To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
235 episodes - English - Latest episode: 20 days ago - ★★★★★ - 45 ratingsLike many who grew up in the '60s and '70s (and perhaps even '80s and later), Tim and Paul had the course of their lives changed by the 1966 Batman TV show, from the types of play they did growing up to their present-day interests. In this series, they discuss the show's allure and its failures, the arc of the show from satire to sitcom, its influences (the '40s serials and the comic books themselves) and the things it, in turn, influenced.
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Episodes
#130 Reading Fan Letters in the Wayne Living Room
April 02, 2020 13:00 - 1 hour - 71.5 MBIn 1966, one sure way to make money was to tie your product to the Batman TV show in some way. Bill Adler was an expert at riding the latest wave, and in that year he released Bill Adler's Funniest Fan Letters to Batman, a collection of real (?) fan letters sent by fans (mostly kids) of the Caped Crusader's TV show and comic books. In this episode, we discuss this book and read some of our favorite letters from it. Then Ben Bentley of 66batman.com (AAA-aa, AAA-aa) stops by to fill us in f...
#129 The Show's Ratings, and Rating "Godzilla"
March 19, 2020 13:00 - 1 hour - 74.4 MBAt last, we're back! Week-to-week Neilsen ratings info isn't easy to come by, but some research on the ratings has been shared on the all-seeing, all-knowing 66 Batman message board by Bob Furmanek. This time we examine Bob's research and how it puts another nail in the bat-coffin of the pervasive fourth season myth. 2015 4th season myth thread 2018 4th season myth thread 2018 4th season smoking gun? Also in this episode: A prince getting weighed? Holy Deja Vu! A review of the ...
BAT-ANNOUNCEMENTS
February 01, 2020 13:28 - 4 minutes - 3.45 MBTim and Paul explain why the next episode will be delayed a bit. Also, how you can put yourself in a drawing to win a Batman meets Godzilla T-shirt!
#128 Roast Godzilla
January 23, 2020 13:00 - 2 hours - 108 MBThis time, a double-header! First, we finish what we started by discussing Legends of the Superheroes: The Roast. Was it a great achievement by West and Ward? (Um…) Was Frank Gorshin probably better off for having skipped it? Was the inclusion of Ghetto Man racist? Is it really a roast at all? Is it, you know, funny at any point? We discuss all these questions, the big and small names that appeared in the credits, and more. Then, we talk to Eric Elliott, who's in charge of a project to ...
#127 It’s a “Challenge” Just to Sit Through “Legends”
January 09, 2020 13:00 - 1 hour - 79.9 MBIn January 1979, Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin reprised their '66 roles in two specials that barely registered in the Nielsen ratings. The first was "Legends of the Superheroes: The Challenge," in which Batman, Robin, and other DC Comics heroes went up against a group of villains (including the Riddler) who, for no clear reason, were plotting to destroy the world. Adam looked sub-par in his "gila cowl," and all three struggled with a script that only the laugh track found funny. I...
#126 Season Three Wrapup: The Problem with Batgirl
December 26, 2019 13:00 - 2 hours - 98.9 MBWe've finished season three (and the series), so it's time to examine the final year of Batman. It's not a task we relish; so much of season three is a disappointment, from the writing to the production values, the head-scratching cliffhanger-free episode tag scenes to the phoned-in acting. And then there's the introduction of Batgirl. While Yvonne Craig was always a delight, the execution of introducing Barbara Gordon/Batgirl into a show that had just been cut back to once a week, and some...
#125 Minerva: Holy self-parody!
December 12, 2019 12:30 - 1 hour - 74.8 MBAnd so we arrive at the last episode of Batman. Of course, the show didn't get a spectacular sendoff; they didn't even give us any of the major villains. Instead, Zsa Zsa Gabor, who had twice almost appeared on the show, finally gets her turn, as (relatively?) evil spa owner Minerva. ("How could she be evil? She's so beautiful!") What's perhaps more notable is the amount of self-parody in the episode, including appearances by executive producer William Dozier and producer Howie Horwitz! Joi...
