Appearing on the 60s Batman TV show was an incredibly hip thing to do at the time. A mixture of aging stars, modern celebrities, and cultural icons featured prominently in roles as villains and with one-off cameos. The hottest guest star on the show was stand-up comedian Frank Gorshin who appeared as The Riddler in the series very first episode and was featured prominently throughout the shows first season and movie.
Frank Gorshin saw himself as being an ingredient in the success of the show and after demanding a pay increase, the producers kept writing The Riddler out of the show until this episode where they simply recast him with the great John Astin.
Astin had just finished three seasons as Gomez Addams on The Addams Family and leapt from the dreary black and white spooky comedy to the bright colour world of Batman. His only appearance in Batman is with these two episodes.
On BATMANLAND this week, Dan, Fiona, and special guest star Shelley Peacock have a chat about Astin, the multiple Addams Family connections to Batman, and delve deep into these episodes.
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Batman airs every Friday evening on SBS VICELAND from 7:25pm (except this week when it is on at 7pm!!!), with the BATMANLAND companion podcast available to listen to every week as soon as you finish watching the episodes. The series also streams at SBS On Demand.
