#163 "Phantom Pharaoh" Reveals Semplian Batman
Release Date: 07/08/2021
#217 A well-planned bat-reunion: The Wil Shriner Show, 1988
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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 , 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 for on a talk show for a general audience. This time we discuss this Wil Shriner episode. Plus, the plays an interesting arrangement of...
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#216 Putting a Finger on the Clock King script
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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 , , and scripts of the Clock King story, finding bits that changed significantly as shot, and answer some of our questions about odd parts of the story. ALSO: The version of the Batman...
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#215 Women in Season 3, pt. 1: Villains (and heroes!) approach gender parity
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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 . PLUS: What if ? A Batman writer ! And, Bat Audio from . Read the Clock King scripts we’ll discuss next month: ...
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#214 “Mr. Terrific”: A tough pill to swallow? Pt 2
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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, , more from Adam and Burt on Hour Magazine, and e-mail from our listeners!
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#213 “Mr. Terrific”: A tough pill to swallow? Pt 1
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
This time we look at the other sitcom that tried to cash in on Batman, CBS’s . 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: , in 1984, and of the Batman cast reunion on Fox’s Late Night with Ross Shafer, in episode 211!
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#212 That’s no bat, boy, that’s Captain Nice!
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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 person to grab the lightning in a bottle that Lorenzo Semple, Jr., had captured? We look at the...
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#211 Holy overbooking! The Late Show’s Batman reunion
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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 interesting bits that we did pick up from the bat-cast. ALSO: The version of the theme, and...
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#210 The Sandman Cometh Alone (part 2)
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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, , sing a mostly original song about the Caped Crusader. The Sandman Cometh, ,
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#209 The Sandman Cometh Alone (part 1)
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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 read your mail on the Bat Bible and Buck Henry’s rejection of camp! The Sandman Cometh, , ...
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#208 The Pilot Audience Report: Why did Batman seem “kind of stupid”?
To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
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, . While some adults got the joke, others weren’t quite sure if the show was meant to be funny. Audience reaction to Batman and Robin was mixed, as well, with some noticing that Robin was solving all the Riddler’s riddles while...
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As the early episodes of Batman were being produced, and broadcasts had not yet begun, Executive Script Consultant Lorenzo Semple, Jr., was editing scripts and trying to get across his vision for the show to the other writers. Robert C. Dennis and Earl Barret’s script for "The Phantom Pharaoh" gives us a peek at Semple’s vision for how Batman, Robin, and the other characters should be written. This time, we look at the script, the comments Semple wrote on it, and how it differs from the end product that was broadcast (“The Curse of Tut”/“The Pharaoh’s in a Rut”).
ALSO: The Bennie Music version of Hefti’s “Batman” theme, and more of your response to our “Bat Rankings” and other episodes.
Next draft, "The Curse of Tut"
"The Curse of Tut" final script
Comment on these scripts on the message board