#124 Penguinalysis: How would '60s comics fans have seen Meredith?
November 28, 2019 12:55 - 2 hours - 99.4 MBHow might a longtime Batman comics reader in 1966 have reacted to Burgess Meredith's portrayal of the Penguin? That's the question our friend Kyle hit on a few months ago, and in this episode he joins us to read pre-'66 Batman comics to compare how similar Meredith's Penguin was to the character in stories by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff, France Herron, and the like. How similar are the two versions, and where are they different? Plus, your mail about our discussion of The Joker...
#123 Dr. Cassandra makes the show disappear
November 14, 2019 12:55 - 1 hour - 87.2 MBAs Batman neared the end of its run, the budget situation got worse (occasioning the need for an invisible fight), and the writers threw caution to the wind: witness at least half a dozen double entendres in "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra" — this at a time when most viewers who were old enough to get these naughty jokes had already bailed. In this episode, we examine this, this final episode written by Stanley Ralph Ross. PLUS: Lily Munster has a deja vu episode, John Burgess sends us his ...
#122 Parade of Bat-Parodies
October 31, 2019 12:45 - 2 hours - 110 MBWhen Batman was the hottest show on TV, it naturally became a major target of humor and parody as well. In episode 115 we looked at a couple of contemporaneous Bat-parodies from 1966-67, and this episode we examine three more: The Adventures of Jerry Lewis no. 97, featuring the actual Batman and Robin, who are both dealing with the effects of West/Ward Batman on their own lives, and acting in ways that parody their TV counterparts; the CRACKED magazine parody "Batzman meets the Green Ho...
#121 Send Off the Clown (with Ken Holtzhouser!)
October 17, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 73.6 MBIn Cesar Romero's final appearance as the Joker, he seems hamstrung, and not only by the lousy plot and the single episode in which to tell it. Ken Holtzhouser, who grew up rating Batman episodes based on their Romeroian content, joins us to identify the problem, separate out the chaff from the episode, and see if there's any Bat-wheat left. Plus, the Andrew and Hudson version of the theme, and listener mail in response to our episode on Flash Gordon and Lorenzo Semple! Ken's comic The ...
#120 Can Superman solve "Batman's Great Mystery"?
October 03, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 86.4 MBWhile Batman and Robin never had their own show back in the "Golden Age of Radio," they did appear from time to time on The Adventures of Superman. Sometimes it was because Superman actor Bud Collyer was taking the day off, but in the case of "Batman's Great Mystery", he appears in all eleven episodes as Batman (Stacy Harris) has disappeared, and Superman helps Robin (Ronald Liss) try to locate him. WHAT WILL HAPPEN? Tune in to this podcast, fellas and girls, for the intriguing answer! Pl...
#119 Eureka! Is “Mummy’s Uncle” our favorite Season Three episode?
September 19, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 78.2 MBVictor Buono's final appearance as King Tut is, while hardly the Semplian ideal, plenty enjoyable on its own merits - for Buono, for the unusual situation the Dynamic Duo find themselves in, for some well-thought-out camera work. But what's up with Adam West's line delivery? We've never heard him sound so grouchy and cynical before. Also, how does this episode seemingly fit together with The Unkindest Tut of All, early in season three — seeing as how these two episodes were originally writt...
#118 "Flash Gordon": Lorenzo Goes to Space Camp
September 05, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 81.9 MBWhat does the movie Flash Gordon (1980) have to do with Batman '66? Simple: a guiding force for both was screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr.! What can we learn about Semple's approach to Batman by comparing it to his work on Flash Gordon 15 years later? What was his approach, and what other factors skewed the results? There's no walkthrough of the plot of the film in this episode, but we do talk about the music (Queen!) and design choices, Italian cinema special effects employed in the film,...
