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Have we had a discussion about this show yet?  If not,its about time we do!  It was one of those shows I grew up on.  Albeit they were mostly reruns I saw but the more I think about it, the more I realize I like it it the best out of all the incarnations of Batman.  Its painfully campy yet action packed and the acting talent is pure gold.  Keep Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, I've always thought Cesar Romero nailed the role of Mr. J.   

Funny thing too, my 4 year old LOVES the show.  He actually falls for the "will Batman escape the evil clutches of the Joker" dialog at the end.  He gets very much concerned that the dynamic duo has met their match.  Then he breathes a sigh of relief when they usually end up getting out of the last episode's predicament. 

So how about you, do you have any fond memories of the show? 

I had to catch a lot of reruns as I was born well after the series ended.  Even as a young 'un I had to laugh at the silliness of the show.  I kind of preferred the Filmation series in the '70s.  And of course, the Animated Series in the '90s.

It's a silly campy show but as a youngster I loved it. Couldn't get enough of it and I wasn't the only one...they actually showed BATMAN: THE MOVIE as an after school movie to a packed gymnasium at my Elementary School. I remember being wowed by the Batboat and the Batcopter too. I have to say I loved the guest stars including Burgess Meredith (Penguin), Frank Gorshin (Still the best Riddler of them all  IMO), Caesar Romero (Joker), Vincent Price (Egghead), Julie Newmar (Catwoman), Yvonne Craig (Batgirl), Victor Buono (King Tut) and Roddy McDowall (Bookworm). Joan Collins, Carolyn Jones and a virtual whos who of the 60s guest starred on the series. As I got older, I really appreciated the more serious BATMAN films directed by Tim Burton and the best version of Batman to date, the 1990s animated TV series.

Love this show and would be willing to pay a decent amount of money for a good quality DVD release full of extras.

  I liked the 70's Batman tv series, too.  I especially liked the theme music.  The villians and Villianesses ( is that right?) were like living cartoons!  I recall there were 2 other Catwomen - Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether - in addtion to Julie Newmar. Great show!

70s?  60s!!! 
"Batman" is a classic.  As Jase pointed out, many celebrities appeared as guest stars, plus there were many brief cameo spots by all kinds of Hollywood types (even EDWARD G. ROBINSON turns up).  Though the show ran out of steam quickly, for me watching reruns as a kid, it only got better when they introduced Batgirl (YVONNE CRAIG).  I must admit that I'm old enough to remember the show's initial run - barely.   :buggedout:  :wink:

I remember watching this as a kid during it's network run.  I read  the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_%28TV_series%29)  about it  and there were some things I didn't remember about it.  John Astin played the joker also,  Mr. Freeze was played by George Sanders, Eli Wallach, and Otto Preminger?.

It's an interesting read,  (Mike Henry was going to be Batman in a more version).

The fight sceins where they would flash POW,BAM,SPLAT on the screen

There was also BOOKWORM,KING TUT,EGGHEAD,SHAME & CALAMITY JAN,LOUIE THE LALAC,THE ARCHER,THE MINSTRAL,LORD GUM,MAD HATTER, and just to name a few

I love that show  :drink: Wish I could find it on DVD

There are places online where you can buy every episode in a foreign import package.  I think they are DVD-Rs.  I can't remember where I saw it most recently . . . possibly Video Search of Miami or maybe Stumpy Disks.  But I'm holding out for an official U.S. DVD release.

It's one of my favourite 60s TV series, and the 1966 movie is tops.

I would wish someone would put it back on tv. yes it had the best theme song.  there was an episode where there was a bomb in the baked alaska. I made my Mom make one!  it was awesome but the first time we tried to make it was a disaster. it was more like a baked volcano

Adam West is my all-time favorite Batman. I grew up with the show (or saw early re-runs), and just loved it. Julie Newmar may be crazy as a loon in real life (from what I hear), but she was hotness personified to my developing mind. And AHD, I must agree about Yvonne Craig. She was very nice to watch. And Trek, I vaguely recall Astin in the series, but I thought he was The Riddler, not the Joker. And checking on IMDB, I'm right. He was Riddler in two episodes. Not nearly as perfect for the part as Gorshin, though.

Yes, john astin played the riddler oncewhen gorshin was unavailable.

They've been replaying the Batman: The Movie quite a few times over the past months on various movie networks (MoviePLEX, HBO, HBO Family), and I gotta say, it's re-ignited my love for it.

I wasn't alive during it's initial run, but remember it briefly being shown on FX in the mid '90s or so.  I was like, 10 or so, and FX was just starting as a network, so it's programming was chock full of syndicated shows like Batman and The Brady Bunch, as well as some late night talk shows and such.

Yes it was definitely the best incarnation of Batman in my opinion.  I'm pleasantly surprised to see how many others agree. :thumbup:

I think it was a good representation, in a campy way.  I'd like to see more like it, but doubt we will.

Of the Burton flicks, in retrospect, I feel the best one was Batman Forever.  Granted, he was a producer, not the director.  But I'm not a huge fan of Nicholson's Joker.  Batman Forever, for what it was, reminded me a lot of the tv show.  Jim Carrey did a GREAT over-the-top style Riddler, kinda reminded me of Gorshin.  And Tommy Lee Jones is always great. 

A bit off topic: my friend didn't like Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.  While I don't feel he should've gotten the Oscar, it was perhaps the BEST incarnation of the Joker.  My friend was like, "The Joker's supposed to be funny.  Not all menacing."  But I've read quite a few Bat-books that show the full spectrum of the character.  Sometimes quite funny, often times quite pure evil.  And he's not even my favorite Bat-Villain.  The Penguin is.  And, for the Dark Knight, I felt Aaron Eckhart's turn as Two-Face was vastly underrated.

My favorite versions of Batman are the some of the animated ones, especially the 90's series. But right after that I like this version. It's just more enjoyable for me. I like the camp, I like the humor, I like the guest-stars. It was a great show to watch after a hard day at school.

Luckily a station here is Chicago(26.2) shows them during the week. If I'm home from work on time I try to catch them.

   I think there was a writer on the show, Lorenzo Semple maybe, who wrote the 80s Flash Gordon.

There were Batmen before this one.

There certainly have been Batmen after this one.

But, this has always been my favorite Batman, because it is the first one I ever saw, as I am old enough to remember watching the very first episode, the first time it was shown on TV.

Ozzymandias speaks: Yes. Two movie serials. The first one is the best, although it is WW2 anti-Japanese propaganda. It is the first place to show Batman having a Batcave.

The second one is horrible. Robin looks like he is 35 and Batman's costume looks stupid. The cliffhangers in this one are lame, "BATMAN FELL DOWN! WILL HE GET BACK UP? COME BACK TO THIS THEATER AND SEE!"
Some joker (pardin the pun) edited these together in the early 60s and called it AN EVENING WITH BATMAN & ROBIN. These played well on college campuses, art houses, drive-ins and the Playboy mansion (?), so ABC thought it might be a good idea for aTV show.


Ozzymandias has spoken!!!