Things/People who annoyed you

[epaddon]

One could also describe the 50s Superman as a "comedy" with its plots of people being turned upside down, or a time travel device that sends them to the caveman era. But there was also a more clear delineation of who generated the laughs and in every instance Superman himself wasn't the butt of the joke.

Similarly, "Burke's Law" may have been the most comic oriented cop/mystery show of all time filled with zany murder suspects who would have been right at home in the world of Batman 66, but through it all Captain Burke was a picture of bemused authority reacting to the silliness around him. This I think is what Batman needed to be defined as and not as a case where he, Batman himself was seen as odd in this silly world. A larger than life comic book world of light fantasy and comic quality yes, but some times it veered off into the wrong kinds of comedy.

[Commodore Schmidlapp]

At the top of my list is Otto Preminger's fixation with 'Wild.' It makes those episodes nearly unwatchable.

I'll also add Adam West upstaging Burt Ward. Knowing nothing about acting, I had never noticed this. I found much of Burt Ward's book exaggerated, but the first time I saw Batman after reading it, I was shocked at how blatant West's upstaging was. The scene after the explosion in Joker's martian episode amazes me that the director allowed that.

Also I get the joke that no one knew who they were, but late in the series, the writing seemed very lazy in this regard. Like on the cruise to Londinium. No one saw Batman, Robin, or even Batgirl on the ship. Bruce Wayne had a large crate on board, that likely contained the Batmobile and other Bat-paraphernalia. I'm sure Dick's desk and study material were the same size as all of that.

And no one had any suspicions?

[Dr. Shimel]

Many of the B&W Superman episodes are very noir-like, with people actually dying, i.e. falling off a cliff or being shot to death. In one, a wheelchair-bound woman is thrown down the steps. When they went to color, the stories became much more juvenile.

[Bat Username]

It's important to remember that at the 1966 Emmys, Batman was nominated in the Best COMEDY Series category.

Not to mention, the very first episode has Batman dancing the Batusi.

[dell]

Most entertaining shows cross several genres. M*A*S*H was certainly a comedy, but had a number of episodes that were as serious as any drama ever made. I think Batman certainly defied the categories of the time and even today it might be hard to pin down. I think it got labeled a comedy as that was as close to a genre as they could get. I enjoy it regardless of what it is called.

[robinboyblunderer]

I dislike the denigration of Batman as the show went on. He should have always been cool and competent. Robin being kicked by Anna Gramm works; not that his character should have always been mocked but his character could handle it better than Batman's.

I think a good example of Batman from late in the second season is King Tut's Coup. Batman is competent and funny and Bruce Wayne gets to be suave, escorting Lisa Carson back to her apartment. That's how Batman should've been through all three seasons.

[epaddon]

Agree that Superman did indeed start more like a noir series but remember S1 also had people dying with the two gangsters in Zelda and the implied death of the attendant in the Mr. Freeze episode (though a later line of dialogue implausibly tries to suggest he's okay). But even when Superman changed its tone, Superman himself as played by Reeves did not fundamentally change.

I think for me the moment of making Batman look stupid that I hated even as a child was the end of the Egghead episode when suddenly they're all crying. To me that was humiliating Batman to the worst extreme especially with that "cold" ending that really didn't pick up off it with the next episode smoothly (owing to the whole re-editing of the Egghead/Olga trilogy as it turned out). To this day I still zip through that whole sequence because I can handle Batman singing "Buttercup" more than I can that one!

[robinboyblunderer]

I forgot about the Egghead crying moment. And why was he so perturbed by Olga? This isn't the Batman who nearly kisses Catwoman at the end of Kow Tow. if they hadn't needed Batgirl to rescue them, I'm sure Batman could've done something to distract the villains and free Robin and Gordon.

Buttercup, as a one-off moment is all right; sure it makes him look stupid but it is funny; that should've been the very rare exception. I also dislike that Black Widow didn't have a moll.

He never should have never been stammering around a woman from that one Olga episode, or cowering behind Batgirl from the Shame episode.

And why did they have to end nearly every episode asking where Batgirl went or with Robin's discounted suggestion to follow her. Terrible.

And I disliked the coming up next villain bit at the end of the episode. They won't do a cliffhanger so they offer up this tepid shot of a villain? What would interest people more...seeing Catwoman get on an elevator or a death trap?

[Gernot]

About the only thing that really annoyed me about the show was how Part 1 would usually have one fight against a group of henchmen that Batman and Robin lost. Part 2 would have the same henchmen being defeated by Batman and Robin. I'd always wonder what changed between the two fights that allowed Batman and Robin to win? Same thing always happened in one of my favorite cartoons of the same era: The Mighty Heroes.

