Day 648: 1960s Batman Revisited!

You know? This is a great time for being a boy’s dad. For the most part, toymakers haven’t come up with any new ideas… so as a dad you get to revisit all of your favorite characters, shows, and toys from a new perspective. It’s pretty crazy… everything marketed to boys today are the same things that were marketed to me: The Ninja Turtles, Batman, Spiderman, Transformers, GI Joe and Star Wars… oh man! Star Wars is awesome the second time around! And the best part about having a boy who is obsessed with Star Wars is the fact I get to watch the movies all the time! Seriously, when Grayson gets to pick the movie for Family Movie Night and Grayson wants to watch Star Wars Serena doesn’t put up much fight… and then I get to watch Star Wars! How awesome is that?!?

But… besides Star Wars there was one other childhood obsession of mine that I am revisiting and seeing in it in a whole new light: The 1960s Batman series with Adam West. When I was a kid, I was OBSESSED with this show. I can’t remember what station aired it… probably Nickelodeon. When I was growing up Nick wasn’t really making original programming and was airing other shows… like The Monkee’s… which is another obsession of mine.

But anyway, the fact that Batman was originally marketed to adults was completely lost on me until now. This show is hilarious. It has probably been close to 20 years since I’ve sat down to watch an episode of this show… and honestly, it’s like watching a completely different show.

This rediscovery was, of course, by complete accident. We are actually pretty careful about the TV and Movies Grayson is allowed to watch. Hiding Star Wars and Marvel Superheroes, due to marketing campaigns is almost impossible to avoid and about a year ago Grayson started asking me who Luke Skywalker was… and Spiderman… The Ninja Turtle, Superman, Batman… you get the idea.

And you know what? It’s pretty hard to deny your kid an explanation… especially since you know the kids in the neighborhood who are a couple years older are the ones planting the seed.

So, when Grayson asks I’ll normally sit down and tell him stories and show him pictures and present the characters in a pretty watered down fashion. And we planted one very specific seed of our own, “The things in books, tv, and movies are not real. They are make-believe.” And Grayson has accepted that… and because of this, he’s already grasped the concept of actors pretending and playing parts.

Anyway, eventually he started asking about Spiderman and Superman movie. He wanted to see these heroes in action. But, honestly, he’s not ready for most of the material out there… although Serena found the old Spiderman cartoons from the 1960s on youtube, so we watched those… and then he looked at me one day and said… “I want to see Batman”. Now Batman is a different story… the animated Batman series is not Grayson approved (yet), and at the time he hadn’t been introduced to live-action shows… mainly just animated. So… you know? We took a leap and showed in the original 1960’s two hours Batman TV movie that ended up launching the entire series. Grayson loved it… and I found myself catching things I never realized was there. Inside jokes and tongue in cheek social commentary.

It was great!

I recommend everyone go and revisit something you thought was awesome as a kid… except for MacGyver. If you thought MacGyver was awesome when you were a kid… then keep on thinking it without looking back… I don’t want to crush your memories.