Where did Adam West Batman come from?

[Duke Psychology]

i mean how did The Dark Knight, gritty and serious, become the ultimate cheese? can i get a history of this show and why the creators treated him like they did during that era? It's just such a weird contrast between 1930s original Batman -> 1960s cheese Batman -> 90s DCAU Batman we know today.

[Mynd Hed]

I don't know for sure, but my guess is that it went like this at the pitch meeting:

Pitcher: Sir, we want to do a cheesy, goofy superhero show. We've spoken to the folks at DC Comics and they agreed to let us use one of their serious characters and turn him into a lame mockery of his former self. Since Superman's already been done on TV, we were thinking Green Lantern, or maybe Aquaman since he's already really lame.
Pitchee: What will it cost?
Pitcher: A hillion gajillion dollars, because those characters have superpowers and would require a lot of special effects.
Pitchee: Ugh. No way. Isn't there a DC Comics superhero with no superpowers who we could do without any special effects to speak of on a really cheap budget?
Pitcher: Well, sir... there's Batman, I guess, but he's very dark and tortured with no comic relief to speak of and wouldn't fit the show at all, and beyond that he's the coolest superhero in the history of the world and we'd hate to ruin him for all the loyal fans out there.
Pitchee: But what would it cost?
Pitcher: Very little.
Pitchee: It's Batman. You're doing Batman.
Pitcher: But sir--
Pitchee: SILENCE, plebian! Batman it is.

(-:

[Russkafin]

The thing most people don't realize is, the Batman comics were already fairly goofy in the era leading up to the creation of the TV show, and had already taken on a fairly campy feel... the "darker" image of the brooding dark knight that Kane envisioned started to slip away as soon as Robin was introduced. The TV series just took the ball and ran with it, taking what had become a more light-hearted take on the caped crusader and making it more so.

[Calhoun07]

I blame all the drugs those TV execs were taking in the 60s.

[Damien]

Batman with a smile was brought into comics mostly because of protesting against comic book violence. The appearance of Batman's teeth and wit just about coincided with, as Russkafin said, the addition of Robin.
When the show was made, that was the Batman that the public knew, so naturally that's the Batman portrayed in the show. Throw in some POWS and ZINGS, a psycadelic dance or two, and BAM! You've got an instant cult classic.

[Terminatah]

Another thing about the Adam West Batman is that it was satirical. They exaggerated the comic book imagery, the over-the-top villains, and Batman's squeaky-clean persona to an intentionally absurd degree, which makes it a much more worthy show than it would've been had they taken this inappropriately light tone and just played down to kids. Good show.

-Terminatah

[Jedigreedo]

Batgirl actually wasn't too shabby when she was introduced, usually she had alot of good real Batmanesque stuff about her. I'm glad BTAS never turned out like that series... Yeah it's funny and all, but can you imagine where we'd be if BTAS had been made more light-heartedly?

[Enrique]

The thing most people don't realize is, the Batman comics were already fairly goofy in the era leading up to the creation of the TV show, and had already taken on a fairly campy feel... the "darker" image of the brooding dark knight that Kane envisioned started to slip away as soon as Robin was introduced. The TV series just took the ball and ran with it, taking what had become a more light-hearted take on the caped crusader and making it more so.

hmmm... it's my understand that it's the exact opposite... that the comics are actually the ones that turned camp in order to take advantage of the fans of the TV show, most of whom had not read the comics (much like how today's people watch the batman movies and cartoons without reading the comics).

[Simpler Simon]

hmmm... it's my understand that it's the exact opposite... that the comics are actually the ones that turned camp in order to take advantage of the fans of the TV show, most of whom had not read the comics (much like how today's people watch the batman movies and cartoons without reading the comics).

I think the comics had taken the campy route at least a decade before the TV series was introduced. I certainly don't picture the 50's to be a very dark time for Batman.

[BeyondGotham]

The 50's is when we first see Batwoman, Bat-Girl, Batmite and all the aliens and dinosaurs that they faced...

[finster]

'Batman' (1966) is the most faithful live-action adaptation of the character ever produced. Many episodes, such as 'The Joker Is Wild' (Joker's utility belt) were adapted directly from the comics. The show also revived long forgotten villains such as The Riddler.
Bob Kane loved it.
Bill Finger even wrote a couple of episodes.

To understand the series, it is not only helpful to take a look at the Batman comics from the early Sixties (when Bats was battling creatures from Planet X, dealing with Bat-Mite, and being turned into 'Bat-Baby'), but to learn something about the larger culture. Check out the Pop Art movement- particularly the work of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol- and read Susan Sontag's 'Notes on Camp'.

A serious adaptation of the character in the mid-sixties would not have worked.
Although Batman comics before the series premiere sold many times what the books do today, and after the premiere more than a million comics per issue, comic books were considered to be juvenile entertainment.
The series- or at least the brilliant first season- may be the finest example of 'dual address' in the history of entertainment. It played as larger-than-life action-adventure to children and as hip comedy to adults.
In 1966 it was the coolest thing on television. Warhol even threw a party in New York to celebrate the premiere.