Holy Blog Post

As we enter the last week of the summer of '26, I can tell you a little bit about something I've been doing to pay homage to the summers of yesteryear.

It's been a busy few months, for sure. And I've been busier, really, than I thought I might be some seven months into retirement.   

Still, there have been a few moments for some downtime; for a bit of a guilty pleasure. 

TV comfort food.

As a kid, I spent many an afternoon during summer break watching reruns of the vintage 1960s Batman television series. Campy, yes. Colorful, for sure. 

In family lore, I've been told our family went to my uncle's house to catch the first run of the series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, in living color each week in the mid 60s. I don't remember that. 

But I do recall the lazy, hazy crazy days of summer in the 1970s. With a cup of Kool Aid in hand, I'd make sure to find a comfy seat just in time to watch Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson sprint over to the batpoles. And then, a series of 1960s stars made appearances as villains to take on the caped crusaders. 

This summer, I've been counting down my Top 10 favorite episodes. Joker, Penguin, Riddler and, of course, my sister's favorite, Catwoman. And many more. How could it get better than that?

Smart vocabulary. Tilted camera angles for effect. The telltale opening theme song. Robin's "Holy this" and "Holy that."

Holy Blog Post!

And, of course, there was plenty of Zam! Pow! Biff! And Boff! to punctuate each bat fight. My friends and I were so inspired by the show during our middle school years, we produced a simulated Batman radio program for our classmates and our teachers cheered the effort. 

Maybe it was a needed distraction late in the school calendar.

Some years later, someone gifted me the book, The Official Batman Batbook by Joel Eisner. From time to time, I enjoy pulling it off the shelf and thumbing thru the pages. Among other treasures, it features a synopsis of each of the episodes from the show's three-year run.

Watching many of those episodes this summer has provided a case of virtual time travel. As the familiar scenes roll, it's hard not to close my eyes and remember those simpler times. Playing with pals outside in the summer heat and then racing inside just in time to cool off and see the masked manhunters in action.

Reliving those summers, this summer, has been a lot of fun.

JG