an adult, i recognized the spoof element to it all. I NEVER considered any gay element in it and am so fed up with some people reading that into EVERY "close" male relationship. It makes me think of the funny Sonic commercials with the two guy friends sitting in their car eating at Sonic. I guess somebody somewhere feared the "gay element" and started portraying some bitchy woman always putting her husband down.

Batman was a mentor and father-figure to Robin and that was it.

OK, let's list the good qualities of the show:

Julie Newmar & Yvonne DeCarlo. Everything else was silly & ridiculous from the git-go.

Adam West said in his book that at the time the series was in development, the Batman comic books were close to cancellation after just over 25 years. This series saved the Batman franchise.

Holy NEVER JUMPED!

I agree with Bill about the homosexual thingy. Maybe the "TOO RELIGIOUS" were just getting paranoid, and didn't want their kids to think like that. But Batman NEVER had anything to do with homosexuality, and that case, never jumped the shark. Batgirl just runied the whole show, thanks to the idea of having homosexuality. My gosh, what kind of idiots were they? Batman and Robin gay? Pph...ya rite.

Batman jumped during the episode where the guest super-villian had Batman and Robin captured, bound, and tied to a contraption that would kill them, but then left the pair unattended with both their masks and utility belts still in place. Batman then took one of his Bat-gadgets out of said utility belt and saved the day Oh, wait, that was EVERY episode!

Maybe someone mentioned it way earlier but after BATMANIA had swept the nation during the first season, there was a highly organized effort by Church groups to get ABC to take the series off the air. They claimed that the homosexual overtones of Batman & Robin's "relationship" would corrupt its young viewers. I even remember that there was a big article about it in LOOK magazine (at the time, the third biggest magazine in the country behind Life and Time) during the second season. That is allegedly why ABC caved and Batgirl was added on the third season. And I still believe the controversy was partially responsible for its downturn in popularity that second year. After all, most parents didn't see the gay implications until these religious zealots started making something out of nothing. This, along with the predictable formula and the subsequent elimination of the two-part episodes (which, to most fans, the cliffhanger aspect was the main appeal) and the dwindling budget as the ratings declined all led to its premature cancellation. I always wondered what NBC's version would have been like ...

This show never jumped because it never got a chance to take off. It was a great show. Still can't believe they tore down the BAT CAVE after the second season!

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...