“Holy 5:30 in the morning, Batman!”

It was campy and it was goofy and it was WAY over the top.  But I loved every episode of it.

Yep.  I’m talking about the 1960’s Batman TV series.

This isn’t the Batman that today’s generation enjoys – the one in the Christopher Nolan-directed motion pictures. It’s not even the one from the Tim Burton films of the 1990’s. No, this was a Batman that borrowed heavily from the pop culture of the 1960’s, as well as from the Saturday morning movie cliffhanger serials. Yeah, the Batmobile in this show probably got about 15 gallons to the mile, and the police force in Gotham City couldn’t pull a cat from a tree, let alone stop a cadre of costumed criminal crazies… but I didn’t care.

The show was formulaic – criminal terrorizes Gotham City with bank robberies or kidnappings (it’s always bank robberies or kidnappings, nobody ever got murdered in Gotham City), and Commissioner Gordon calls Batman. Batman and Robin spend the first half-hour trying to deduce the crime and the criminal, they find the criminal and his henchmen, there’s a fight, Batman and Robin get subdued, they’re put in a device that will either kill them slowly or kill them quickly – and then we go to the second part of the episode. By then, Batman and Robin have escaped their traps, they continue on their way to capturing the villain, and after the villain is subdued (with a series of “Pow!” “Bam!” “Biff!” comic-book graphics), the show ends. And that was fine by me.

Batman wasn’t on television for very long – 120 episodes spanning 2 1/2 seasons. The show was immensely popular in its initial run, but the show’s popularity completely drained out as quickly as it arrived. It survived for decades in syndication – I used to watch it on WRGB at 4pm every weekday morning.

A couple of months ago, I was battling some wretched bout of insomnia, and decided to play a game of “spin the dial.” “Spin the dial” on my television system meant starting at one TV channel and going click-click-click through all the infomercials to find something worth watching.

And then I saw it. Holy crossover television, Batman! The digital channel “The Hub” was showing Batman episodes at 5:30 in the morning! And not only was it an episode of Batman, it was the episode which featured a crossover from ABC’s other superhero drama at the time, The Green Hornet – featuring martial arts legend Bruce Lee as Kato!

Mexican standoff, my eye. Kato would have kicked Robin’s rear end all the way from Gotham City to Metropolis and back.

I later found out that Batman was also airing on Saturday evenings on the Me TV channel, and Saturday evening is a more, shall we say, “civiilized” time to watch superhero shows.

Now if you’re wondering, “Gee, Chuck, the best you can do is watch these shows at 5:30 in the morning? Aren’t they going to come out on DVD or on iTunes or something?”

See, that’s the strange thing. There’s so many different licensing issues regarding this TV series, that it’s possible this show may NEVER get released on DVD. So really, all we can enjoy from the show is syndication reruns on fringe channels and the occasional YouTube clip.

In fact… if you’ve got an hour and want to watch a Batman two-part episode… let me help you out. The clips below feature a two-parter from the first season, in which Batman and Robin battle guest villain the Joker, as played by Cesar Romero. Yeah, Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson played the Joker with equal amounts of cunning and craziness, but come on, how cool is it to see Cesar Romero in clown makeup and green hair, hamming it up as he battles the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder?

And what about the coolest car on television?  Okay, it’s not Speed Racer’s Mach V, but if you’ve got a Lincoln Futura concept car somewhere, you can custom-build your own street-legal Batmobile.  Or you can go to fiberglassfreaks.com and pick up a custom-built 1966 Batmobile for cruising down Central Avenue and pit-stopping at Kurver Kreme.  Holy Boston Shake, Batman!

Such is the joy of finding a program from my childhood and watching it once again.  Even if it means getting up at the godawful hour of 5:30 in the morning.  Oh well… it’s not like I’ve never gotten up at 5:30 in the morning before.

When do you think most of my blog posts are written?  At dinnertime?