Batman (TV series)/Trivia


 * Acting for Two: Liberace (yes, Liberace) once played both an Expy of himself as well as his own Evil Twin brother.
 * Awesome, Dear Boy: The reason several of the guest-stars took the gig as villains. Victor Buono as King Tut is the best example: he was a huge (no pun intended) fan of the comics, and was so into the series he made more appearances than any other guest-star outside of Newmar, Romero, Meredith, and Gorshin.
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: Sort of. Robin's infamous "Holy [relevant phrase]!" Catch Phrase was used constantly, but he usually didn't end it with "Batman!". He did occasionally, but not nearly as much as the phrase's popularity would make one think he did.
 * Dawson Casting: Burt Ward was twenty, married, and had a kid on the way when he took the role of fifteen-ish Robin.
 * Descended Creator: William Dozier, to Lemony Narrator.
 * Writer Stanley Ralph Ross appears uncredited and with no lines in "The Bird's Last Jest" as Ballpoint Baxter.
 * Executive Meddling: After Julie Newmar was replaced by African-American actress Eartha Kitt, all of Batman's Unresolved Sexual Tension with Catwoman was shifted to Batgirl. This was the 1960s after all...
 * Fake Brit: Lord Ffogg was played by Rudy Vallee, an American born in Vermont.
 * The Other Darrin: Julie Newmar was replaced by Lee Meriwether as Catwoman for The Movie, and then by Eartha Kitt for the final season.
 * Also with the Riddler, who was replaced by John Astin for his penultimate appearance after a dispute between the producers and Frank Gorshin.
 * Mr. Freeze had it the worst however, as he had a different actor every time he appeared; George Sanders played him in his first appearance, Otto Preminger played him the second time, and Eli Wallach was the third and final actor in the role.
 * Real Life Relative: Shame's fiancee in "The Great Escape"/"The Great Train Robbery" was played by Cliff Robertson's then-wife, actress Dina Merill.
 * Recursive Adaptation: 2013's Batman '66 comic book series is an adaptation of this series, which of course was itself an adaptation of the Batman comics that had been printed up to that time.
 * Recycled Set: Superintendent Watson's office at "Ireland Yard" in the "Londinium" three-parter is an obvious redress of Commissioner Gordon's office set. So obvious that Gordon lampshades the similarity, noting that due to the similar demands of police work worldwide, all police commissioners' offices are essentially the same!
 * Short-Lived, Big Impact: This show pretty much defined the Caped Crusader in the public eye for decades (and seemingly permanently in Japan), but the TV show itself only ran for two years. Additionally, Na Na Na Na Batman is the most well-known Batman theme song (yes, even more so than the Danny Elfman theme of the Burton films).
 * Throw It In: Burgess Meredith made up The Penguin's squawking laughter to mask the cough smoking gave him.
 * Uncanceled/Channel Hop: Aversion. After ABC canceled the show, NBC offered to pick it up for a fourth season if the studio sets were still available. However, by that time all the sets had been demolished and NBC didn't want to pay to have them rebuilt, so they withdrew their offer.
 * What Could Have Been: Imagine Clint Eastwood playing Harvey "Two Face" Dent. Yeah. Damn Executive Meddling!