A lingering question from the Bookworm arc of Batman, as broadcast, is: Why was a Commissioner Gordon impersonator seemingly shot at the opening of the bridge? As we conclude our look at the draft version of the script, we finally get an answer! Listen to Bat Bits and follow along with a PDF of the script by subscribing to our Patreon for at least $2 a month! For $4 a month, you ALSO get our monthly discussion of silver age Batman comics as Paul or another in our stable of co-hosts joins me to e...
Jun 26, 2025•2 min
On the latest episode of Bat Bits, Paul and I move into the second half of the early draft of Rik Vollaerts’ script “The Bookworm Turns”! We can see the vague outlines of this script in the broadcast version, including the use of the Bat Magnet! But does it make sense for Bookworm to steal “industrial diamonds”? And, if an implement is called a Bat Cutting Torch, wouldn’t it be better for us to actually see it cutting? We also notice how this version of the script keeps repeating the same themes...
Jun 12, 2025•2 min
Now live on Patreon - part two of our look at the draft Bookworm script, featuring an overlong, over-complicated deathtrap scene! Join us on Patreon to hear our discussion and follow along with the script!
May 29, 2025•2 min•Ep. 11
On the latest Bat Bits, we begin a multi-part look at an early draft of The Bookworm Turns! It contains some concepts seen in the broadcast version that may ring a bell, but there’s no Big Benjamin bell in this script! Join us on Patreon to hear about Rik Vollearts’ early shot at Bookworm and follow along with a PDF of the script at patreon dot com slash decon comics. Part one is available now!
May 16, 2025•2 min•Ep. 10
At last, we're back! This time we talk about a couple fantastic YouTube comments we received from people with close connections to two Bat-regulars, Stafford Repp and Madge Blake! Join us on Patreon for $2 a month to hear their revelations!
May 06, 2025•2 min•Ep. 9
We’re back for a look at the first two draft scripts for The Joker Trumps an Ace/Batman Sets the Pace . As usual, scripts bring to light connections that the filmed episode didn’t quite make, lines we never heard clearly, abandoned bat-turns and wardrobe business, an absent moll, and much more. PLUS: we experience one of the better “surf rock” versions of the theme, read mail from listeners, and hear Adam West in 2014 discussing the newly-released Batman DVDs and BluRays ! Read the scripts here ...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 221
For our final BAT BITS of the year, we return, after a two-year hiatus, to the BATMAN ’66 comics series, digging into issue 12. It’s certainly not the greatest issue of the series, but in its faults, it helps us identify aspects of how the TV show works. Listen for a clip from the show!
Dec 23, 2024•3 min•Ep. 8
The New Adventures of Batman , Filmation ’s second Batman cartoon series, premiered February 12, 1977 on CBS. Tim and Paul, then 11 and 8 respectively, were thrilled at the idea of Adam West and Burt Ward voicing the Duo, but not so thrilled at the addition of Bat Mite to the cast. But… were we wrong about Bat Mite ? This time we discuss this question, and the whole 16-episode series, with BAT 77 host J.B. Anderton ! Plus, Burt Ward as Robin in 1976, the Japanese theme for this cartoon, and we r...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 220
Holy continuation! In the latest edition of Bat Bits, we attempt to come up with some guidelines for what makes a good “holy”. Also: Just because a holy was used on Batman 66, does that make it a “good” one? Join us on Patron for at least $2 a month to hear Bat Bits, as well as ad-free versions of future TO THE BATPOLES episodes! Go to Patreon dot com slash decon comics! Also in this promo, an announcement concerning TO THE BATPOLES!
Nov 17, 2024•45 sec
Holy exclamation! On Batman 66 , Robin used a lot of Holys . We have a sense of what formulations of holys work best, but can we put those formulations into words? Why do some holys from other sources, such as the 1966 album Jan and Dean meet Batman make us say “holy wrong note”? In this first installment of a two-part edition of “Bat Bits”, we analyze some of the holys from that record. Which ones work, and which don’t? Holy idiomatic expression! Support us on Patreon now!...
Nov 10, 2024•57 sec
JOIN US ON PATREON to hear BAT BITS, morsels we find as we research the show for our book! Why was the world premiere of Batman, the Movie held in Austin, Texas? And just what went on at (and around) this July 30, 1966, event? This time, a deep dive on the movie premiere!
Oct 17, 2024•44 sec
On the latest BAT BITS podcast, we discuss another anti-Batman article from 1966! Is it possible to hate Batman comics, but think they're great compared to the TV show??
Oct 06, 2024•1 min
A 1966 article by journalist Paul Molloy takes down NY Congressman Frank Horton for praising "Batman" for its heroes "heroic power for good", saying it was inspirational and a good message for kids. Molloy, on the other hand, sees the GCPD's reliance on Batman as swipe at all police. Do either one of these guys really understand the show!? Tim and Paul discuss the article, kindly provided by the Message Board's "Mr. Glee". Available only on Patreon !...
Sep 19, 2024•44 sec
Famously, Burt Ward has said that, in the episode BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, he was placed above a pit of tigers, with meat hanging above him that encouraged the tigers to jump. Meanwhile, in THE OFFICIAL BATMAN BATBOOK, Joel Eisner says there were no live tigers, just a clip from an old movie. Who's right? The answer may surprise you! Scott Sebring has shared his interesting research on this topic with us, and we share it in this episode - available only on Patreon !...
Sep 05, 2024•39 sec
The first episode of our book-writing-hiatus Patreon podcast is now live! We discuss memos among the Greenway and Fox teams about Adam West's chronic lateness on the set, and answer the question: How is Bill Clinton separated by three degrees from Batman '66?? Support us for two dollars a month and get BAT BITS every two weeks!
