It stars Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin—two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City from a variety of archvillains.

Although the lives of their alter-egos, millionaire Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson are frequently shown, it is usually only briefly, in the context of their being called away on superhero business or in circumstances where they need to employ their public identities to assist in their crime-fighting.

The "Dynamic Duo" typically comes to the aid of the Gotham City Police Department upon the latter being stumped by a supervillain, who is usually accompanied in their appearances by several henchmen and, in the case of male villains, an attractive female companion.

According to Adam West's memoir Back to the Batcave, his first exposure to the series concept was through reading a sample script in which Batman enters a nightclub in his complete costume and requests a booth near the wall, as he "shouldn't wish to attract attention".

The scrupulously formal dialogue and the way that Batman earnestly believed he could avoid standing out while wearing a skintight blue-and-grey costume convinced West of the character's comic potential.

The trendy event received much notice in the press, prompting Columbia to offer the unedited serial to theaters in 1965 as An Evening with Batman and Robin in one long, marathon showing.

[notes 1] Aunt Harriet was reduced to just two cameo appearances during the third season due to Madge Blake's poor health and the issue of trying to fit so many characters (Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara, and a guest villain) into a half-hour episode.

In the United States, Kitt's performance in the series marked the second mainstream television success of a black female, following Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in Star Trek and continued breaking the racial boundaries of the time.

Frank Gorshin, the original actor to play the Riddler, returned after a one-season hiatus, during which John Astin made one appearance in the role.

The series used a narrator (executive producer William Dozier, uncredited) who would end the cliffhanger episodes by intoning, "Tune in tomorrow – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!"

A typical story begins with a villain's nefarious caper (stealing a fabulous treasure, kidnapping a prominent person, attempting to take over Gotham City, etc.).

At police headquarters, Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara deduce the villain's identity, admit they're outclassed, and gaze reverently at the Batphone.

Burgess Meredith recorded a spoken-word single called "The Escape" backed with "The Capture", which consisted of the Penguin narrating his recent crime spree to a jazz beat.

In 1966, Batman: The Exclusive Original Soundtrack Album was released on LP, featuring music by Nelson Riddle and snippets of dialogue from Adam West, Burt Ward, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Anne Baxter (as Zelda the Great) and George Sanders (the first Mr.

In 2004, Image Entertainment released Holy Batmania, a two-DVD set that included documentaries on the making of the series, as well as rare footage such as the original screen tests of the cast and Lyle Waggoner.

[29] In 2013, PBS aired an episode of Pioneers of Television called "Superheroes" that featured interviews with Adam West and Burt Ward, and talked about the 1960s TV series.

Warner Bros. released the full 120-episode Batman collection on Blu-ray and DVD on November 11, 2014 (under license from 20th Century Fox) with a variety of extras including a miniature Batmobile, a 32-page episode guide, and a 32-page hardcover book titled The Adam West Scrapbook.

[32] Additionally, the first season received an approval rating of 50%, based on twenty-two reviews, its consensus reads: "Holy mixed reception, Batman!

""[34] Television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz ranked Batman as the 82nd greatest American television show of all time in their 2016 book titled TV (The Book), stating that "West's performance, the brilliance of which has required decades to be properly recognized, played as if series creator William Dozier and chief developer Lorenzo Semple Jr., had taken the establishment's fantasy of itself and dolled it up in tights and a cape.

The anarchic gangs of supervillains and henchmen that kept trying to capture or destroy Gotham City stood in for the forces of chaos that kept threatening to engulf so-called civilized America throughout the sixties, only made colorfully grotesque and knowingly silly".

The 7th issue of Solo featured a short adventure titled Batman A-Go-Go!, which was created by writer/artist Mike Allred as a tribute to the 1960s TV series.

They are The Mis-Adventures of Adam West, The Secret Lives of Julie Newmar, and Burt Ward, Boy Wonder and are similar in tone to the TV series.

[57] Later that same season, the Green Hornet and Kato appeared in the two-part second-season episodes A Piece of the Action and Batman's Satisfaction, aired on March 1–2, 1967.

In the two episodes, the Green Hornet and Kato are in Gotham City to bust a counterfeit stamp ring run by Colonel Gumm (portrayed by Roger C.

In the December 9, 1966 Green Hornet episode "The Secret of the Sally Bell", the Batmobile can be seen revolving on its turntable floor in the Batcave on a "bad guy's" TV set.

The Arrowverse crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" features a cameo appearance from Burt Ward as an older Dick Grayson/Robin, wearing a red sweater with a yellow and green trim while walking a dog.

One of the most desired collectibles involves the episodes introducing Catwoman ("The Purr-fect Crime"/"Better Luck Next Time"), which were the subject of a View-Master reel & booklet set in 1966 (Sawyers Packet # B492).

While the series was first run on ABC, packet cover indicia reflected the "Bat Craze" cultural phenomenon by referring to the booklet as a Batbooklet, Dynamically Illustrated.

The TV series' popularity has continued several decades after its debut; toy company Mattel has made the 1966 Batmobile in various scales for the Hot Wheels product line.

In this episode, West provided the voice of an aging star of a superhero television series Bruce Wayne had watched as a child, from which he later found inspiration.