ABC Network Summer Reruns and Bumper Mystery

[Bob Furmanek]

For the 1966/1967 summer reruns on ABC, the shows were not broadcast in the same order as when first aired so many of the "next week" bumpers were changed. I thought it would be helpful to compile a complete list.

I can tell you that the one 35mm camera negative I personally handled for THE BAT'S KOW TOW had a next week bumper for the Penguin which would have been for the August 17, 1967 ABC rerun. So the bumpers were definitely changed on the 35mm elements.

The ratings took quite a drop in the second season and it's interesting to note that of the 44 summer reruns in 1967, 16 are first season episodes. I suspect the 28 second season shows that were selected for rerun probably had the stronger ratings when first aired.

I hope that my fellow Bat-fans find this information useful.

1966 Summer Reruns
May 11/12 – The Purr-fect Crime/Better Luck Next Time
May 18/19 – Instant Freeze/Rats Like Cheese
May 25/26 – The Joker is Wild/Batman is Riled
June 1/2 – A Riddle a Day a Day Keeps the Riddler Away/When the Rat’s Away the Mice Will Play
June 8/9 – The Thirteenth Hat/Batman Stands Pat
June 15/16 – The Penguin Goes Straight/Not Yet He Ain’t
June 22/23 – Zelda the Great/A Death Worse than Fate
June 29/30 – True or False-Face/Holy Rat Race
July 6/7 – Ring of Wax/Give ‘em the Axe
July 13/14 – The Joker Trumps an Ace/Batman Sets the Pace
July 20/21 – The Bookworm Turns/While Gotham City Burns
July 27/28 – Fine Finny Fiends/Batman Makes the Scenes
August 3/4 – Death in Slow Motion/The Riddler’s False Notion
August 10/11 – The Joker Goes to School/He Meets his Match, the Grisly Ghoul
August 17/18 – The Curse of Tut/The Pharaoh’s in a Rut
August 24/25 – Hi Diddle Riddle/Smack in the Middle
August 31/September 1 – Fine Feathered Finks/The Penguin’s a Jinx
 
1967 Summer Reruns
April 5/6 – Hi Diddle Riddle/Smack in the Middle
April 12/13 – The Purr-fect Crime/Better Luck Next Time
April 19/20 – An Egg Grows in Gotham/The Yegg Foes in Gotham
April 26/27 – The Thirteenth Hat/Batman Stands Pat
May 3/4 – The Curse of Tut/The Pharaoh’s in a Rut
May 10/May 11 – The Sandman Cometh/The Catwoman Goeth
May 17/18 – Fine Feathered Finks/The Penguin’s a Jinx
May 24/25 – The Joker is Wild/Batman is Riled
May 31/June 1 – Shoot a Crooked Arrow/Walk the Straight and Narrow
June 7/8 – The Bookworm Turns/While Gotham City Burns
June 14/15 – The Zodiac Crimes/The Joker’s Hard Times
June 21/22 – The Penguin Declines/That Darn Catwoman
June 28/29 – Scat Darn Catwoman/Penguin is a Girl’s Best Friend
July 5/6 – Penguin Sets a Trend/Penguin’s Disastrous End
July 12/13 – Green Ice/Deep Freeze
July 19/20 – Ring of Wax/Give ‘em the Axe
July 26/27 – King Tut’s Coup/Batman’s Waterloo
August 2/3 – The Contaminated Cowl/The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul
August 9/10 – Come Back Shame/It’s How Your Play the Game
August 16/17 – The Cat’s Meow/The Bat’s Kow Tow
August 23/24 – Hizzoner the Penguin/Dizzoner the Penguin
August 30/31 – The Devil’s Fingers/The Dead Ringers

There were no Batman episodes broadcast in the first week of September, 1967. In it's time slot, The Second Hundred Years premiered on September 6 and The Flying Nun on September 7.

The Purr-fect Crime was the first episode rerun on May 11 because part one was interrupted multiple times on March 16 to cover the suspenseful recovery of Gemini 8. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Om ... %2C3274260

On March 24, Sawyer's shipped more than 100,000 Tru-Vue packets and the same 3-D scenes were released in a View-Master package on April 25. They sold like hotcakes during that summer and would remain in print for decades.

[elmrgraham]

Excellent Information.

[Bob Furmanek]

If anyone is interested, I used primarily the Milwaukee Journal and Chicago Tribune as sources for the research. Both can be searched on-line for free. I had to use both because there were some weeks when they did not list a title or synopsis.

[Bob Furmanek]

Also interesting to note the only pre-emption during the prime time run was on February 15, 1968 for the Winter Olympics. ABC had announced its cancellation just a few weeks earlier on January 24.

[High C]

Terrific research, Bob. Thanks so much!

I was struck, as you were, by how many Season 1 eps were re-run in the summer of 1967. If that was ABC's call, it shows how much they felt the show was in decline in S2.