#117 Ross' Final Shame
August 22, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 93.3 MB"Come back, Shame!" In season three, come back he does, and seemingly stupider than ever! And yet, Shame's plotting for his caper seems oddly smart. Meanwhile, Stanley Ralph Ross goes all-in on gags that are gleefully at odds with the template set by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. in season one. In this episode, we examine the final two-parter of the Batman series: what works, what doesn't, who's in it, and more. Plus, Peter Seymour's remix of the Batman theme, and your mail about our Penguin's Clea...
#116 Victor Buono: Holy Ad-Libbed Comedy!
August 08, 2019 11:44 - 2 hours - 140 MBOne question on our minds almost since the beginning of To the Batpoles! has been: Just how much did Victor Buono, as King Tut, ad lib on the show? In this episode, we answer that question by comparing the final script to King Tut's Coup/Batman's Waterloo to what was broadcast, helping us to see the difference between Buono's sense of humor and Stanley Ralph Ross's, and to gain a keen appreciation of the considerable comedic contributions of Lee Meriweather to this arc. The script also reve...
#115 Two Batman Parodies
July 25, 2019 12:17 - 1 hour - 78.1 MBWhen something becomes popular, it's likely to get parodied somewhere. In the 1960s, the parodier-in-chief was MAD Magazine. Meanwhile, at Marvel Comics, a new parody comic series began in 1967, Not Brand ECHH, which followed the lead of MAD's 1950s incarnation as a comic book. In 1966, MAD published "BATS-MAN", followed about a year later by ECHH'S "The Aging Spidey-Man! Peter Pooper vs. Gnatman and Rotten." In this episode, we examine both parodies: What are they trying to say about Batma...
#114 Putting "Clean Sweep" under the microscope
July 11, 2019 11:55 - 2 hours - 97.9 MBIn The Penguin's Clean Sweep, Burgess Meredith's final appearance on "Batman" (but not the last time as the Penguin!), Stanford Sherman's script has its moments, and so does Meredith, but… if you look closely, something just isn't up to snuff. And if you scratch the surface, there are way more inconsistencies and goofiness in the script than meets the eye. We're joined again by our childhood friend Kyle to discuss this feathered farewell: Is there a theme of barbecue implements? Did Penguin...
#113 Tying Ourselves in Knots: Nora Clavicle Reconsidered (with “Twof”!)
June 27, 2019 11:55 - 2 hours - 99 MBWithout a doubt, one of the most maligned Batman episodes is Nora Clavicle and the Ladies' Crime Club. The episode's sexist portrayal of women obviously wouldn't fly today, but do the men in this episode fare any better? It seems to have been another of Stanford Sherman's satirical Batman episodes, arguably a failed one. But every episode has its fans, and this time we review Nora with a fan of this one: Fred, a.k.a. "twof," the former proprietor of the defunct Batgirl Bat-Trap web site. ...
#112 Court BAT-tles: The Law on the '66 Show
June 13, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 94.7 MBBatman and Robin are "duly deputized agents of the law." Law comes up on the '66 show on a number of occasions, including two courtroom scenes. The very first episode features the Riddler filing a lawsuit against Batman. But, you might ask, how accurately is the law portrayed on Batman? In this episode, lawyer Jim Dedman is here to fill us in. How good of a prosecutor is Batman? Does he behave properly as an agent of the law? How would Alfred's method of breaking up the Batman - Marsha nu...
#111 "The Wrong Earth" and "The Batman Radio Show"
May 30, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 88.1 MBWhat's this? An episode of To the Batpoles that isn't about Batman? Well…on the surface, no, it isn't. But in Ahoy Comics' series The Wrong Earth, Dragonflyman and Stinger act an awful lot like the '66 versions of Batman and Robin, and the Dragonfly seems very similar to Frank Miller's Dark Knight! Liberated of the copyright owner's limitations on how Batman and Robin can be used, what are writer Tom Peyer and artist Jamal Igle saying about Batman with this series? Also in this episode, b...
