Does the Adam West Batman show still air?

[volrath50]

I have no idea what bat-channel it was on, but as a kid (5-8 or so) I used to watch the old Adam West Batman show religiously. That, along with X-Men TAS are what got me into comics. I'm only 22, so I sure as heck wasn't watching it in its original run, but I know that it was still being played regularly in the '90s. I haven't watched TV much for around a decade, so I have no idea what airs anymore. Just wondering if anyone knows if any channel still plays it. It would make me sad if a generation of kids grew up without knowing the awesomeness of Adam West.

On that note, while the show/movie is hilarious in hindsight as an adult, I remember taking it completely seriously as a kid, which makes it even funnier these days. To this day I still have a tendency to read Bruce Wayne with Adam West's voice and Dick Grayson with Burt Ward's, even in serious books.

[Personamanx]

It does not air on any Channel I have.

[Spiffy]

Most stuff like this airs SOMEWHERE in the world.

I'd imagine these days it would be in the U.S. on something like "TV Land".

[volrath50]

Originally Posted by Spiffy

Most stuff like this airs SOMEWHERE in the world.

I'd imagine these days it would be in the U.S. on something like "TV Land".

TV Land, is that a specialty channel or something? Blah, back in the '90s I remember it being played on a normal channel, I think. Was this usual or was I somehow picking up a broadcast from the 1960s or something? I can't remember because I was like 5 at the time, heh.

[Anodyne]

My only suggestion is, check your local TV listings, if you haven't already done so. Some channels specialize in nostalgia; maybe one of them carries it. Or see if your local public library has the DVDs or videos. The Batman TV show originally aired on ABC.

[Spiffy]

Originally Posted by Anodyne

Or see if your local public library has the DVDs or videos.

No videos. Ever. They don't exist. Not in ANY legal form. No DVD. No Laserdisk. No VHS or Beta. NOTHING.

Only the lame 60's "Theatrical Movie" is available

I was in fact, looking to see if Hulu has it, and no dice. And Netflix has ALL the other superhero shows easily avaialable (even streamable) , but of course with no DVD...

There are apparently TONS of theories about why there's no video release. Everything from "DC doesn't want to confuse the current consumers with cheese" to "20th Century Fox and Warners need to come to some kind of agreement and never will".

[AJM]

BBC4 in the UK were very recently screening the whole lot with two episodes per night. If you really want to find them online, i'm sure you can if you put the effort in. It might not be entirely legal, but until they sort out the copyright issue it's the only way to get them. I also found the Batgirl pilot episode online once, that was pretty cool too.

[WorstThingUS]

Originally Posted by Spiffy

No videos. Ever. They don't exist. Not in ANY legal form. No DVD. No Laserdisk. No VHS or Beta. NOTHING.

Only the lame 60's "Theatrical Movie" is available

I was in fact, looking to see if Hulu has it, and no dice. And Netflix has ALL the other superhero shows easily avaialable (even streamable) , but of course with no DVD...

There are apparently TONS of theories about why there's no video release. Everything from "DC doesn't want to confuse the current consumers with cheese" to "20th Century Fox and Warners need to come to some kind of agreement and never will".

I worked in video for years and it's just that. Our company was going to put them out, but both Fox and Warners insisted the other had the rights and then when one claims the rights the other says, "No you don't!". There's a neverending battle over who owns what and it's sad because every year someone from the great cast of villains dies off so you lose a chance to interview them for DVD extras. There was talk just last year that it was finally going to happen and that rights to it were actually part of the Watchmen lawsuit. But since then, nothing.

[Burt Ward]

I wish they'd get off their arses and release this. They play it on pay TV but I don't have that.

I once saw a re-edit on youtube with different music, they showed only tense scenes and made it look like a modern trailer for a creepy movie.

[Hullababy]

Its really a shame that this show isn't available on dvd. As a kid when I first saw this, I thought this is how the definitive live action Batman was supposed to be like.

[The Fifth Horseman]

hey there batman 60's show has been broadcasted on bbc4 for about 2 years rescently. as for x men im sure thats probably broadcasted on fox kids or some sky childrens channel

i take it volrath that you are from the UK. i am too and am roughly your age. and i can tell you that when we were young batman (60's) was broadcast on channel 4 in the mornings on a saturday i believe. as for x men this was broadcast on CBBC the kids show that played lots of kids programmes everyday at about 3.30 pm on BBC 1.

[derekw13029]

Try www.alluc.org That site rocks for most streaming digital media, but they don't have many things that haven't been ripped from dvd...

[Lorendiac]

Originally Posted by WorstThingUS

I worked in video for years and it's just that. Our company was going to put them out, but both Fox and Warners insisted the other had the rights and then when one claims the rights the other says, "No you don't!". There's a neverending battle over who owns what and it's sad because every year someone from the great cast of villains dies off so you lose a chance to interview them for DVD extras. There was talk just last year that it was finally going to happen and that rights to it were actually part of the Watchmen lawsuit. But since then, nothing.

Didn't I read that something similar was why no Spider-Man movie ever got made in the 1990s?

"My studio holds an option on the rights to make a Spider-Man movie."

"No, my studio does -- your old option must have expired by now!"

"No, we at Marvel say that all you guys's options have expired and now we can start over from scratch by making a new deal with someone else!"

"Hey, don't forget my company doesn't have the right to make the movie, but it does have a contract guaranteeing we get first dibs on distribution of home video copies of the movie, if the movie ever gets made!"

And so forth.

It wasn't that Marvel couldn't find experienced Hollywood people willing to take a chance on making the movie and seeing if it was a blockbuster hit -- it was that over the years, Marvel had found and made possibly-contradictory deals with too many such people who all wanted a piece of the action!

All that must have finally been resolved somehow, but I hear we could have had our very first big-screen Spider-Man movie a heck of a lot sooner than 2002 if there hadn't been such a tangled web of "rights" and "options" and so forth?

[The Joker]

I haven't seen the show aired in quite a while.

Back when Batman 1989 was making it's theatrical rounds, I vividly remember watching back-to-back episodes all the time on The Family Channel from 6pm to 7. Eventually, after Batman 1989 was released on VHS and the Bat-Mania craze died down, the show disappeared. Then in 1994, when FX was in it's infancy, the Batman Adam West show returned! But also with The Green Hornet, Wonder Woman, and the Greatest American Hero. All four of these shows regularly aired in the afternoon on weekdays if I am not mistaken.

FX carried the show for quite a while. Running marathons on the 4th of July, much like Sci Fi Channel's (or what is it called now? SyFy? Or some bullshit like that) 4th of July Twilight Zone marathons. But shortly after 1997, the year Batman and Robin came out, the show slowly disappeared from the FX station.

The Adam West Batman show resurfaced on TV Land, much like how the George Reeves Superman tv show resurfaced in 2000, but that's honestly the last time I recall seeing the show on tv. And that's been a few years back.

[Sean Walsh]

Originally Posted by Spiffy

There are apparently TONS of theories about why there's no video release. Everything from "DC doesn't want to confuse the current consumers with cheese" to "20th Century Fox and Warners need to come to some kind of agreement and never will".

Tons? It was my understanding that the sole reason was "Fox owns the show, WB owns Batman, neither can release DVDs (and make money off it) without the other's permission, no one's budging."

There was rumoring around the time the Fox vs. WB fiasco regarding the WATCHMEN movie came up that resolving the Batman TV series mess could've been a bartering tool to clear this newer hurdle - namely: let Fox release the Batman TV DVDs - but alas, they just split WATCHMEN's box office (which was good but coulda been better).