Personally I was 5 when the series was shown for the first time. The colouring books I still have (with dozens of the characters scribbled on every blank page) confirm my recollections that I took the whole concept totally seriously. William Dozier would be delighted as he wanted the series to work on 2 levels.
Firstly, for kids like myself who would be into the suspense and derring do. Then for adults who would enjoy the humour.
At the ripe old age of 56 I'm grateful I got to enjoy the show as a 5 year old in 1966 when the world was a very different place, but feel a little bit sorry for my Dad and his contemporaries who only ever got to see it through adult eyes.
nb: I do recall a brief scene before episodes were shown where Batman reminded us kids in the UK that he and Robin couldn't fly so... don't go jumping out of windows
I watched the Batman premier 3 days before my 10th birthday. I took it all seriously. I remember my Dad being amused by "Pedestrian Safety!".
As I grew up I came to appreciate he humor and absurdities but I never stopped enjoying the adventure.
I think those of who started watching as kids and continue to love it as adults see the series differently and enjoy it more than those who just start watching as adults.
I was born at the tail end of 1966 so I am too young to remember the show during its original run. I guess I was about 4 or 5 when I remember first seeing reruns broadcast in syndication. The original poster made a very good point that I hadn't considered previously, how those of us who are in our 50s got to enjoy the program through two different prisms, one through childlike eyes and now as an adult, enjoying the offbeat humor inflected into the show.
As I reply to this, they have the King Tut montage up in the background, and I cannot help but think of the episode where he drills for Nilenium which leads into the Batcave. During his little lecture he does that silly voice where he says "Money goes to money..." But yes as a child I took these adventures quite seriously! Having received the box set as a gift, it's awesome to enjoy these episodes again through adult eyes, while being whisked back to a much simpler time in my life.
I remember watching the premiere on a Sunday night prime time, Down Under, with my whole family. We lived in a house with our grandparents - and my grandmother owned the b/w TV - so watching TV in my grandparents' lounge room required excellent manners. Sunday night family viewing was quite traditional: "The Wonderful World of Disney" (which I recall being called just "Disneyland" - I think the US had it as "Disney's Wonderful World of Color"), "Captain Nice", "Mr Terrific" and "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" were also part of our Sunday nights around this time.
And then came the realisation that we had to watch again on the Monday night to see it the Dynamic Duo were rescued!
I suspect Australia was late getting the show. Certainly, I recall being in Year 3 at school, aged eight in 1967, making up a "Batman" play at lunchtime to perform to our classmates, and I recall kids collecting the Scanlens gum cards (released here in 1967, with photos of four arch villains in the one shot? - this was many years before I realised there was a movie that told a new story!)
Eight was a perfect age. Then, watching reruns in the 70s and 80s, my brothers and I realised it was a show written at several levels of meaning.
I was 4 years old when it first aired and it certainly struck a cord with me. Here I am all these years later, discussing that very show on a message board, regularly wearing one of my many t-shirts with the logo from that show, drinking my morning coffee in a cup from that show, and with the DVD set of every episode of that show which I watch regularly.
Struck a cord isn't even close to an adequate explanation. It set me in the direction of connecting with not just the character himself, but the concept of the character. To say I'm driven by a very strong belief in right over wrong even to the point of vigilantism would be an understatement.
I've also grown and matured with the character. I still read the modern and current comic books regularly. My point, I guess; 4 years old seemed to work really well for me.
“What's important is that the world know that all visitors to these teeming shores are safe, be they peasant or king.”
the show was already in reruns by the time I was born. Therefore I've been watching Batman for as long as I can remember.
