This Day in Pop Culture for January 12

1966: Holy TV Series, Batman

It was on this day in 1966 that the iconic Batman TV series aired for the first time on ABC. Based on the DC comic book character of the same name, the first show began with the episode “Hey Diddle Riddle” and starred Adam West as the man in the cowl, Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin and Frank Gorshin as the guest villain, The Riddler.

The pop-art styled series ran for two nights in a row each week with the first half-hour episode ending with a cliff hanger and the immortal words, “Tune in tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-channel. The following the night would feature part two with the caped crusaders getting their man or woman.

The show was a comedy, but it was played straight and was one of the few sitcoms of the day that didn’t feature a laugh track. Yvonne Craig joined the show as Batgirl during the show’s third season, but the show was reduced to only one episode per week. Batman hung up his cape on March 14, 1968. However, West and Ward lent their voices to numerous animated versions of the superheroes including 2016’s DVD release of Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders and 2017’s Batman vs Two-Face which also included Julie Newmar’s Catwoman character. (Image: Wikipedia/Cassowary Colorizations)

1967: First Person to be Cryonically Preserved

The Robinson Family in suspended animation from *Lost in Space. (Wikimedia Commons)*

Despite the rumor, Walt Disney did not allow his body to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation. However, in 1965, Ev Cooper’s Life Extension Society (LES) ran sort of a contest offering to preserve one person free of charge. The first cryonics organization in the world said, “LES offers to freeze free of charge the first person desirous and in need of cryogenic suspension.”

While Dr. James Bedford took them up on their offer, he actually paid for the services. Suffering from kidney cancer, Bedford left $100,000 to cryonics research in his will. His body was frozen on this day; a few hours after his death due to natural causes related to the cancer.

1926: The Birth of Amos ‘n’ Andy

Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll celebrating ten years of the radio show *Amos ‘n’ Andy. (Wikimedia Commons)*

Amos ‘n’ Andy has a colorful history. The famous radio show aired for the first time in Chicago’s WGN radio station on this day in 1926 as Sam ‘n’ Henry. Freeman Gosen and Charles Carrell, creators and stars of the show, were white but played two black men carrying on the tradition of “blackface” vaudeville shows.

In 1928, the pair took their show to a new station, WMAQ, however it became clear that the former station owned the rights to the name Sam ‘n’ Henry, the actors changed the name of the show to Amos ‘n’ Andy and began to syndicate the program. The show went on for 22 years with more than 40 million listeners.

TV cast: Spencer Williams (Andy), Tim Moore (Kingfish) and Alvin Childress (Amos) *(Wikipedia)*

In 1951, the show came to TV but with the actors replaced with Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams making the television show the first to feature an all-black cast. It was cancelled in 1953 due to protests that the show promoted racial stereotypes. Ironically, the radio show, with its original white actors, continued until 1960!

1971: Love and War: ‘All in the Family’

Jean Stapleton and Carroll O’Connor *(Wikimedia)*

Based on the Till Death Us Do Part, a sitcom from the U.K., All in the Family centered around a working-class family living in Queens, New York. The series starred Carroll O’Connor as the pig-headed, racially insensitive Archie Bunker, Jean Stapleton as his sweet, trusting and dimwitted wife Edith, Sally Struthers as their sweet but strong-willed daughter Gloria and Rob Reiner as Gloria’s liberal and peace-loving boyfriend, Michael Stivic. The show was produced by Norman Lear the Bud Yorkin and has been labeled many times as one of the best American sitcoms of all time.

Although the show was a comedy, it didn’t shy away from different subject matter which often led to arguments between Archie and Meathead (Archie’s nickname for Michael). The sometimes controversial subject matter included topics like racism, antisemitism, women’s lib, religion, the Vietnam War, divorce, sex and even breast cancer.

Although the show ranked in 34th place during its first season, All in the Family rose up to the #1 spot in season 2 and stayed there for five years. The show ended its run on April 8, 1979, but was followed up with Archie’s Place which was mostly a continuation of the original series but spent more time at Archie’s bar. Archie’s Place ran for an additional four seasons on CBS.

All in the Family was nominated and won many awards including 22 Primetime Emmy Awards and eight Golden Globes. The show also helped to launch a number of spin-offs including Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Checking In, Gloria and 704 Hauser.

In 2019, ABC aired the TV special, Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons which was co-produced by Jimmy Kimmel. One episode of each series was recreated with new actors including Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei.