The 1960s Batman TV show was the first true attempt to do really full-blown, colorful comic book superhero fantasy on screen.
In the 1950s, The Adventures of Superman had been constricted by budget and its black-and-white presentation (even though the later episodes were filmed in color, most TV sets were still black and white).
So if the Batman TV show turned out to be absurd, well, that goes with the comic-book territory.
And Batman was also, at least at first, spectacularly successfully, achieving top ratings on its pilot episode, which aired Jan. 12, 1966. Star Adam West said when he was at the supermarket that day, he overheard customers buzzing about getting home in time to see the show, and knew they were onto something.
“The reason the show succeeded wasn’t just a kid audience,” wrote Mark Waid. “They already had the kids. no matter how silly or serious it was. What made it a mega-hit was college kids and parents joining in on the fun and laughing with celebrity guest stars they liked.”
The notoriously imitative television industry wasn’t sure what to make of Batman’s success. More ridiculous? The sitcoms Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific failed. More serious? The Green Hornet also lasted only one season.
Television is a medium as tediously ordinary as a living room, and superhero stories are a genre as manically colorful as capes and circus tights. The two have always been a difficult fit.
Even when costumes are included on the live-action shows, television is often clearly somewhat embarrassed by them, as it was in Batman and The Greatest American Hero. TV is obviously much more comfortable with super powers than costumes — the bionic duo, The Incredible Hulk, Heroes and sitcoms like Bewitched.
I think TV’s latter-day solution to the popularity of superheroes is a logical, if (to me) an unsatisfying one — superhero stories without superheroes. Gotham, Pennyworth, Smallville, Krypton, Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter — the list continues to expand.
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