#110 "The Impossible Crimes": Semple holds Stadd’s Feet to the Fire
May 16, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 72.7 MBIn 1965, as production of Batman was starting to get rolling, Lorenzo Semple was having some difficulties in getting across to writers his vision for the show. Leonard Stadd's "The Secret of the Impossible Crimes," a script that Semple rejected, shows Stadd's take on Semple's vision after reading the script for "Hi Diddle Riddle." The result is a funhouse-mirror version of Batman '66: it's recognizably the show, but bizarrely distorted in some ways. Once again, an unused script helps us und...
#109 Louie the Lilac baffles, Bat-conference informs
May 02, 2019 11:50 - 2 hours - 99.8 MBOne of the reasons often given for the quality dropoff in Batman season three has been that, in one-part episodes with so many characters, time is tight. So how to account for Louie's Lethal Lilac Time, a one-parter that seems not to even have enough story for 22 minutes!? And yet, we seem to be missing things, as scenes are cut off before they appear to be over. Meanwhile, should Yvonne Craig be reporting Neil Hamilton to HR for #metoo-related reasons? Also, Tim reports on the Bowling Gr...
#108 The William Dozier Fanboy
April 18, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 80.4 MBWe all have our favorite characters and actors from Batman, but how many of us are fanboys for Executive Producer William Dozier? Well, for one, there's Oscar Lilley, proxy researcher at the American Heritage Center in Laramie, Wyoming. In the process of working with Dozier's papers, Oscar has grown intrigued with Dozier's backstory and impressed by how he did his job. In this episode, he tells us about his selflessness, his business sense, and how the trajectory of Dozier's 1965 series The...
#107 Archie meets Batman, We Meet A Listener
April 04, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 94.8 MBA double-header for our 4th anniversary (and, we forgot to mention, Batman's 80th!). First, we review the recent six-issue series Archie Meets Batman '66. How does the Caped Crusader end up joining forces with America's favorite teenager? Then, listener Chris Cavanaugh joins us to talk about his Bat-fandom growing up, fueled as much by Silver Age DC comics as it was by Batman on TV! Plus, the Remix Maniacs version of the theme, and your mail about our Batman Returns episode! 16 things...
#106 The Funny Script Felonies (w/John S. Drew!)
March 21, 2019 00:00 - 2 hours - 130 MBStanley Ralph Ross's treatment, draft, and final scripts for The Funny Feline Felonies two-parter reveal a number of surprises: inconsistent concern for not doing the same gags twice, the death of the budding Batman-Batgirl romance, Ross errors that sometimes made it to the screen, a Ross gag that was, er, stubbed out like a cigar, and much more. The Batcave Podcast's John S. Drew joins us once again in the Bat Research Lab. Plus, Adam West's Batman and Robin and conversation with our lis...
#105 Fifty Ways to Wreck the Joker
March 07, 2019 12:10 - 2 hours - 115 MBIn the Funny Feline Felonies, Joker fakes getting kidnapped by Catwoman, only to then let her lead him around by the nose. He seems more childish than evil. What's wrong with season three Joker? That's one issue on our minds as we go through this two-parter. We also explore the provenance of the "Kitty Car," the ways in which this arc displays both male chauvinism and feminism, and the numerous extra characters and cameos that Stanley Ralph Ross included in this script — and an important ca...
#104 Batman Returns... and Kyle appears
February 21, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 108 MBIn 1992, Batman returned to movie theater screens, more Tim Burton-y than ever! His faceoff with Penguin and Catwoman contains numerous hallmarks of a Burton film, from the themes to the camerawork. Childhood friend Kyle joins Tim and Paul to (once we've wallowed in reminiscences quite enough) give Batman Returns the To the Batpoles treatment, including the lack of Robin, various cats and penguins, the relevance to Batman '66, and the Returns video game tie-ins. Also, what is the Wilhelm ...
