It's a persistent trope: "Holy <fill in the blank>, Batman!"
The show* ran for only three seasons, 120 episodes, ending production in 1968. And yet, 54 years later, the trope persists. People who've never seen the show and, I'll wager, a few who don't even know where it came from keep using it. (It came up this morning with a [thirty something?] woman at work who uses it but has never seen the show.)
* For any few who may not know**, the trope comes from a 1960s Batman action/comedy TV show. The show stared Adam West (1928 -2017) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Burt Ward (1945 - ) as Dick Grayson/Robin, four or five (depending on season) other regular characters, and a plethora of famous guest stars in one-off or recurring roles or cameos. The action was contrived and simplistic, with its appeal limited to children. The comedy came from the shows campiness, which included the very contrivance of the action and over-the-top acting. The trope is from statements often made by Robin of that form, or more often "Holy <fill in the blank>, Batman, it's <an obvious observation>!" sometimes forming a cheesy pun. Wards presentation was particularly over-the-top, and is often lambasted as beyond that into simply bad. "Holy bad acting, Batman, it's Burt Ward!"
** OK, maybe that summary wasn't necessary here. With the large number of BARs here, we do seem to skew old.
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EDIT: Holy software shortcomings, Batman, I can't edit the poll choices to fix errors!
The show* ran for only three seasons, 120 episodes, ending production in 1968. And yet, 54 years later, the trope persists. People who've never seen the show and, I'll wager, a few who don't even know where it came from keep using it. (It came up this morning with a [thirty something?] woman at work who uses it but has never seen the show.)
* For any few who may not know**, the trope comes from a 1960s Batman action/comedy TV show. The show stared Adam West (1928 -2017) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Burt Ward (1945 - ) as Dick Grayson/Robin, four or five (depending on season) other regular characters, and a plethora of famous guest stars in one-off or recurring roles or cameos. The action was contrived and simplistic, with its appeal limited to children. The comedy came from the shows campiness, which included the very contrivance of the action and over-the-top acting. The trope is from statements often made by Robin of that form, or more often "Holy <fill in the blank>, Batman, it's <an obvious observation>!" sometimes forming a cheesy pun. Wards presentation was particularly over-the-top, and is often lambasted as beyond that into simply bad. "Holy bad acting, Batman, it's Burt Ward!"
** OK, maybe that summary wasn't necessary here. With the large number of BARs here, we do seem to skew old.
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EDIT: Holy software shortcomings, Batman, I can't edit the poll choices to fix errors!
