There have been many Batman cast reunions on talk shows over the years, particularly as the 1989 Batman movie’s release approached. Previously we talked about the 1988 reunion on The Late Show with Ross Shafer, an overbooked, poorly stage-managed affair. This time we look at another reunion in 1988, on The Wil Shriner Show. Shriner’s show kept the number of guests to a manageable number, and Shriner was more knowledgeable about the show than Shafer, making this reunion about the best you could hope for on a talk show for a general audience. This time we discuss this Wil Shriner episode.
I just wanted to say I just started listening to your batpod and I am very happy there are literally years of episodes for me to listen to. Looking forward to continuing the journey through the series!
Dr.Brainwave wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 8:04 pm
I just wanted to say I just started listening to your batpod and I am very happy there are literally years of episodes for me to listen to. Looking forward to continuing the journey through the series!
Good to have you on board!
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
Well, what can one say about the Shriner reunion? Well, aside from the embarrassing, would-be Bat-onomatopoeia behind the actors, the entire segment was okay, but not some level above the Late Show.
The Shriner audience: staff held up signs to encourage the audience to cheer, much like what happens on game shows.
As I mentioned in the comments about The Late Show, I still believe you guys are a too hard on Ross Shafer and the staff of The Late Show for not being up on facts about the '66 series, when their primary goal was to arrange a Batman reunion, which was accomplished. Its was a late night talk show, not a documentary, and I must say again that just getting the majority of the then-still living main cast together was a big thing, especially with a good number of the rogue's gallery villains. That's what the average person of the Baby Boom - Generation X target demographic for the '66 series (as of the late 80s) would be satisfied to see.
Most fans were casual at best and probably could not name William Dozier or Howie Horwitz even if their lives depended on it, but that's okay, because I would guess that kind of viewer is the in the majority where remembering the '66 series is concerned.
About Burt telling the tiger / raw meat story: all I can say is that's no more a tall tale than Adam's constant "stirrings in my utility belt" and similar accounts. That was a line of dialogue never spoken or even implied in the series, so Burt--or anyone else--could have called him out about that well-worn 70s / 80s convention circuit attempt to (in my view) offset the "silly" factor of Batman (or the way it was perceived by Bat-comic fans and laypeople alike by the end of the 60s) by trying to turn it into a series filled with smutty double-entendres.
In other words, the two stars of the show were quite imaginative in remembering things that did not happen.