#103 Pop vs Camp: Which is Batman ’66?
February 07, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 79.8 MBBring your Coleman stove! Grab your sleeping bag! "Go to the creek and brush your teeth!" It's time for a serious "Camping Trip"! Back in episode 12, we took time to examine the idea of "camp" and why Batman '66 is often described as "campy." Producer William Dozier and others involved with the show rejected that label because of its "gay" associations, and instead maintained that it was an example of Pop art. Listener Dan E. Kool pointed us recently to an essay by Sasha Torres, a profe...
#102 Egghead & Olga: A Strange Way to Run a Three-Parter
January 24, 2019 11:50 - 2 hours - 138 MBIn what we promise will be our last Egghead and Olga episode (maybe), we dig into the script for the original three-part version of their third-season story featuring Vincent Price and Anne Baxter. Because of an apparent aversion to running a three-part story (besides Londinium, that is), Batman's producers chopped part one, The Ogg Couple, and ran it six weeks AFTER broadcasting the second and third parts. As this decision was made AFTER shooting was completed, the decision necessitated no...
#101 Egghead and Olga are back… Or did they just get here?
January 10, 2019 11:55 - 1 hour - 73.8 MBBack again for the first time, Egghead and Olga, in The Ogg Couple, originally meant to be the first of three parts. Did the producers do a good job of changing direction in midstream, or are the seams showing? In addition to containing a raunchy joke the censors seemingly overlooked, this Batman episode inspires several musical ruminations, related to the source of the name of the Silver Scimitar of Taras Bul Bul, Batgirl's sabre dance, and after a session in the Bat Research Lab, Eureka...
AN APPEAL
December 28, 2018 01:49 - 59 seconds - 1.33 MBCall your friends! Help us get to 50 iTunes reviews by the end of 2018 - it's your duty as a citizen of Gotham!
#100 Adam West’s Signature Role
December 20, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 95.6 MBWhat better topic for our 100th episode than the star of our favorite show? We watched the Television Academy's 2006 interview with Adam West, which does overlap somewhat with Adam's Back to the Batcave, of course, but still gives us some new insights. Then we realized that there's someone else we haven't given enough credit for the good things in Batman '66: Executive Producer William Dozier. While we rail against his penny-pinching ways as the series went on, if it hadn't been for him, ...
#099 The Kitt-y Cat Shows her Claws
December 06, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 82 MBWith Julie Newmar off (reportedly) filming Mackenna's Gold, Eartha Kitt was recruited to play Catwoman in season three. In this episode, we dig into her first appearance, Catwoman's Dressed to Kill, an episode that seems to exhibit a lot of misogyny — but is that primarily on the part of writer Stanley Ralph Ross, or on the part of Batman himself? Meanwhile, of course, the casting of an African-American Catwoman apparently led to the end of the Catwoman - Batman romantic tension, and in t...
#098 “Three Villains of Doom”: A “Novel” bit of Bat-Merch
November 22, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 97.2 MBIn 1966, Signet released the novel Batman vs. Three Villains of Doom by Winston Lyon. Like most Batman '66 tie-in merch, it was released very early in the show's run, which means that its ability to ape the show is limited. Lyon sometimes borrows from the comics to augment what he doesn't know about the show, and sometimes simply has to make stuff up. The novel deals with a contest between Penguin, Joker, and Catwoman to defeat Batman and earn the coveted Tommy Award. But wait — where's Ri...
#097 The Riddler’s cutting room floor: “The Silent Film Capers”
November 08, 2018 11:50 - 1 hour - 95.9 MBDick Carr's first draft of The Silent Film Capers — which Bat-fans know as Death in Slow Motion — was submitted in November 1965. It went through numerous revisions before becoming the story we know and love. In this episode, we go through the first three drafts of the script and find the original form of the giant book, a cut subplot about chocolate cake, the reason Mr. Van Jones doesn't seem to mind that Riddler ruined his party, and much more. Plus, the Skeletal Family version of the B...
