R.I.P. Adam West

Darn. I knew this day would eventually come, but it still hurts. Adam West, TV's Batman, died Friday at age eighty eight. Sad, but I guess that's a pretty good run.

For an entire generation, West was Batman. The 1966 show might have been campy fun, but he took the role seriously, and played it absolutely straight. There've been a host actors who played the role in later years, but West's version remains the most iconic.

I vividly remember sitting on the floor in front of the TV twice a week, dutifully watching Batman. Yes, twice a week. The producers wanted it to be a sixty minute show, but ABC didn't have any hour long timeslots available. So they split the episodes in two and aired them on Wednesday and Thursday nights. 

The first part of each story would always end on a cliffhanger, with Batman and Robin stuck in a villain's trap. I remember these endings always caused me great distress. Being a kid, I didn't understand that this was just a cheap way to get the audience to tune in the next day, and was honestly worried that Batman was gonna die!

The Batman TV show is likely what jump-started my interest in Marvel and DC comics (I read comics before then, but they were generally the funny animal kind), so thanks to Adam West for that. He provided me with many hours of colorful entertainment as a kid, as well as into adulthood as I continued to watch the series he made famous.

R.I.P., old chum!

Now who's gonna save us from that bomb?