By Todd Garbarini
As a child growing up in the 1970s, I read the TV Guide from cover to cover, diligently marking the shows that I wanted to watch for the week. I have a fairly good memory when it comes to the shows that I viewed, and despite being a fan of Project UFO, I don’t recall its pre-emption for the January 18 and 25, 1979 airings of NBC-TV’s Legends of the Superheroes, two one-hour episodes now available on a single disc from the Warner Archive DVD Collection. They feature Adam West as Batman, Burt Ward as Robin, Garrett Craig as Captain Marvel, Howard Murphy as the Green Lantern, Bill Nuckols as Hawkman, Barbara Joyce as The Huntress, Rod Haase as The Flash, Alfie Wise as The Atom and Danuta Rylko Soderman as the Black Canary. The first episode is called The Challenge, and its title could not be more appropriate: Batman and Robin need to find the Doomsday Device before the villains destroy planet Earth, and the audience is challenged to sit through the 50-minute episode with their eyes wide open.How this show, complete with a forced laugh track, made its way to television remains a mystery, but this is from the network that put Supertrain on the rails. At times I found myself cringing at the (lack of) humor and thinking of ABC-TV’s Star Wars Holiday Special as a rival in camp/kitsch and just plain insanity. It’s truly incredible to watch mature adults running around in ridiculous costumes, attempting to act. Children appear to be the intended audience (or victims) of this show as sophomoric humor abounds, with Frank Gorshin as the Riddler giving a master class in scene-chewing. He interacts with a cavalcade of crazy characters to get the better of the Dynamic Duo, who both stop at Calabasas Automotive which boasts gas for sixty four cents per gallon.
Episode two, The Roast, fares better, with Ed McMahon (!) emceeing a Friars Club-like roast sans low-brow humor, though it should have been hosted by Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. Ruth Buzzi makes an appearance, and some of the jokes actually work this time around. Howard Morris plays some bald-headed fool who looks like the father of Mr. Six from the Six Flags commercials.
The disc contains some outtakes which, unsurprisingly, are no funnier than the actual show, and a sing-along metronome track to “That’s Entertainment.â€
If you’re waiting for Not Legends of the Superheroes XXX with the top adult performers of today, don’t hold your breath; Tori Black won’t be appearing as Black Canary anytime soon, so if you’re a fan of the Batman series from the Sixties, or if you saw these shows in 1979 and want to revisit them for purposes of nostalgia (or want to keep your relatives away), the DVD is worth a look.
All kidding aside, while they are not my cup of tea, I am pleased that Warner Archive has made these obscure shows available.
Click here to order from Warner Archive