BATMAN!

The premiere of Batman on January 12, 1966 was the television equivalent of The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show two years earlier.  Immediately, the American public went into a Bat-Frenzy and anything & anyone connected to the show became a hot property. Having been frowned upon by many new fans of Batman since the arrival of Tim Burton's dark 1989 movie, the 1966 version of Batman is his most important.  By the mid-sixties, Batman was, quite frankly, "down on his luck".  As author Hubert Crawford states in his classic book, Crawford's Encyclopedia of Comic Books:

"Batman, for the most part had become forgotten.  His decline had begun in 1963 when Batman Comics was temporarily discontinued.  Detective Comics had been reduced to just a few issues per year.  The comic book industry itself had shrunk to a half-dozen publishers who were concentrating on animal fantasy and family humor titles.
Similarly, the motion picture industry was in a period of crisis.  The only studios still in operation were those few who produced special shows for the television networks.  Warner Brothers, a former film giant of Hollywood's earlier days, was one of those few.  In the 1930s and early 1940s Warner Brothers had maintained an animation department that produced special effects for its major films and, as a sideline, created animated cartoon shorts featuring Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Road Runner and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang.
Years later, in the 1960s, these same cartoons were sold to television and suddenly became popular again as they appeared on the home screen for a new generation of viewers.  The continuous reruns prompted Warner Brothers to resume its activity in the comic book field.  They acquired the ailing DC comics line, which was close to folding, and took one feature to gamble on--Batman!

The experimental show was put together by William Dozier, who had previously produced such television masterpieces as "Studio One", "You Are There", and "Playhouse 90".  Batman took the nation by storm and achieved an unbelievably high rating!  It held a vast nostalgic appeal for adults who, as youngsters, had grown up with Batman during the 1940s.  And for the new generation who had never heard of Batman, the show became an instant favorite.

The show, followed up by a full-length movie of Batman and numerous Batman toys, made Batman an instant national fad and sparked new interest in superhero fantasy.  Soon afterwards the comic book industry would boom again.
The success of the Batman television series also opened the door to new avenues in primetime television entertainment.  On May, 1966, television and motion picture executives held a special luncheon meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss the Batman phenomenon.  Dozier pointed out that the public liked Batman because he offered the perfect escape from television programs that dramatized familiar situations of everyday life."

Essentially, the Batman TV show not only saved the character, but it also secured DC comics from oblivion as well as delivering a life-giving shot of adrenaline to the comic book industry that revived it and enabled it to continue and thrive.