Pow! Bam! Zonk!

Adam West as Batman
(Photo by Bill Bridges)

Excerpt from “Has TV (GASP!) Gone Batty?” by John Skow
Originally published on May 7, 1966

The Batman TV program was loosed upon the world on January 12. It immediately lodged itself in that subcellar of the national cerebellum that controls involuntary movements. … Batman abruptly became (SNICKER!! REVULSION!!) an obligatory topic in every conversation … a dull-day column lightener for every editorialist, the theme of every junior-high-school dance. … Before Batman, Adam West’s knockabout acting career had taken him to Hawaii, where he spent four years as an actor/director for a TV variety show. … Then came Batman, and for the first time in West’s life, people were turning around in restaurants to look at him. He accepts the stares cheerfully and with remarkable balance. … “What was your reaction when you heard about Batman?” I asked West at lunch. “My reaction was Ecch!” he said. But Batman turned out to be fun. “You have to take it seriously,” he said. “I want to do it well enough that Batman buffs will watch reruns in a few years and say, ‘The bit he does here, isn’t that great?’”