ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

This is a portion from the March 19~25, 1967 issue of TV Prevue. The writer was clearly not a fan of the GH series.

The Green Hornet (played with great sternness by Van Williams) hasn't done too well. His Nielsen rating is so low (usually in the bottom 20) that he is almost certain to be asked to turn in his mask and Black Beauty (his car, what else?) before next season.

When we come face to face with anything so unbelievably bizarre as the Green Hornet, and are asked to take him seriously, then credulity is taxed beyond limits even entertained by imbeciles.

Batman, of course, runs around in a mask, too, but producer William Dozier at least has the good sense in this instance to make it into a comedy of sorts.

High camp, low camp, burlesque or whatever one may want to call it, Batman and Robin do not ask to be regarded seriously.

"In fact, it may be because we turned Batman into a camp character that people refuse to buy the Green Hornet, or anyone else in a mask, who isn't treated the same way." William Dozier.

One reason, ironically, why Dozier kept the Green Hornet in a serious vein was to avoid being his own copycat. Also, Dozier had to abide to some extent by the wishes of George Washington Trendle, who created the Green Hornet in 1936 for his radio show in Detroit, and who apparently today regards his hero as someone to be taken seriously.

It was easier to be serious in the 30's because there was a depression, and most Americans were a pretty unsophisticated breed. But America isn't that square today, despite what a majority of TV producers like to believe.

We'll tolerate a lot of junk, more out of apathy than curiosity, but occasionally we rebel and draw the line Unfortunately, the TV producer finds all kinds of "analytical" reasons for a show's failure, yet refuses to face the fact that it was a lousy show, that this time the public blew the whistle on him.

So there is justice after all, and come to think of it, isn't that the Green Hornet measuring up short on the scales of justice?

Sidebar: I can see the reviewer of this article typing away with a sneer on his puss.