Aug 22, 2024•2 min
All the supporting players on Batman had many years of acting experience — considerably more than the stars of the show did! That also goes for Stafford Repp , playing stereotypical Irish cop Chief O’Hara. But what was his background? When did he get into acting? What are some of his other roles, pre- and post- Batman ? This time we take a closer look at Repp. Also: Bat-Audio of Adam and Burt on Entertainment Tonight in 1987, your response to several recent episodes, and a special announcement! ...
Jul 18, 2024•57 min•Ep. 219
Sorry! We're going to have to delay the next episode by a week or two.
Jun 20, 2024•38 sec
Six months after Batman ’s final broadcast on ABC, CBS premiered The Adventures of Batman , the character’s first animated show, produced by Filmation . While the look of the show is totally divorced from the Adam West version, relying mainly on the comics, the influence of the live action show can definitely be felt in the writing; just ask “millionaire Bruce Wayne” at “Stately Wayne Manor.” This is a show we never saw as kids, or really at all until now, so this time we take a look at the cart...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 218
There have been many Batman cast reunions on talk shows over the years, particularly as the 1989 Batman movie’s release approached. Previously we talked about the 1988 reunion on The Late Show with Ross Shafer , an overbooked, poorly stage-managed affair. This time we look at another reunion in 1988, on The Wil Shriner show . Shriner’s show kept the number of guests to a manageable number, and Shriner was more knowledgeable about the show than Shafer, making this reunion about the best you could...
May 09, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 217
The Clock King’s Crazy Crimes / The Clock King Gets Crowned is the one Batman ’66 arc written by Bill Finger , now credited as a co-creator of the character, and Charles Sinclair. Unsurprisingly, the first draft of the script reveals a writer not well versed in the rules of Hollywood, such as that an actor who says one word on screen is more expensive than one in a non-speaking role. This time we look at the first draft , final , and revised final scripts of the Clock King story, finding bits th...
Apr 11, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 216
One of the most striking things — in a good way, for once! — about Batman ’s third season is the number of villains who are women. Also, of course, this is the season of Batgirl , who is more aggressively “feminized” than any other woman on the show, perhaps because she’s doing “a man’s job.” This time we begin a look at how the show presents women in season three by looking at the season's first five episodes, and we’re joined again by novelist Nancy Northcott . PLUS: What if King Crimson perfo...
Mar 14, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 215
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 ...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 214
This time we look at the other sitcom that tried to cash in on Batman , CBS’s Mr. Terrific . It’s goofier than Captain Nice and not as funny (although the laugh track clearly doesn’t think that!), but with a surprisingly good cast. We discuss the unaired pilot, and the first 8 episodes of the 17-episode series, which is quite different from the pilot, with an utterly different cast and different situation for Mr. T’s alter ego, Stanley Beamish . Plus: Max Diaz Music ’s “punk” version of the them...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 213
When Batman hit in early 1966, it set a trend of superheroes in pop culture that many rushed to emulate. By the time many of these bat-mimics were ready for public consumption, the trend was on its way out. One such wave-rider was Captain Nice , created by Buck Henry , and repeating some gags from Henry’s hit Get Smart . While Captain Nice brought some really funny moments, it failed to catch on with audiences. Was this simply because the bat-bubble had burst? Or was it that Henry wasn’t the rig...
Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 212
On April 28, 1988, the then-fledgling Fox Network ’s The Late Show with Ross Shafer hosted a Batman reunion. However, due to poor time management and a second-rate host, among other problems, the reunion can be a bit of a tough watch - especially the way Alan Napier was shortchanged on airtime at the end as he and Shafer struggled to communicate with each other. Video of the episode, unavailable when we looked for it years ago, surfaced last year, and this time we discuss the problems as well as...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 211
We conclude our look at Ellis St. Joseph ’s original Sandman script with the sleepwalker-filled second part of the arc, originally titled “A Stitch in Time.” We discuss our impressions of the script, the episode we got instead, and which one we might have preferred. We also share more impressions of the script from the denizens of the ’66 Batman message board, and listen to the world’s most enthusiastic kid, “The Colour Boo” , sing a mostly original song about the Caped Crusader . The Sandman Co...
Nov 23, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 210
Midway through Season Two, Julie Newmar appeared along with Michael Rennie as guest villains Catwoman and Sandman in The Sandman Cometh . But originally, this script by Ellis St. Joseph featured only the Sandman, with Robert Morely picked to play the role. This time, we get into how the teamup came about as we begin a look at St. Joseph’s original draft script. Also, Below the Staff Music takes a stab at a jazz version of Hefti’s Batman theme, Adam West and Burt Ward cameo on the SImpsons, and w...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 209
Even after Batman made ABC’s “second season” schedule, to start in January 1966, there was still concern about how audiences would react. Will they get the joke? Should a laugh track be used? In a memo dated January 14, 1966 - the day after the second episode, Smack in the Middle , was first broadcast — Joseph Schrier , Director of Program Development at ABC, reports on audience testing on the pilot . While some adults got the joke, others weren’t quite sure if the show was meant to be funny. Au...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 208
What will we cover in our next episode? Also, what will be the topic of the next patrons-only podcast? Listen to hear how you can help to decide the answer to the latter question, and to hear the answer to the former!
Sep 23, 2023•2 min
In television, a show’s “bible” is a collection of the rules for the world of a particular show, to keep writers on track with their scripts. The makeshift bible that Lorenzo Semple, Jr., wrote for Batman is lost to history, but what might have been in it? What are the rules that we can see the show following? Tim has compiled some and presents them here — and asks for your suggestions. In a recent Bat Inbox, we discussed some comments writer Buck Henry made about Batman and camp shortly after t...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 207
