Batman ’66 Unmasked: Myths, Recasts & The Real Story!

Comments · 18

• DA

  @davidlessenberry8736 · 10 months ago

  I've always assumed that "other commitments" was the Hollywood equivalent of sports' "flu-like symptoms."

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• GR

  @gregorykrug8034 · 10 months ago

  I love "Batman '66," but Season 3 was so inferior to Seasons 1 and 2 that having the show end there may have been a good thing.

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• VI

  @VicMartino · 10 months ago

  Batman 66-67 has rarely been off the air since its initial run. There’s some television station that one can always count on to catch this show certain days or nights. It’s constantly in syndication.

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• JM

  @jmadratz · 10 months ago

  Brian, keep up the great work. I’m a child of the 60s having been born in 1957. I watched Batman and The Green Hornet religiously, in addition to The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, I Dream Of Jeannie, Bewitched, Gomer Pyle USMC, The Invaders, The Avengers, Mission Impossible, Green Acres, Get Smart, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Munsters, The Addams Family, My Three Sons, My Favorite Martian, It’s About Time, That Girl, daytime soap Dark Shadows, F Troop, The Flying Nun, My Mother The Car, Captain Nice, and … wait for it…<br>Mr. Terrific !!!

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• RE

  @renaldof-p7m · 10 months ago

  Utterly brilliant video. So glad you acknowledge the truly satirical, sardonic, absurdist nature of the show! Truly something straight out of countercultural sixties black comedy, ala Dr. Strangelove, or the postmodern currents underway in literature at the time (Coover, Barthelme, even Pynchon). The quality certain tapered off, but for a moment in time, the very underappreciated subversive spirit of this show was almost unparalleled in TV history. Very ahead of its time. By the by, I must mention that the increasing quality of the insight in these videos continues to impress and delight. Incredible research and connections made. Loved watching and learning from it. Please keep it up!

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• JM

  @jmadratz · 10 months ago

  Brian, I certainly do remember “Jingle Bells, Batman smells , Robin laid an egg”, growing up in Bordentown NJ, and it was either 1966 or 1967 when I first heard it.

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• TE

  @TerAnce-s3f6o · 2 weeks ago

  While they were filming the ladt scene of ST Voyager a crew was wsiting to dismantle the set the storu could be true

