{"id":59310,"date":"2026-01-14T08:01:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=59310"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:08:27","slug":"pow-boff-zap-60-years-of-tvs-batman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=59310","title":{"rendered":"POW! BOFF! ZAP!: 60 Years of TV’s Batman<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: A version of this article was originally published in January of 2016. We\u2019re rerunning it here as part of MovieFanFare\u2019s 60th anniversary salute to the TV series Batman.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Supergirl. <\/em>Spider-Man: Brand New Day.<\/em>\u00a0Avengers: Doomsday<\/em>. A cursory glance at this year\u2019s movie calendar shows that Hollywood\u2019s\u2013and the public\u2019s\u2013obsession with comic book-based films is far from finished. Add in television, video games, and other fields of entertainment (with the possible exception of the books themselves, whose sales in our post-printed page society have been declining for decades), and it\u2019s clear that the public has yet to tire of costumed superheroes. It may seem like a fairly recent trend, stretching back to the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies in 2000-01. Or perhaps its origins lie in the summer 1989 debut of Tim Burton\u2019s Batman<\/em><\/a>. In truth, though, today\u2019s cinematic costumed crime-fighters can trace a good deal of their success to a tongue-in-check, twice-weekly romp that debuted six decades this week.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, Bat-fans: January 12, 2026 marked the 60th anniversary of Adam West<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Burt Ward\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0debut\u00a0as Gotham City\u2019s Caped Crusaders in ABC\u2019s\u00a0Batman<\/a><\/em> TV series, the first half of a two-part story featuring Frank Gorshin<\/a> as \u201cSpecial Guest Villain\u201d The Riddler. The show was an immediate success with viewers of all ages, from youngsters like a seven-year-old yours truly\u2013to whom the Dynamic Duo\u2019s exploits were straightforward adventure, to older watchers who saw the proceedings as camp fun (West himself was not a fan of the \u201cc-word,\u201d stating that the show\u2019s humor came from its earnestness rather than cheesiness).<\/p>\n

\"Batman\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Within weeks of its premiere, Batman<\/em> was one of the few hit programs on the ABC network. It was also a pop culture phenomenon, launching a dance craze (the \u201cBatusi,\u201d revived by John Travolta in Pulp Fiction<\/em>) and spurring a renewed interest in superhero comics, from Batman\u2019s home, DC Comics, to the nascent Marvel line and several smaller companies. Meanwhile, it inspired a merchandising boom that included coloring books, trading cards, lunchboxes, posters, action figures, plastic models, board games, kid-size capes and cowls, and hundreds of other items. And it led to the release in the summer of 1966 of a\u00a0feature-length film\u00a0with the TV cast, a film which was to have opened before the series and served to introduce the characters (ABC had just had another of its typically disastrous fall roll-outs in 1965 and needed to fill airspace as quickly as possible).<\/p>\n

\"2e57301cc174b853229d93152271886d\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cBatmania\u201d craze\u2013and the\u00a0show that inspired it\u2013ultimately lasted just a few years. By the 1967-68 campaign ratings were slipping, and the third-season introduction of\u00a0Yvonne Craig<\/a>\u00a0as distaff do-gooder Batgirl didn\u2019t stop ABC from cutting the show down to one episode per week and ultimately cancelling it after three seasons.<\/p>\n

To honor the Dynamic Duo\u2019s never-ending fight for justice, we\u2019d like to present a selection of\u00a0random Bat-Facts about everyone\u2019s favorite millionaire playboy, his youthful ward, the other residents of Stately Wayne Manor, and their Gotham City friends and foes:<\/p>\n