#096 As the “Ffogg” clears, we ask “Where's the Beef?”
October 25, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 81.4 MBIn spite of having three whole episodes to tell the story of the Terrific Trio's visit to Londinium, the show nonetheless leaves plenty of plot threads hanging, important moments unshown, and basic villain motivations unexplained. As Batman and Robin don "beefeater" uniforms, a certain old Wendy's fast food tagline comes to mind… There might not be much beef, but there is at least a bee. Of sorts. Also a rope trick that's both intentionally and unintentionally funny. With a hat-tip to a c...
#095 Mego Action Figures Emerge from the Fog
October 11, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 87.2 MBWe remain in Londinium, where Batman seems oddly bored by a bomb scare, and Lord Ffogg proves able to be in two places at the same time. Also, in spite of having three whole parts to work with, this story still seems to be running short of time and leaving important story points to the imagination of the viewer. Our own imaginations were stoked by hours of play as kids with the Mego World's Greatest Superheroes action figures of the '70s, and in this episode we also take a look back at so...
#094 “The Londinium Larcenies” and a legacy layout in Los Angeles
September 27, 2018 12:02 - 1 hour - 89.3 MBDouble-header episode! First, we tackle The Londinium Larcenies — yes, only part one — including the original treatment by Elkan Allan (two parts, no Batgirl, no Penelope Peasoup), the sets, the music, the appeals to the Dirty Old Man Market, and more. Treatment for The Transatlantic Terror (the basis for the Londinium trilogy) by Elkan Allan Then, at last, we examine Paul's video taken at the Batman '66 exhibit at the Hollywood Museum last July, and answer the burning questions: Why did...
#093 The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”
September 13, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 104 MBAs we saw a few episodes back, in 1965 Peggy Shaw turned in a script called Fashions in Crime, based on the 1948 comics story of the same name, and beset by script elements that would work in a comic but would be tough to film. Shaw's script was apparently handed to writer Stephen Kandel to rework. The resulting 1966 work, The Cat's Tale, solves many of the problems of Shaw's script, in part by totally abandoning it halfway through. Still, it ultimately wasn't used. In this episode, Tim &...
#092 BATMANIA pt 2: Is nothing impossible?
August 30, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 62.9 MBThe appearance of Biljo White's fanzine BATMANIA was well timed. Not only did it contain coverage of, and fan reaction to, the New Look Batman of the comics, but also covered the mid-sixties resurgence of the 1940s Batman serials, and meteoric rise and fall of the '66 TV show. While some Batmanians accepted that Hollywood was never going to give them a better filmed Batman than this, others railed against the show "making fun of" the Dynamic Duo, and placed much of the blame squarely on Lor...
#091 BATMANIA pt 1: Comics Fans Connect
August 16, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 71.1 MBBATMANIA was a well-made fanzine that was started by Columbia, MO, fireman Biljo White in 1964, concurrent with the introduction of New Look Batman by DC. Reading it revealed so many interesting things about the Batman fandom of the sixties that we can't cram it all into one episode! So this time, in part one of our examination of BATMANIA, we (gasp!) set the TV show aside and focus on explaining just what was in this publication, who the now-famous (among comics fans) names were that app...
#090 Surf’s Up, Joker’s Under, and Al’s On!
August 02, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBSurf's Up, Joker's Under is perhaps the most polarizing episode of Batman. Some call it their favorite of season three, or even of the whole series, while Joel Eisner has called it "by far, one of the worst Joker episodes," and even '66 Joker himself Cesar Romero didn't like it. Why is this episode so divisive? Why do the villains in season three keep thinking that taking over one small segment of society (surfing, boxing, flower children) will lead to world domination, without ever explain...
