WI: 1960s Batman television series is more serious in tone?

Neoteros

Neoteros

Apparently, the Adam West Batman series was originally conceived as an adventure show reminiscent of The Lone Ranger, at least in tone; the shift towards camp happened when the series was given to a director that had never read the comic book before. What if the series had been given to a director that not only was a childhood fan of the character, but that fondly remembered Batman's pre-Code, noir character?

Of course, you wouldn't get something as dark as today's incarnation of Bruce Wayne, as the director running the (Arkham) asylum would still have to abide by the standards of the 1960s, but I can see something vaguely resembling the 1990s cartoon version of Batman happen: still kid-friendly, but far removed from the campy Adam West series. How do you think would such an alternate take on the 1960s series be received, and who could appear in it?

Adam West's probably a nope, since he didn't exactly have the appearance of someone who fights crime by night while being the most desired bachelor in town by day, but I can still see Eartha Kitt as Catwoman - in fact, she could portray the character right from the beginning and, well. It's Eartha Kitt, if there's someone that could convincingly convey the whole sexual tension thing Batman and Catwoman are known for, it's her. :p
 
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Mr Atoz

The series you're describing is "The Green Hornet" (ABC 1966-67). A spin-off series of "Batman" with asimilar theme of a millionaire playboy who is secretly a mask crime fighter using specialized weapons, physical skills and a specialized car to fight crime with the aid of a sidekick; but having a more serious tone than the parent series. The results are pretty conclusive: "The Green Hornet" last just one season (26 episodes), "Batman" lasted three seasons (120 episodes) plus a feature film. "Batman" became a cultural phenomenon during it's run and has remained a cult classic. Had it not been for co-star Bruce Lee, who played Kato, going on to become the greatest martial arts movie star of all time, "the Green Hornet" would have been pretty much forgotten.

Also, I think you are greatly underestimating Adam West's acting abilities. His roles before and after Batman proved he could play serious and romantic roles. Cubby Broccoli even considered having him replace Sean Connery as James Bond. James Friggin Bond!

Finally, having African-American Eartha Kitt as Catwoman from the beginning with the sexual tension and romantic relation to Batman we see today would have been a complete impossibility on American TV in 1966. There was some mildly suggested sexual attraction between Batman and the original Catwoman, Julie Newmar, but that wasn't present when Kitt took over the role in the third season. Inter-racial sexual attraction, even implied, wasn't allowed on 1960s network TV.
 

Nivek

Neoteros said:
Apparently, the Adam West Batman series was originally conceived as an adventure show reminiscent of The Lone Ranger, at least in tone; the shift towards camp happened when the series was given to a director that had never read the comic book before. What if the series had been given to a director that not only was a childhood fan of the character, but that fondly remembered Batman's pre-Code, noir character?

Of course, you wouldn't get something as dark as today's incarnation of Bruce Wayne, as the director running the (Arkham) asylum would still have to abide by the standards of the 1960s, but I can see something vaguely resembling the 1990s cartoon version of Batman happen: still kid-friendly, but far removed from the campy Adam West series. How do you think would such an alternate take on the 1960s series be received, and who could appear in it?

Adam West's probably a nope, since he didn't exactly have the appearance of someone who fights crime by night while being the most desired bachelor in town by day, but I can still see Eartha Kitt as Catwoman - in fact, she could portray the character right from the beginning and, well. It's Eartha Kitt, if there's someone that could convincingly convey the whole sexual tension thing Batman and Catwoman are known for, it's her. :p
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Dude, Batman was on the comical side from much of 50's and 60's, his pulps origins were much toned down till the 70's and 80's. if anything Batman tv was like the comics, ie the current at the time, not the old ones
 

Sam R.

So you want one of:
  • Untouchables (You can't corrupt Batman, he's already rich)
  • Dragnet (Commissioner Gordon plays fetch?)
  • The Fugitive (Batman is running from something inside himself? Bruce Wayne is running from Batman?)
  • Perry Mason: ("In the criminal justice system, the rich are represented by two separate, yet equal, bodies: Batman who investigates crime; and Arkham asylum which psychiatrically incarcerates non-conforming individuals. These are their stories." That'll go down well.)
but with a man in a black/blue/yellow suit pretending to be a Bat, or, a madman in a grey flannel suit pretending to be human. I mean we can get it there, but its only going to run one season, and if it is any good be resurrected by queer film studies analysts.*1

yours,
Sam R.

1: Can I help it if I imagine a much healthier 1960s Batman franchise. Just butch, not camp?
 

Nivek

Sam R. said:
1: Can I help it if I imagine a much healthier 1960s Batman franchise. Just butch, not camp?
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not even butch, post neo-noir, ie what batman was inspired to begin with, people think batman was campy, but that was a post-war design choices when superheroes were ailing, the original batman by FINGER KANE was just the shadow without guns and dressed like a bat
 

Sam R.

I know, but it is hard to get 1960s TV in the US to run Noir. Hell, as "popular" or "musical hall" entertainment it is hard to get any TV to run noir. Like we can't even get a Midnight Ramble because Television is for Children.

By 1955 though film in Europe was for adults.

So what I'm proposing is that DC license the rights to the Italians, who let a post neo-realist direct. Federico Fellini's Wayne's Good Life. A movie of horrific doubles and bleak meaningless, where the spectacular becomes what the French were about to call "The Spectacle?" Then the Yanks get it back and cut it for 3 22 minute TV specials. This is the kind of way in which I can see Noir Batman coming to the US TV Screen in the 1960s.

