After three seasons and 120 broadcast episodes, the Adam West-starring Batman series ended, despite plans for a fourth season.
One of the programs that marked a before and after in the history of DC Comics is Batman, a series starring Adam West and Burt Ward, which was originally broadcast between January 12, 1966 and March 14, 1968. .
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With 120 episodes that were broadcast in three seasons, the series became at that time a faithful adaptation of the comic to television, added to the influence that it achieved, from its animated entrance, the background music and its photography.
However, every cycle has a beginning and an end, and the Batman series was no exception, so here we explain how this series came to an end.
Radical changes
After two seasons where the stories were told in two episodes, the show underwent a radical change in its narrative by telling its stories in a single development chapter, in addition to introducing Yvone Craig as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl.
Although the series was characterized by exaggerating the comedy around the stories of the Dark Knight, the third season made that path more evident by ridiculing the stories and the performances of the characters, which began to wear down the formula.
On March 14, 1968, the series aired the episode Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires, which would end with the third season, not knowing that this was the final episode of the series.
The end of an era
Given the drop in audiences after the third season, the executives of the ABC network presented a series of adjustments to be able to sign a fourth season, but these changes were radical.
ABC put on the table a reduction in the budget of the series, so the executives proposed removing Burt Ward as Robin from the program, something to which William Dozier, producer of the series, and Adam West, star, were adamantly opposed. .
Given the refusal to accept the conditions imposed by its executives, the ABC network canceled the Batman series, after 120 episodes and three seasons.
Why was there no fourth season of Batman?
After ABC’s refusal to continue with the Dark Knight series, NBC raised its hand to carry a fourth season of this program, so negotiations with the peacock channel began.
NBC proposed that the series be resumed with the same cast and crew, but it would not invest in new sets, so it would have to be filmed in the same studio and on the same sets, which brought a major problem to the program.
After confirming the cancellation of the series, those in charge of Greenway Production, a company that filmed Batman, dismantled the scenarios and all the material was thrown away.
Given the refusal to build new sets, NBC got up from the table and did not take the Batman series, which represented the definitive end of the series.
Despite this, it was not all bad news for this series, since in other parts of the world the program began to be an unprecedented success.
You can also read: Listen to Adam West voicing Frank Miller’s Batman
Sources: Den of Geek / Television Academy Foundation
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