Newmar: Joan Collins played it too straight

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

Somebody considered it a comedy, because it was tested with a laugh track ala GET SMART and every other sitcom of the day-- and the show, already testing poorly, tested WORSE with the laugh track. Might not have been Dozier's idea, could have been the Network, but the fact that they were going to use one backs up the comedic angle.

The old TV Guides from the 70s have Batman listed as "Adventure". That's how I looked at it as a kid: mostly an adventure, with a few silly things thrown in.

This is from the 1979 Fall Preview issue, where it says something else is taking that time slot on the following Monday.



Since I don't have the following issue, I don't know if that was the end of Batman's syndicated run or not. When exactly did it disappear from the airwaves? Was it off for a whole decade before being brought back in 1989?

[robinboyblunderer]

That's what the show does; children take it seriously and adults find it hilarious, generally speaking.

[The Ojo]

I have some TV Guides from the 60's that list it as 'comedy'. I suppose they could not make up their minds either.

[clavierankh]

In those days, really until recently, TV guide printed all over the country. Each region insertes it's own local listings. Each region had it's own editor , and each editor had their own idea what category a show fit in.

[High C]

Contrary to the myth spread across the media for decades (including a few books published or authorized by DC Comics) Batman was not a comedy, or comedic characters placed in superheroic situations (ex. Hanna-Barbera's The Impossibles). There was a light edge weaving its way in the delivery, but the drive of the series was not that of the sitcom. Newmar--somehow forgetting her season 1 introduction or 2nd season return performance--is buying into the worn out myth.

I have to return to Newmar's lack of observation, since her own 1st appearance was played seriously--no overt puns (more of a wink to the audience than serving the story as in her late season 2 episodes). Furthermore, she was acting in a "hey, i'm on the hit show Batman! Time for me to ham it up!" way seen with certain guest stars--particularly during the second half of the series' run.

You make some excellent points about Julie here. She's been somewhat inconsistent on all these matters--she said to Dozier and Co. when she took the gig in 1966 she wanted CW to be a teasing, tantalizing presence to Batman, which certainly is at odds with what she became, and certainly would have been a more serious interpretation, much like her season 1 storyline.

Also, she was quoted by Joel Eisner in his Bat-book as saying about other villains (I’m paraphrasing a bit here, because I’m on the road and don’t have the book handy, but this is the meaning): ‘Those people who camped it up too much spoiled it.’

Going by that observation, one would think Newmar would have liked Collins’ performance.

[epaddon]

Since I don't have the following issue, I don't know if that was the end of Batman's syndicated run or not. When exactly did it disappear from the airwaves? Was it off for a whole decade before being brought back in 1989?

No, that simply means the local station decided to not air it any longer. Just because one local station stopped doing so doesn't mea the show was no longer in syndication because those decisions were made by local stations on the local level to decide whether they were going to carry this available show or not. In this day and age, we've lost sight of what it means to have been a truly "local" channel and because syndication is different.

BTW, "Happy Days Again" refers to reruns of "Happy Days". At the time there was a rule that if a show was sold into syndication while the show was still airing on the network, then the reruns of earlier seasons had to be marketed under a different title. That rule changed in the early 80s.

[Jaws63]

I was a big tv guide collector in the much through the 70's and early 80's.I had old issues with listings from both the Buffalo and Philadelphia(My parents lived in Buffalo N.Y. but I went to boarding school during my high school years in Philadelphia...this was 77 thru 82). I swear that looks like the Philadelphia listings, I probably had this particular issue you posted because WTAF 29 aired Batman and WKBS 48 aired Brady bunch in the 5:00pm time slot, Monday thru Friday. I remember this to be 80's listings I believe.

I'm pretty sure it was in the mid 90's that tv guide made the change of referring to Batman66 as adventure to fantasy, because when "Family Channel" aired the show in 89' it was still listed in "TV guide" as adventure.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

You guessed it, Jaws. It's from a Philly TV Guide. I only have an issue here and there from way back then, though. The first issue I tried looking for the show in was from 1981, and I couldn't find it in there, so posted the listing from the 1979 issue.

Epaddon, I thought the show was missing from syndication for about 10 years, and then they brought it back when the Keaton movie came out. I was basically just wondering exactly how long it was missing from the airwaves. Or did I misunderstand somewhere along the line?

