On this week’s episode of “Bewitched”… wait, this is “Batman”?? What has become of our beloved played-serious-for-humor show? The tone now feels like a full-on sitcom, and the Dynamic Duo have been reduced to Penguin’s playthings, on the excuse that they have to “keep an eye on him” but can’t arrest him JUST YET… Oh, and by the way, there’s a hand puppet in this arc. Still, there’s plenty of interest to talk about in the Penguin-Marsha three-parter: Its reflexivity in presenting the making of a film in a film; how the people on screen can’t see anything we can’t see, even that film crew that’s just ten feet away from them; the way this arc is simultaneously moving ever more aggressively away from the normal formula, and giving us things we haven’t seen since Hi Diddle Riddle! We also get into the background of the Dance of Seven Veils and the “Scene 12” milk bath, and ask the question: if the show is becoming more like a sitcom, does that mean it's MORE or LESS campy? Plus, another overflowing Bat-Mailbag, and the Sam Chalpin version of the Batman theme!

Shots of the film crews shown in this arc (click to enlarge)