"[1] In the series, Benton Harbor, a shoe salesman at a large downtown Midland City department store, spends his weekends striking terrific terror into the hearts of criminals everywhere as that fantastic feathered fighter, Chickenman.
[2] Each episode begins with an overly-dramatic theme, a four-note trumpet sound echoed with Benton Harbor's "Buck-buck-buck-buuuuuck" chicken call, which is followed by a rousing cry of "Chicken-mannnn!"
WCFL's Program Director, Ken Draper, was inspired by the success of the Batman TV show, and asked Orkin to put together a two-and-a-half-minute comedy feature with a similarly "camp" sensibility.
[4] In a 1996 article, Orkin explained, "I was never clear about what 'camp' meant, except that I guess it had something to do with the sacredness of absolute values that, when extended to irrational limits, became just plain silly...
"[6] The female characters on the show were performed by Jane Roberts, a Chicago theater actress who worked at WCFL as the traffic reporter.
"[4] Chickenman's rogues gallery includes the Choker, the Hummer, the Chicken-Plucker, the Dog Lady, Big Clyde Crushman, the Bear Lady, the Very Diabolical [sic], Rodney Farber (a childhood playmate who never forgave Benton Harbor for breaking his red wagon one Christmas Day), and the Couple From SHTICK (Secret Henchmen To Injure Crime Killers).
"[7][8] Chickenman roams Midland City seeking criminals in his yellow crime-fighting car, appropriately known as the Chicken Coupe.
[9] As the popularity of the show grew, Orkin created a production company: "I only intended the Chickenman series to run for a period of two weeks — but obviously it lasted much longer — it went on for four or five months.
"[4] In 1967, during a break in the production of Chickenman, Orkin produced the series Amazon Ace, an action hero who was a cross between Tarzan and the Lone Ranger, accompanied by his faithful Indian companion Bernard.
The "Wonderful White-Winged Warrior" feels that time had passed him by and he decides to open a crime-fighting school to carry on his crusade.
In "Chickenman Challenges a Fate Named Frank," Benton Harbor realizes that he's getting older, and goes to the doctor, who tells him that his cholesterol is high and he should stop being a crime-fighting superhero.
Chickenman goes to an employment agency, but all of the available jobs are even more physically strenuous than fighting crime, except for a napkin-folder in a nouveau Italian-Chinese restaurant.
[citation needed] In 1992, the Museum of Television & Radio (now The Paley Center for Media) acquired the complete collection of Chickenman episodes for their archive.
The set includes the original 1966 episodes and the 1973 Chickenman vs the Earth Polluters series, along with station promos and two CDs of behind-the-scenes interviews with Orkin and sound engineer Mike King.