Content deleted Content added
ClueBot NG (talk | contribs) m Reverting possible vandalism by Blueamgma to version by DrRNC. Report False Positive? Thanks, ClueBot NG. (2719838) (Bot) |
→Season 3: Removing false statement about Kitt's Catwoman flirting with Batman -- it may have been sourced, but it was unfortunately a source of MISinformation; sp. of "Barbara" |
||
Line 165:
===Season 3===
[[File:Yvonne Craig Batgirl 1967.JPG|right|thumb|200px|[[Yvonne Craig]] was added to the cast for season three in 1967, portraying
By season three, [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]] were falling and the future of the series seemed uncertain. To attract new viewers, Dozier opted to introduce a female character. He came up with the idea of using [[List of Batman television series characters#Batgirl|Batgirl]], who in her civilian identity would be Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara, and asked the editor of the Batman comics to further develop the character (who had made her debut in a 1966 issue of ''Detective Comics'').<ref name="Back38">{{cite journal|last= Cassell|first= Dewey|date= February 2010|title= Growing Up Gordon: The Early Years of Batgirl|journal= [[Back Issue!]]|issue= 38|pages= 65–70|publisher = [[TwoMorrows Publishing]]}}</ref> To convince ABC executives to introduce Batgirl as a regular on the show, a promotional short featuring [[Yvonne Craig]] as Batgirl and Tim Herbert as [[Killer Moth]] was produced.<ref>{{cite web|last= |first= |title=Batgirl and the Batman Phenomenon|url=http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/batgirl/|date=June 11, 2003|accessdate=March 24, 2007}}</ref> The show was reduced to once a week, with mostly self-contained episodes, although the following week's villain would be introduced in a tag at the end of each episode, similar to a [[soap opera]]. Accordingly, the narrator's cliffhanger phrases were mostly eliminated, with most of the episodes ending with him saying something to encourage viewers to watch the next episode.<ref group=notes>Adam West, dictating ''Back to the Batcave'' to Jeff Rovin, admitted to having resented the development; in his words, "...We were now calculating and titillating. These kinds of things are always short-term solutions to problems...."</ref>
Aunt Harriet was reduced to just two cameo appearances during the third season, due to [[Madge Blake]]'s poor health. Another cast change for the final season had [[Julie Newmar]], who had been a popular recurring guest villain as the Catwoman for the first two seasons, being replaced by singer-actress [[Eartha Kitt]] for season three, as Newmar was working on the film ''[[Mackenna's Gold]]'' at that time, and was unable to appear. In America, Kitt's performance in the series marked the second mainstream television success of a black female, following Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in ''Star Trek'' and continued breaking the racial boundaries of the time.
The nature of the scripts and acting started to enter into the realm of [[surrealism]]. For example, the set's backgrounds became mere two-dimensional cut-outs against a stark black stage. In addition, the third season was much more topical, with references to [[hippies]], [[mod (subculture)|mods]], and distinctive 1960s [[slang]], which the previous two seasons had avoided.
| |||