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Like many who grew up in the '60s and '70s (and perhaps even '80s and later), Tim and Paul had the course of their lives changed by the 1966 Batman TV show, from the types of play they did growing up to their present-day interests.

In this series, they discuss the show's allure and its failures, the arc of the show from satire to sitcom, its influences (the '40s serials and the comic books themselves) and the things it, in turn, influenced.

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Jun 7, 2018

Louie, the Lilac

Louie, The Lilac is a surprising episode for how un-Uncle Milty-like Milton Berle's performance is. It's also uneven, with some nice camera shots, but also many poorly-presented plot points — and some that aren't presented at all! We do get a few scenes of Gotham City's flower children — and just what is the show's take on that movement? How much social commentary might there be hiding among the lilacs?

In this episode we compare this season three Batman episode to its ancestor, Dwight Taylor's script Please Omit Tomatoes, which has the outlines of the same death trap as the filmed episode, but nothing else in common with it.

ALSO: We confess our Bat-sins, for we have blasphemed Batman '66! What was the appeal of the '66 show to fans of Marvel Comics? Plus, the Orchester Friedel Berlipp version of the theme, and your mail!

"Louie the Lilac" draft script (entitled "Please Omit Tomatoes") PDF script

"Please Omit Tomatoes" thread on the '66 Batman message board

"Fashions in Crime", unfilmed script by Peggy Shaw, PDF

"Fashions in Crime" thread on the '66 Batman message board

 

The February 19, 1966 Bob Hope special has been removed from YouTube! If you find another posting of it, please let us know and we'll link to it from here!

 

Dan E Kool's tweet