TO THE BATPOLES #214: “Mr. Terrific”: A tough pill to swallow? Pt 2

[bat-rss]

Mr. Terrific was cancelled after half a season, but… was it really a terrible show? Is star Stephen Strimpell partly to blame? This time, we push back on Thirteen Week Theatre’s take on Strimpell, consider why pill popping was such a common way to get superpowers in the Sixties, and the show’s …. agressive … laugh track. Also, were the network execs commissioning superhero sitcoms really trying to imitate Batman, or just cash in?

Plus, The Music Within’s bass guitar cover of the Batman theme, more from Adam and Burt on Hour Magazine, and e-mail from our listeners!

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[Mr. Glee]

"Mr. Terrific" was definitely, as you suggested, a moderate success in the ratings. The cancellation was apparently due to the show's demographics (contrary to popular belief, networks and advertisers were starting to pay attention to demographics by 1967.) Here are a couple of newspaper items that may be of interest, both from papers dated Feb 24, 1967:

High ratings are not necessarily guarantees of renewals. In this last [Nielsen] survey, “Gunsmoke” scored No. 26 and “Mr. Terrific” No. 27. Both will be replaced next season.

Those of us who predicted that “Mr. Terrific” couldn’t last were right … It was a mild surprise that it had been killed. It appeared to be doing pretty well as one of the mid-season entries. An audience study revealed that it appealed mostly to the kids and the theory is that its appeal could go nowhere but down.

[Mr. Glee]

The trade magazine Broadcasting rounded up the critic's comments on both "Mr. Terrific" and "Captain Nice" -