#089 “Fashions in Crime”: Hard-Boiled Batman '66
July 19, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 92.9 MBIn late in 1965, writer Peggy Shaw (a.k.a. Peggy O'Shea) submitted a Batman script called Fashions in Crime. It was based on a story of the same title from Batman 47 (1948), but naturally much expanded, and it shows signs that Shaw must have been reading Lorenzo Semple Jr.'s early Batman scripts (e.g. Hi Diddle Riddle and The Joker Goes to School). While parts of the script fit the tone of Batman '66, others would have been better suited to a Mickey Spillane novel. In this episode, Tim an...
#088 Holy hyperbole! It's Burt Ward's book!
July 05, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 97.6 MBBurt Ward's 1995 memoir Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights, while it does give us some insight into what it was like to go from nothing to superfame to typecast purgatory, is indisuputabily full of inaccuracies and hyperbole -- not to mention much more (in terms of both quantity and cringe-inducing detail) about his sexual conquests and misadventures than there is material of use to Batman '66 scholars. Why? Is this what the majority of fans want? Is this simply to be expected from a Hollywood m...
#087 An Eggsasperating Eggsercise
June 21, 2018 12:00 - 1 hour - 75.2 MBThe season three episodes The Ogg and I and How to Hatch a Dinosaur are a two-parter in which the parts have virtually no common story elements, only the same villains: Egghead, and Olga, Queen of the Cossacks. Both actors, Vincent Price and Anne Baxter, do a great job but ultimately aren't given much to work with. In this episode, we discuss the original arrangement of the three Egghead/Olga episodes; the theme of eating that runs through both of these; the disappointing characterization...
#086 “Louie, The Lilac”: Please Omit Important Scenes
June 07, 2018 11:55 - 1 hour - 83.5 MBLouie, The Lilac is a surprising episode for how un-Uncle Milty-like Milton Berle's performance is. It's also uneven, with some nice camera shots, but also many poorly-presented plot points — and some that aren't presented at all! We do get a few scenes of Gotham City's flower children — and just what is the show's take on that movement? How much social commentary might there be hiding among the lilacs? In this episode we compare this season three Batman episode to its ancestor, Dwight Ta...
#085 "Batman '89" Turns our Heads
May 24, 2018 12:00 - 1 hour - 92.1 MBThe 1989 Batman movie was the result of a decade of pitching, rewriting, and personnel changes. It made a Batcave full of money, but is it a good Batman film? Tim and Paul revisit Tim Burton's first try at Batman, starring Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton, after not watching it since it was first run in theaters. Does it look any different now? Does it look any better than it did? How were the film and its development affected by the Adam West iteration of live-action Batman? PLUS: The...
#084 Pies at the Penguin’s Nest; Goofs to which Semple Fessed (w/ Ben Bentley!)
May 10, 2018 12:00 - 2 hours - 130 MBIn 1966, after being the writer and script editor who got the '66 series off the ground, Lorenzo Semple Jr. yielded his chair to Charles Hoffman. What would a look at the draft of a season two Semple script reveal about how Hoffman edited Semple? That was the question Ben Bentley, a moderator of the '66 Batman Message Board (bow like Ewoks, everybody!), wondered, so when Tim was asking for suggestions of which Bat-scripts to scan in Laramie, Ben suggested The Penguin's Nest. In this episo...
#083 Fitting Batman '66 into "The Caped Crusade"
April 26, 2018 12:00 - 1 hour - 104 MBThe debut of Batman '66 caused a backlash among Batman nerds, who subsequently demanded Batman comics that reverted to the dark, sullen loner version of the character. But why did the nerds (and Bob Kane himself!) expect a version of Batman who really hadn't been seen since Robin came on the scene in 1940? While Batman as played by Adam West is funny in spite of himself, does this mean the show was saying heroism itself was ridiculous? In this episode, Tim and Paul examine these questions...