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• ED

  @edg4441 · 9 months ago

  Great video. &nbsp;Thank you for disproving the myths. &nbsp;I didn&apos;t know Julie Newmar had back issues. &nbsp;She never showed she had that medical condition in her performances. &nbsp;<br><br>Julie Newmar didn&apos;t miss anything by not being in &quot;Batman The Movie&quot; or Season 3. &nbsp;As a kid, I never liked the movie or season 3. &nbsp;I thought it was strange the movie&apos;s opening credits didn&apos;t have the &quot;Batman TV Theme&quot;, and the movie was terrible. &nbsp;It was a lost opportunity to build on the &quot;Batmanmania&quot; at the time, and it might have cost the series some of its popularity. &nbsp;As I got older and &quot;Batman&quot; was in Syndication, and saw Batgirl in the opening credits kicking the villain, I would change the channel. &nbsp;The 3rd season was awful. &nbsp;<br><br>There were many reasons why the show&apos;s popularity waned in Season 2. &nbsp;The movie didn&apos;t do anything to maintain the show&apos;s popularity. &nbsp;The movie&apos;s storyline was bad and the ending was bizarre where Batman restores the diplomats with the wrong personalities/voices, and then he and Robin leave through the Bat rope through the side of the building. &nbsp;Running around with the Bomb and being attacked by the shark was very stupid and was counter productive for the movie to be a huge success. &nbsp;Secondly, the 2nd season cast members being changed hurt the series. &nbsp;2 Riddlers where John Astin was a poor substitute for Frank Gorshin and then bringing Gorshin back for Season 3 was very confusing to kids. &nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>The other confusing cast changes not covered in this video was the 3 Mr. Freezes. &nbsp;1st played by George Sanders (who was the best IMO), then played by Eli Wallach, and lastly Otto Preminger who also were very poor substitutes to Sanders Mr. Freeze. &nbsp;Season 2 also brought back Lee Meriweather as Lisa Carson in 2 King Tut Episodes &quot;King Tut&apos;s Coup&quot; and Batman&apos;s Waterloo&quot; where she was Bruce Wayne&apos;s love interest where they kiss at the end of the 2nd episode. &nbsp;This was another huge mistake and confused kids because if anyone kids wanted to see Batman kiss was Julie Newmar&apos;s Catwoman. &nbsp;<br><br>Lastly, season 3 was a disaster. &nbsp;Dozier realized the popularity of the 2 episodes on consecutive nights was over by the end of Season 2. &nbsp;Even though some of the season 3 episodes were 2 parts and 3 parts but airing weekly instead of twice a week. &nbsp;Yvonne Craig was miscast as Batgirl. &nbsp;Burt Ward was 19 when the series started filming in 1965. &nbsp;Yvonne Craig was turning 30 when she was cast as Batgirl. I think this cost Yvonne Craig her career as she became typecast despite guest starring on &quot;Star Trek&quot; and later on multiple episodes of &quot;Love American Style&quot;. &nbsp;She also appeared on a &quot;Six Million Dollar Man&quot; episode. &nbsp;She had appeared with Lee majors on an early episode of &quot;The Big Valley&quot;. <br><br> Bringing in Eartha Kit was another huge mistake. &nbsp;This was another confusing aspect of the show. &nbsp;Plus, instead of Batman and Catwoman flirting with each other like in the 1st two seasons, now the show shifted to where Barbara Gordon was a Bruce Wayne love interest. &nbsp;I also thought it was stupid Alfred knew their secret identities. &nbsp;You mean to tell me Barbara Gordon had no idea Alfred was Bruce Wayne&apos;s Butler where Bruce Wayne could be Batman? &nbsp;Even though the last Batman episode finished filming in December 1967, I think Robin still having short hair made him look like a square resulting in Robin not being groovy enough. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br><br>I also wanted to further comment on your &quot;The Green Hornet&quot; video. &nbsp;There were a few myths years ago about why the show was canceled and there was a chance the show would be renewed for a second season. &nbsp;All those myths were dispelled later on. &nbsp;It was a shame Bruce Lee died as he was becoming very popular because of &quot;Enter the Dragon&quot; with the karate/kung fu phase of the early to mid 70s. &nbsp;After his death, a movie was made with a few &quot;Green Hornet&quot; combined into the film called &quot;Kato and The Green Hornet&quot;. &nbsp;I was always fascinated by the TV series and it was a cult classic for me. &nbsp;As I got older, I thought some of the episodes were terrible as I commented on your video.<br><br>The mystic waned when I saw an interview with Van Williams and Wende Wagner on a local cable TV called the Hal Land show in 1990. &nbsp;I provided the links for parts 1 &amp; 2 of the interview. &nbsp;Part 1: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_ONf440XM8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_ONf440XM8</a>. &nbsp;Part 2; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwsTHxcahU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwsTHxcahU</a>, &nbsp;In the interview Van Williams talks about the hectic filming schedule, not sure at 1st how many episodes were filmed, but he mentions it was for the best the show wasn&apos;t renewed. &nbsp;His TV career was over at this point with being &nbsp;in TV shows that lasted for only 1 or 2 seasons like &quot;Bourbon Street Beat&quot;, &quot;Surfside 6&quot; &nbsp;and &quot;The Green Hornet&quot;. &nbsp;After watching the interview the mystic I had with the show and the fascination about it being a cult classic diminished greatly. &nbsp;I still watch the series but the not the same way as I did before watching this interview. &nbsp;Keep up the great work. &nbsp;Sorry for the dissertation. &nbsp;Thanks for reading.

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