Bob Furmanek wrote: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.
Bob, again, great info! Thanks.
Dozier's paperwork shows that production on the final ep, Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires, wrapped on Thursday, Dec. 21, 1967. It actually was a four-day shoot, as opposed to the usual three. I suppose they had the leftover money at that point to do so. You'll note that ep has actual sets like the first two seasons, as opposed to the black linoleum limbo sets used for most of the rest of S3.
'I thought Siren was perfect for Joan.'--Stanley Ralph Ross, writer of 'The Wail of the Siren'
My hobbies include gazing at the Siren and doing her bidding, evil or otherwise.
'She had a devastating, hypnotic effect on all the men.'--A schoolmate describing Joan Collins at age 17
It's always been my approach with research to back up information like that with concrete documentation from primary source materials. Otherwise, a writer can claim anything they want.
From what I've seen, the ratings were very poor on the third season and there's no reason to believe that NBC would have had any interest in picking up the show.
Adam attended the DR. DOOLITTLE premiere in Hollywood on December 21, 1967. On January 23, 1968, Variety reported: "Adam West back from American Film Week in Punta Del Este, Uruguay."
Based on this evidence, it would appear the show finished production in December and by early January, it was already known that it was to be canceled.
So the show wrapped on December 21 and less than two weeks later, was referred to in the past tense. That leaves very little time for a set to be demolished, especially over the holidays.
I seem to recall researching the exact same lists several years before on this board...along with Batman Production Credits and Network Competition. But nevertheless, nice post!
Bob Furmanek wrote: ↑Wed Jan 07, 2015 12:17 am
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.
Interestingly, it was The Second Hundred Years which replaced Batman upon its demise in March 1968!
Just more evidence that the cast knew the series was canceled and there was never a Season 4 under consideration (although that rumor persists despite being long dispelled).
I remember “The Second Hundred Years” fondly.
(While looking at a television) “There’s a midget in that box!”
BiffPow wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:39 am
Just more evidence that the cast knew the series was canceled and there was never a Season 4 under consideration (although that rumor persists despite being long dispelled).
I remember “The Second Hundred Years” fondly.
(While looking at a television) “There’s a midget in that box!”
The Fourth Season NBC Rumor has never held a lot of water. I know by the time of cancellation Adam was ready to move on, he told me that first hand and you can see it in a lot of his performances in those final episodes. He was professional but anxious to shed the Batman image and move on.
Personally, so much of the third season was so bad I'm glad it ended. As we saw with the DC Comics attempt at more comic adventures of the Batman '66 Universe even people who claimed to really get the show still followed the worst parts of the last season rather than leaning in to the best of the first season when the show was at the top of the ratings.
By episode #120 Dozier had enough in the can to make a profit on reruns and that was all he needed and he too was ready to move on (although I suspect he had actually moved on by the middle of season two when the show's decline really became prominent) to other projects.
Despite the entirely implausible 4th season/NBC rumor's debunking ages ago, I still come across a few who insist the rumor was "verified" as fact, when no such facts exist. Usually, the 4th season advocates go a long way into convincing themselves that there were few things wrong with the third season, and the series "deserved" a fourth.
Aside from ignoring the many problems with the third season--mainly the would-be ratings booster Batgirl failing that one job in spectacular fashion, the quasi-action/satire of Batman wore out its welcome during the 2nd season. There was no sizable viewing audience who wanted to see another year of the series' infantile direction, and by 1968, other gimmick/spoof shows were running out of gas to varying degrees, notably Get Smart, which would end its 4th year on NBC for the '68-'69 season before being cancelled. The big difference is that Get Smart still had some interesting script ideas (though outnumbered by the eye-roll inducing spy-spoofing), enough for CBS to rescue the series for a 5th and final season. No matter how much Get Smart dropped in quality during 4th season, it was still head and shoulders above Batman, yet NBC still cancelled the Don Adams series. Acknowledging that, why would a network wish to bring a creatively lifeless / played out Batman to their schedule? The answer--obviously, is that NBC had no intention of doing that.