[WayneGrayson]

About the only thing that really annoyed me about the show was how Part 1 would usually have one fight against a group of henchmen that Batman and Robin lost. Part 2 would have the same henchmen being defeated by Batman and Robin. I'd always wonder what changed between the two fights that allowed Batman and Robin to win?

Sometimes they'd win in part one, only to suffer a diversionary tactic by the villain. Their initial frustration leads them to regroup their forces, they'd become more determined and regain their strength.

[Yellow Oval]

As a schnick I never noticed, but now I absolutely cannot stand to watch the Otto Preminger - Mr. Freeze episode. I like his visual look and when I was small the scene of him up in the vent in Gordon's office scared the hell out of me, but after the Blu-ray viewing (first time I saw the episode since all those years ago) I just cannot take his stupid "VILD!!" exclamation every third word! The writer's name escapes me at the moment, but trying to make an old guy try to sound like a (at the time) young and current hipster was just out and out moronic.

And, save for a couple episodes here and there, Season 3 annoyed me as it just got so bad. Put in and watch a disc of Season 1 and then put in and watch a disc of Season 3 and the formats are light years apart. I just find I have this "downer" feeling of dread that goes through me when I watch Season 3 for reasons we all have discussed.

I think I can also add, again, involving Season 3 that I find I like Batgirl less as I view her more as her character seemed so predictable and bland. Every time she appears she would always just walk in, take that stance with her fists against her hips, and tilted her head on an angle with that smirk. At times she seemed more like Bat-Mite than Bat-Girl. I also was really annoyed with Eartha Kitt as Catwoman as she didn't display an interest in Batman at all as Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and the comics did. Eartha pretty much portrayed just a simple ruthless, scheming, selfish thief with no regard for anyone but herself which is Catwoman somewhat, but the Batman/Catwoman attraction is a main and huge point in the mythos. Her purring, rolling 'R's' could only get her so far with me as a Bat-viewer. Than again, it being the Sixties, maybe the producers were reluctant to touch the race issue as Star Trek and William Shatner did in the famous 'Plato's Stepchildren' scene. I think everyone knows about that famous controversy in TV history.

[robinboyblunderer]

Good points about Batgirl.

I think Yvonne did the best she could with the part, but as written not only was her character somewhat annoying for the reasons you listed, she also threw off the dynamic by being this outsider (no pun intended).

She either seems too competent, saving Batman and Robin and making them look ineffectual, or was helpless, there to be captured.

While putting Alfred in the middle did make sense and bridged her to the Dynamic Duo, (and I enjoyed watching Napier as Alfred, still classy even in the disappointing third season) it just again made them seem stupid, that Alfred is keeping this secret.

I think Adam and Burt had a natural chemistry in their roles and Batgirl threw it off. Could it have worked with better writing, sure. But yes, the third season is my least favorite.

[Progress Pigment]

I dislike the denigration of Batman as the show went on. He should have always been cool and competent. Robin being kicked by Anna Gramm works; not that his character should have always been mocked but his character could handle it better than Batman's.

I think a good example of Batman from late in the second season is King Tut's Coup. Batman is competent and funny and Bruce Wayne gets to be suave, escorting Lisa Carson back to her apartment. That's how Batman should've been through all three seasons.

This is number one and what ultimately sunk the show. If they wanted to throw in comedy, that is well & good, but Batman himself should have been kept out of it. Always. There were hints of things in season one. Batman yelling, "What's the big idea genius?!" in the Zelda episode comes to mind. Lorenzo Semple's "bible" for the show should have added, "Never make Batman look stupid." Not that Stanley Ralph Ross would have listened.

[epaddon]

The strange thing is that the slightly wry tone Batman needed and wouldn't give to him they had no problem giving to Bruce for tag scenes like his terrific "It's one way of getting even!" line to Dick about clam chowder on the menu. *That* is case of humor that works perfectly on all levels.

[Lady Death Man]

Let us not forget that the much ballyhooed Lorenzo Semple was the first writer to make Batman look stupid and/or the ultimate wooden straight arrow, in the very first episode. "I shouldn't wish to attract attention?" "A large Orange Juice?" Batusi? Stumbling around and slurred speech like a drunk, shaming himself in the public eye and the eyes of fellow law enforcement (sure, he is drugged, but he's still made to look like a buffoon)? And in episode 2, "What a terrible way to go-go?" .

Not that I minded this at all, I enjoyed it. Just like I thought Batman's portrayal in the 'Penguin for Mayor' episodes was brilliant-I thought he came across as a steadfast man who earnestly believed in his core values and was unwilling to sell out even a little to gain votes, and I thought having his faith in the voter base vindicated with a resounding victory was much better than having him win through a technicality or gimmick. I saw him as admirable, not wooden or stupid, and he surely would have garnered my vote.