{"id":7070546,"date":"2026-09-30T23:44:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T23:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7070546"},"modified":"2026-09-30T23:44:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T23:44:35","slug":"january-12-2026-the-boob-tube-in-the-60s-70s-batman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7070546","title":{"rendered":"January 12, 2026: The Boob Tube in the 60s & 70s: Batman"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[This week marks the 60th<\/sup> anniversary<\/a>
\nof the debut of the Batman<\/i> TV show & the 50th<\/sup><\/a> of The
\nBionic Woman<\/i>. So I\u2019ll AmericanStudy those shows & three others from the
\n60s & 70s, all of which happen to start with the letter \u2018B\u2019! I\u2019d love your
\nresponses and other TVStudying thoughts for a crowd-sourced weekend post that needs
\nno \u201cApplause\u201d sign.]<\/p>\n

How three surprising figures and groups help tell the story of an iconic
\nand influential camp classic.<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Hugh Hefner: After 60 years of Batman on the
\nsmall and big screen (as well as continuing on the pages of comic books throughout
\nthose decades of course), it might seem like a given that there would be demand
\nfor a Batman TV show. But that wouldn\u2019t necessarily have been the case in January
\n1966 without none other than Hugh Hefner, who in 1964 had screened all 15
\ninstallments of the 1943
\nfilm serial<\/a> called The<\/i> Batman<\/i> at
\nhis trendy Playboy Club<\/a> in Chicago. Those screenings led Columbia Pictures
\nto rerelease the entire serial in theaters in 1965 as An Evening with Batman and Robin<\/a><\/i>,
\nand the success of that rerelease in turn contributed to the development (or at
\nleast the greenlighting, as it seems to have already been in early development)
\nof the TV show. <\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>The Temptations: That same relative lack of
\nbuilt-in audience\u2014or at least an uncertainty from network executives about
\nwhether it was there\u2014meant that the show had to be marketed a lot more
\naggressively than we might expect. Perhaps the most striking such marketing was
\nBatman
\nLive!,<\/span><\/a><\/i> a concert series that
\ntoured the country in the summer of 1966. Stars Adam West (Batman) and Frank
\nGorshin (The Riddler) appeared at each stop, alongside a number of musical
\ngroups\u2014and at least at the
\nJune 25th<\/sup> concert<\/a> at New York\u2019s Shea Stadium, that roster
\nincluded The Temptations! Talking \u2018bout my guy\u2014indeed, my Boy Wonder (although
\nBurt Ward\u2019s Robin wasn\u2019t part of the tour it seems). <\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Conan O\u2019Brien: Batman<\/i> was prolific,
\nairing twice a week for its first two seasons; but it was short-lived, as the
\naudience did not entirely emerge and it was canceled after its third season, in
\nMarch 1968 (it did total 120 episodes in those three seasons). But as its
\npresence in this blog series indicates, its legacy and influence have extended
\nfar beyond that moment. Critics agree, as Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz
\nranked Batman<\/i> the 82nd<\/sup> greatest show of all time in their 2016
\nTV (The Book)<\/i><\/a>. And perhaps even more importantly, comedians agree,
\nwith Conan O\u2019Brien calling it one of his favorite shows on a 2012 podcast<\/a>
\nand noting its influence on subsequent successful and likewise influential parodies
\nlike Airplane<\/i><\/a>! <\/i>I\u2019m sure West et al would have liked more than
\nthree seasons, but they have to have been very happy with the show\u2019s long and
\nmeaningful tail (cape?). <\/span><\/p>\n

Next TVStudying tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What do you think? Other 60s and\/or 70s TV you\u2019d highlight? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This week marks the 60th anniversary of the debut of the Batman TV show & the 50th of The Bionic Woman. So I\u2019ll AmericanStudy those shows & three others from the 60s & 70s, all of which happen to start with the letter \u2018B\u2019! I\u2019d love your responses and other TVStudying thoughts for a crowd-sourced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[9874,1851,7000,194167,3805,2947],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7070546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-60s","tag-70s","tag-batman","tag-boob","tag-january","tag-tube"],"yoast_head":"\nJanuary 12, 2026: The Boob Tube in the 60s & 70s: Batman - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7070546\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"January 12, 2026: The Boob Tube in the 60s & 70s: Batman - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[This week marks the 60th anniversary of the debut of the Batman TV show & the 50th of The Bionic Woman. 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