[High C]

1967 Summer Reruns
April 5/6 – Hi Diddle Riddle/Smack in the Middle
April 12/13 – The Purr-fect Crime/Better Luck Next Time
April 19/20 – An Egg Grows in Gotham/The Yegg Foes in Gotham
April 26/27 – The Thirteenth Hat/Batman Stands Pat
May 3/4 – The Curse of Tut/The Pharaoh’s in a Rut
May 10/May 11 – The Sandman Cometh/The Catwoman Goeth
May 17/18 – Fine Feathered Finks/The Penguin’s a Jinx
May 24/25 – The Joker is Wild/Batman is Riled
May 31/June 1 – Shoot a Crooked Arrow/Walk the Straight and Narrow
June 7/8 – The Bookworm Turns/While Gotham City Burns
June 14/15 – The Zodiac Crimes/The Joker’s Hard Times
June 21/22 – The Penguin Declines/That Darn Catwoman
June 28/29 – Scat Darn Catwoman/Penguin is a Girl’s Best Friend
July 5/6 – Penguin Sets a Trend/Penguin’s Disastrous End
July 12/13 – Green Ice/Deep Freeze
July 19/20 – Ring of Wax/Give ‘em the Axe
July 26/27 – King Tut’s Coup/Batman’s Waterloo
August 2/3 – The Contaminated Cowl/The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul
August 9/10 – Come Back Shame/It’s How Your Play the Game
August 16/17 – The Cat’s Meow/The Bat’s Kow Tow
August 23/24 – Hizzoner the Penguin/Dizzoner the Penguin
August 30/31 – The Devil’s Fingers/The Dead Ringers

It's fascinating, as you noted, that eight storylines from season 1 were repeated. It certainly gives one a clear idea of what ABC thought of season 2.

But some of their choices from season 2 are odd. I don't think I would have chosen to repeat Egghead and the Archer, but they did. Also noticed they repeated all the team-ups, which wasn't surprising, especially because every team-up included at least one member of the 'Big 4.'

[Bob Furmanek]

My guess is the summer repeats were based on ratings and how well the shows did the first time around. That would explain the Archer episode as many people probably tuned in for the season premiere. Egghead had Vincent Price as a lure and the 3-parters must have done well.

As I mentioned in the Liberace thread, it would be VERY interesting to see the weekly Nielsen ratings. One thing is for sure from looking at Variety, the second season did not do well at all in the ratings. It's amazing they were able to secure a third year. That certainly explains the budget cuts.

[epaddon]

I'm not surprised Archer got a repeat because by the summer he was back as a regular full-time on the Gleason show which I believe was at the top of the ratings. It would have been seen as a way of trying to grab that show's audience on another go-round.

[Dr. Shimel]

Almost all of the "new" villains from S2 were ignored for reruns: Minstrel, Ma Parker, Clock King, Marsha (by herself) and Black Widow. They also ignored the Green Hornet crossover, presumably because that show wasn't coming back. Perhaps more shocking is the fact that all three SOLO Joker eps from S2 were passed over.

[TheBlueHombre]

I seem to recall a "Next Week Bumper" that ran at the end of the second season summer reruns to announce that Burgess Meredith would be playing the Penguin and that Yvonne Craig would star as Batgirl. I remember my brother and I getting excited about the new hero on the show. Does anyone know if this bumper still exists?

[Bob Furmanek]

I don't remember that bumper but if it exists, it would probably be on The Dead Ringers.

[epaddon]

Easy to see why they would pick two Gorshin Riddler shows for reruns too to at least satisfy some of the public wish to see him again. The S1 repeat that surprises me most is the Bookworm episode.

[Ben Bentley]

Great research Bob, fascinating stuff!

[Bob Furmanek]

My pleasure and I"m happy to share the information.

Now that we've busted the myth about the Liberace episode, here's another I'd like to tackle: The report that NBC was interested in a 4th season but the sets had been taken down. I can find no mention of this in Variety.

Does anyone know when the final episode wrapped shooting? The show is still listed as an active production in the December 22, 1967 listing.

This quote appears on January 3: "And we got three years out of 'Batman.' We are building up tremendous residual values."

Once the ABC cancellation notice was reported on January 24, 1968, the show was put on the market for syndication within a week.

[epaddon]

Appreciate the work and research you've done, Bob!

Adam as I recall took a trip to South America after production wrapped and came back sporting a moustache briefly which he was still wearing when he taped an episode of the nighttime version of "Hollywood Squares" that aired March 1, 1968 (that episode survives and aired on Game Show Network a decade ago). He was indicating in that appearance, likely taped in early February that he was already looking at future plans that didn't involve "Batman" or any hope of it coming back elsewhere.

It's always possible that the 'report' was something expressed only behind-the-scenes and never got before the public. It could even have been a case of a one-day thing of maybe someone at NBC mulls the idea, "What if we picked up Batman?" and then after making inquiries by phone learned, "Oh, the sets are gone, we'd have to pay to rebuild them." "Well in that case, forget it." If it was something like that, it's not surprising there wouldn't be any kind of public documentation and not necessarily any private documentation in someone's files. I've found when studying the history of TV shows that some information we're likely to never know if the business was conducted over the phone rather than in memos which is why even having access to William Dozier's papers as we do, is never going to tell us the full story about everything.