AaronHandy3
03-14-2006, 09:03 AM
The end of an era occurred 38 years ago today.
"Minerva, Mayhem And Millionaires" (prod. #1726) first aired at 7:30 p.m. (EST) on ABC as the 120th and final episode of Batman. :( : rip:
The short-lived ABC sitcom The Second Hundred Years occupied Batman's former 7:30 Thursday night slot the following week and stayed there for the remainder of the 1967-68 season, so you notice that Batman didn't go into reruns that summer! In other words, The Caped Crusader disappeared from the airwaves just as quickly as he arrived. :confused:
After the show was canceled by ABC-TV, NBC showed a great interest in purchasing the show! Tragically, some network exec. at ABC, in a effort to get valuable space on the studio lot had the whole set demolished, forcing NBC, not willing to invest in the great cost to rebuild the set ($800,000!!!), to decline. The role of Minerva was originally intended for Mae West, who at the time was being groomed for the role of Leticia Van Allen in the 1970 20th Century-Fox release Myra Beckinridge.
The Dynamic Duo would later reappear on network TV as animated characters on CBS Saturday Morning in the fall of 1968 (a full half-year after the end of the live-action series' run), as part of Filmation's The Batman-Superman Hour, which stressed action, and left the camp of the live-action TV series behind. (Adam West and Burt Ward later reteamed to voice their animated counterparts in Filmation's The New Adventures Of Batman, which first aired on CBS in 1977.) Interestingly, The Dynamic Duo's first appearance as animated characters were in the opening titles of the live-action Batman TV series!
But nevertheless, the series has maintained a huge cult status in the rerun circuit to this very day. :) (Even though it's been a couple of years since it last played here in The US of A! :mad: )
"Minerva, Mayhem And Millionaires" (prod. #1726) first aired at 7:30 p.m. (EST) on ABC as the 120th and final episode of Batman. :( : rip:
The short-lived ABC sitcom The Second Hundred Years occupied Batman's former 7:30 Thursday night slot the following week and stayed there for the remainder of the 1967-68 season, so you notice that Batman didn't go into reruns that summer! In other words, The Caped Crusader disappeared from the airwaves just as quickly as he arrived. :confused:
After the show was canceled by ABC-TV, NBC showed a great interest in purchasing the show! Tragically, some network exec. at ABC, in a effort to get valuable space on the studio lot had the whole set demolished, forcing NBC, not willing to invest in the great cost to rebuild the set ($800,000!!!), to decline. The role of Minerva was originally intended for Mae West, who at the time was being groomed for the role of Leticia Van Allen in the 1970 20th Century-Fox release Myra Beckinridge.
The Dynamic Duo would later reappear on network TV as animated characters on CBS Saturday Morning in the fall of 1968 (a full half-year after the end of the live-action series' run), as part of Filmation's The Batman-Superman Hour, which stressed action, and left the camp of the live-action TV series behind. (Adam West and Burt Ward later reteamed to voice their animated counterparts in Filmation's The New Adventures Of Batman, which first aired on CBS in 1977.) Interestingly, The Dynamic Duo's first appearance as animated characters were in the opening titles of the live-action Batman TV series!
But nevertheless, the series has maintained a huge cult status in the rerun circuit to this very day. :) (Even though it's been a couple of years since it last played here in The US of A! :mad: )