Or hell send it to Yugoslavia and we can get Dušan Makavejev's BW: Mysteries of the Batman. Complete with Bruceman shooting Batwayne in the climax or is it the other way around.

We can turn up the grimdark dial to Noir, but its damn hard to get that shown on US Television before 1970.

yours,
Sam R.
 
marathag

marathag

Banned
Sam R. said:
We can turn up the grimdark dial to Noir, but its damn hard to get that shown on US Television before 1970.
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Well, you did have slightly noirish series, with the Alfred Hitchcock series thru 1965, and the Detective Series before that, the late '50s Detective/Private Eye, like _Peter Gunn_

But by 1964, Spies were the cool new thing. Comedy treatment too, like _Munsters_ and _Addams Family_

So unlikely to get Bats as being a Noir detective, despite in the early '60s the main Batman Comic Letterhead was DETECTIVE COMICS, Bats also in the Series BATMAN
and WORLD'S FINEST, with featuring both Supes and Bats. One of DCs top draws
 
unclepatrick

unclepatrick

Remember Batman in the late 50 was very silly as they tried to do Sci Fi and Monsters in the Comic.
So the camp Batman was what was in the comics .
Still we could do a better balance of the jokes and the drama .

One side effect of the Batman show was the third season of Man From Uncle went Camp .
We even had a episode where one of the agents rode a Sunk Bomb .
So no silly camp Batman and it stay a more serious show .
And we might have gotten a longer run on Man from Uncle since in the OTL ,the audience left as it went camp.
 
Neoteros

Neoteros

Mr Atoz said:
Finally, having African-American Eartha Kitt as Catwoman from the beginning with the sexual tension and romantic relation to Batman we see today would have been a complete impossibility on American TV in 1966. There was some mildly suggested sexual attraction between Batman and the original Catwoman, Julie Newmar, but that wasn't present when Kitt took over the role in the third season. Inter-racial sexual attraction, even implied, wasn't allowed on 1960s network TV.
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I mean, the whole Kirk/Uhura thing happened, a Batman/Catwoman fling could have the same impact. I mean, Eartha Kitt allegedly had a threesome with Paul Newman and James Dean, I count that as a massive fuck you to 1960s social mores - if there's someone that could outdo Nichols and Shatner in getting crap past the radar, it's her. :D
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Neoteros said:
What if the series had been given to a director that not only was a childhood fan of the character, but that fondly remembered Batman's pre-Code, noir character?
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The so-called pre-Code, noir, dark, original Batman of the comics lasted originally all of about 2 years or so before lightening up considerably. By wartime it was generic superhero fare. By the postwar or 1950s there was plenty of silliness in the comics.
 

Garrison

Donor
Nivek said:
Dude, Batman was on the comical side from much of 50's and 60's, his pulps origins were much toned down till the 70's and 80's. if anything Batman tv was like the comics, ie the current at the time, not the old ones
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Exactly, I know that some adult comic fans have desperately tried to retcon the fact that comics were largely aimed at kids and the tone of the 60s batman TV show was somehow an aberration, but the show was a perfect fit with the comics at the time. A darker more serious show would probably have been off-putting for audiences and might actually have made later management at DC think twice about going down the Dark Knight route, so maybe no BTAU?
 
Guajolote

Guajolote

Tone aside, if you want an idea of what a noir-ish Batman series could look like, the 1966 episodes A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away/When The Rat's Away The Mice Will Play have a lot of interesting shadowy scenes.
 

Mort the Reaper

Neoteros said:
I mean, the whole Kirk/Uhura thing happened, a Batman/Catwoman fling could have the same impact. I mean, Eartha Kitt allegedly had a threesome with Paul Newman and James Dean, I count that as a massive fuck you to 1960s social mores - if there's someone that could outdo Nichols and Shatner in getting crap past the radar, it's her. :D
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Thing is, the cast and crew had to fight tooth and nail to make the Kirk/Uhura kiss happen and there were many stations that refused to air the episode because of the kiss.

I'm not sure how easy a sell a more gothic/noir Batman series would've been at the time.
 

eltf177

I feel THE MAN FROM UNCLE was the right balance between seriousness and light comedy. OTOH THE GIRL FROM UNCLE was tongue-in-cheek from moment one.

BATMAN Season Three had but one purpose - to keep Burt Ward from doing THE GRADUATE...
 

JuliantheUnknown

Mr Atoz said:
. Had it not been for co-star Bruce Lee, who played Kato, going on to become the greatest martial arts movie star of all time, "the Green Hornet" would have been pretty much forgotten.
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Quite frankly, I don't even remember who played the Green Hornet but I remember Kato. The legacy is so big that when they made that Green Hornet a few years back they cast Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet so he could play a bumbling hero idiot while the film played Kato as a hypercompetent mechanical genius who was also a martial arts master.
 
mspence

mspence

Banned
Mission Impossible was pretty Noirish at times, a spy show done with a straight face. Maybe if they brought in Donald P. Bellisario as a writer...
 

kaijudirector

This probably could work better in one of the timelines where Frederic Wertham's ideas DON'T get as much traction as they did IRL. If it does exist, I'd push it back to the late 60s with a mix of Mission Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, The Fugitive, and The F.B.I.

I should also say that the The F.B.I. did have J. Edgar Hoover's blessing, so I guess that gave it some level of protection on the networks. If a darker Batman gets backing, like that I think it would be pretty much untouchable.
 
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