#203 “Has TV gone batty?” Snarky press coverage from 1966

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966

At the height of Batmania in the first half of 1966, nearly every press outlet found it necessary to do a feature story on the phenomenon. But many in the media were not terribly impressed by Batman, so these articles tend to look down their noses at the show. One such example is “Has TV Gone Batty?”, an article by John Skow in the May 7, 1966, issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Aside from the snark, and misinformed discussion of camp, the article gives us some interesting insights into the shooting of the show and the thoughts of Adam West, William Dozier, Lorenzo Semple Jr, and others involved in making it. This time, we dig into this article.

PLUS: the Guy with an Amazing Hat version of the theme, more from Adam West’s July 24, 1997, appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and your mail responding to several of our recent episodes!

#200: "Batman: The Movie": The Novel

#201: Chip Kidd's Book of Bat-Merch