To bring this back to Joan Collins, I had no problem with the way she played the Siren role, and we certainly didn't need any more silliness in the 3rd season. Not that I have a problem with over-the-top portrayals. I love King Tut. Victor Buono seemed to be having a blast with that role. But Joan Collins' portrayal seemed just fine to me.

[epaddon]

It wasn't "missing" from syndication in the sense that it wasn't available to stations to show if they wanted to see it. I remember WFLD-Chicago airing it around 1987-88. It is true that fewer stations were carrying it in the mid-80s but that's because more recent shows were now available and stations generally liked to freshen things up. I even remember a mainstay of WPIX, "The Honeymooners" disappearing for a few years in the early 80s.

[LittleLouisGroovy]

Agreed, and the unfortunate thing is the backstory was in the script, and was filmed:

http://www.batgirlbat-trap.com/omake/btswail.html

I think Siren played like a season 1 villain, especially with being obsessed about discovering Batman & Robin's identities.

Thanks for posting this. I have long been fascinated by the change in Siren's appearance over the course of the episode.

As for Joan Collins, I think she managed to give a performance that was serious and humorous -- serious in that she brought the right amount of character truth to the role, and humorous in that she understood the overall tone of the series. As High C wrote, she played it like a season 1 villain, maintaining that delicate balance of suspense and humor that was lost in the third season. I suspect that's why the character has resonated so strongly with fans.

[The Ojo]

Adam, Burt and Julie were asked if some guest stars didn't play it comedically enough, and Julie Newmar said that both Joan Collins and Tallulah Bankhead played it too straight. Now as far as Bankhead goes, she was near the end of her life and I don't know how much range she had at that point anyway.

I agree with many of you that Ms. Newmar's actions on the show do not correspond with her analysis here.

The Black Widow episode is my favorite from the series and I think Ms. Bankhead did an excellent job, especially her interactions with her henchmen and her constant gloating (especially when outsmarting Batman by reversing her mind control device). Her VO work when she 'impersonated' Robin was the high point of the Batman series for me .

[Mr. Deathtrap]

Citizens,

I see one problem with citing the Joker surfing episode as being typical of the series new emphasis on comedy. While I agree, season 3 had more of a comedic focus than the earlier seasons, the entire format of the show changed, thus making it impossible to tell the kind of action-packed, suspenseful stories shown previously. At the end, the show was telling stories in half the time and needing to include almost all the characters previously used, plus Batgirl.

The Joker surfing episode is unique to the show because it is self parody. In one episode, the format of the previous seasons is compressed and the absurdity of the evolving situation is emphasized the entire time.

The Joker plans to become the Gotham surfing champion and steals the ability of a contender to achieve his ends. Hot Dog Hannigan stumbles on the plot and is put out of the way, alerting the police and Batman. The Dynamic Duo track Joker to his hideout where Joker tries to kill them and reveals his sinister scheme. Batman escapes and thwarts Joker, before Batgirl joins the heroes to beat the villains into submission and hand them over to the authorities.

I find Catwoman's assumption in her solo story that Batgirl cannot escape her pattern cutter without both Batman and Robin's help more cringeworthy--especially when Batman needs to send Aldred to her rescue in order to save her.

Just sayin'.

Mr. Deathtrap

[crazedvillain]

*

[crazedvillain]

The tone and dialog of the Siren episode was more serious. There's minimal amount of campy dialog which, ironically, I think Julie Newmar's "The Purr-fect Crime" was similar. What the show would of been if camp hadn't been brought into the equation.

[epaddon]

"Purrfect Crime" IMO would have been the perfect template for how the series could have sustained itself much longer. Letting the humor be a bit more throwaway rather than dominate things and not coming at the expense of the characters. Case in point is how the millionaire targeted has an ordinary name "Mark Andrews" and not one of these blatantly ridiculous parody names that would become common later on.

If the best S1 episodes keep the humor in check in the tradition of the early James Bond films, then the worst of the S3 episodes are the counterparts to the Bond films that got too silly like "Moonraker" (speaking of which, its amazing they never used Richard "Jaws" Kiel as a henchman!)