Did the 60s television series Batman seem as ridiculous to the contemporary viewer as it does today?

by emzeekayii

Were scenes like this one from the movie as preposterous to the average 60s viewer as they are today? My gut tells me this was primarily marketed towards children. Am I wrong? Also, if this is the wrong subreddit to ask this question, please let me know.

datawaslost

I think Josh Ozersky explains it best in "Archie Bunker's America: TV in an Era of Change, 1968-1978":

http://books.google.com/books?id=mmrpeqFsthwC&lpg=PA32&ots=QUBFAEAipm&dq=batman&pg=PA30#v=onepage&q&f=false

Basically, the 60s Batman is supposed to be funny, but a sort of tongue-in-cheek humor that plays against the predictable superhero/crime stories that came before it. The Man from UNCLE and I Spy had a similar tone, but not quite as ridiculous and campy. The over-the-top voiceovers would have been perceived as old-fashioned and funny at the time, like out of a 40s radio serial - a distinction that isn't so clear in 2014.

It primarily marketed towards children, but like Animaniacs or Powerpuff Girls, it included pop-culture references that were obviously targeted towards an adult audience as well. Here's a good example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d85gkOXeXG4

atticdoor

In the 40s, there were a couple of Batman film serials which were played straight, but they looked comically out-of-date by the 60s but became newly popular for that very reason. This inspired the 60s series, which went deliberately over-the-top since the 40s formula seemed to work. This is particular evident in the voiceover "Same bat-time, same bat-channel", just as film serials try to encourage the viewer to come back to the cinema for the next episode.