60's Batman

Batman is a 1960s American television series, based on the DC comic book character Batman. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for 2½ seasons from January 12, 1966 to March 14, 1968. Because the series had two weekly installments for most of its tenure, it contained the same number of episodes as a five-year or even a five-and-a-half-year run by today's standards (shooting 22-24 episodes per season).

The series

The series was produced in the United States and debuted at 7:30 PM ET, Wednesday evening, January 12, 1966 on ABC television, with the conclusion airing at 7:30 PM ET Thursday night, January 13 (replacing The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet on Wednesdays [which moved to Saturday] and the canceled primetime music variety series Shindig! on Thursdays). The Batman series contained a broad, mad-cap humor that was embraced by youth in the 1960s, partly due to the popularity of MAD and Cracked magazines. It was known for its silly high camp concepts, which were also seen on Car 54, Where Are You?, Lost In Space, and Green Acres.
Adam West's Batman/ Bruce Wayne was a zealot for all things wholesome. He routinely spouted proverbs to his castmates heralding patriotism, civil obedience, and the American way. Such over-the-top dialogue continues to be the style some associate with the Batman character despite it being least reflective of the Batman mythos as it is known today. (The series was, however, very reflective of the character as portrayed in comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before editor Julius Schwartz revamped the books, removing much of the silliness.) The series ran for a total of 120 25-minute episodes.

The show revolved around the adventures of the crimefighter Batman (Adam West) and his sidekick Robin (Burt Ward) in Gotham City. Batman's secret identity was as debonair "millionaire philanthropist" Bruce Wayne, who lived outside the city in "stately Wayne Manor" with his youthful ward Dick Grayson, also known as Robin (Burt Ward), faithful butler Alfred (Alan Napier), and Aunt Harriet Cooper (Madge Blake). Aunt Harriet was Dick Grayson's, not Wayne's, biological aunt, though this fact was mentioned only a few times during the second season (in the episodes 'The Clock King Gets Crowned' and 'The Devil's Fingers').

The adventures usually called for the heroes to fight supervillains such as The Joker (Cesar Romero), The Riddler (Frank Gorshin and later John Astin), The Penguin (Burgess Meredith), Mr Freeze (George Sanders, Otto Preminger, and Eli Wallach), King Tut (Victor Buono), and Catwoman (played at various times by Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt).

Other main characters were Police Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton) and Chief O'Hara (Stafford Repp) of the Gotham City Police, and, in the third season, Batgirl (Yvonne Craig). Probably one of the campiest installments featured flashy Vegas showman Liberace, in a dual role as a hard-nosed cigar chomping thug and his intimidated but essentially honest brother.

Quick action sequences, the voice of TV producer William Dozier as a pompous sounding narrator (identified as Desmond Doomsday on the Batman Television Soundtrack Album) providing the storylines, psychedelic sets and costumes, Dutch angles (with the criminals' lairs always being filmed with the camera at an angle to emphasize the "crooked" nature of the criminals), and bright colors were all meant to evoke the four-color, campy world of the comic books of the 1950s and 1960s under the strict Comics Code Authority.

The series is notable for its use of cliffhanger endings, and the "Batclimb cameo" whereby the Dynamic Duo would occasionally scale the outside of a tall building, encountering cameo appearances from top celebrities of the day. The fight scenes were accompanied with comic-style captions, such as WHAM! and POW!, that would appear on screen in time with the action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(TV_series)