More Batman Humor That Went Over My Head as a Kid

Loren Ewing, Doodles Weaver (Sigourney
Weaver's uncle) and Art Carney
In the "Shoot a Crook Arrow" episode
of Batman

Shoot a Crooked Arrow/Walk the Straight and Narrow: The second, much campier season of Batman premiered with Art Carney as The Archer, a low-rent, wanna-be Robin Hood. Carney was inspired casting for this role since he was best known for playing the blue-collar, lovable sewer worker Ed Norton on The Jackie Gleason Show. Norton was the opposite of the debonair Errol Flynn image of the noble bandit. In fact, I remember Carney as Norton making a joke about a weirdly dressed fellow cruise ship passenger on the Gleason Show. "He looks like this week's Special Guest Villain," Norton quipped. I remember thinking Carney was a Special Guest Villain just a few weeks earlier. 

As the Dynamic Duo descend the side of police headquarters to pursue the escaping Archer, they encounter this episode's window cameo, Dick Clark, then host of the ABC music series, American Bandstand. (Although what Dick Clark is doing in police headquarters is never made clear.) There's also a reference to The Music Man with Bruce Wayne informing Dick Grayson, "we've got trouble, right here in Gotham City." Veteran character actor Sam Jaffe appears as Zoltan Zorba, the first poor Gotham City resident to receive a $100 bill from the Wayne Foundation (which turns out to be a counterfeit bill courtesy of The Archer). Jaffe was best known for playing Dr. Zorba on Ben Casey. There's also a corny lecture from a police officer who chides a complaining female motorist that Batman gets away with speeding through Gotham City without so much as a ticket. The cop informs the griper Batman is pursuing criminals but under normal circumstances he's the safest driver in GC. The other drivers applaud. Robert Cornthwaite appears as Allan A. Dale (get it?), the fussy, clench-jawed administrator of the Wayne Foundation grants and secret accomplice of the Archer. This character is coded-gay with a handkerchief tucked up his sleeve and creepy admiration of Batman's cowl.

Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief

(Borrowed from my husband after he finished with it.) A fascinating account of Jefferson Davis' tenure as President and Commander of the Confederate forces during the Civil War. Unlike Lincoln, Davis had a military background and tended to take total charge of strategy, going through five Secretaries of War. Lincoln relied on advise from his cabinet and generals (detailed by Doris Kearns Goodwin in Team of Rivals.) David was micromanager, reluctant to delegate authority. He also allowed petty rivalries between his generals to influence him and he allowed personal friends to stay in positions even after they proved unsuitable. McPherson makes the case that another President would not have changed the results and that Davis was the best possible man for the job despite his flaws. The author also makes the point that Davis' intransigence on keeping Southern independence and opposition to the abolition of slavery prolonged the war.   

One Battle Wins Again with NSFC

Ethan Hawke was named Best Actor
for Blue Moon from the National
Society of Film Critics.

One Battle After Another continues winning battles among film awards, taking four prizes from the National Society of Film Critics including Best Picture, Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro) and Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor). Ethan Hawke was named Best Actor for his performance as the ill-fated lyricist Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon and Kathleen Chalfant won Best Actress as an elderly woman struggling with memory issues in Familiar Touch. One Battle has already won Best Picture from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. This quadruple crown increases its Oscar chances, but does not guarantee a win on Hollywood's biggest night. Of the three previous films that achieved all four top prizes--Schindler's List, L.A. Confidential and The Social Network--only first won the Best Picture Oscar.

The Society, which is made up of more than 60 of the country’s most prominent movie critics, held its 59th annual awards voting meeting on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. Critics voted at in-person gatherings in Los Angeles and New York, and also participated virtually from across the country.

A complete list of the winners follows:

Kennedy Center Horrors

2025 Kennedy Center Honorees and Trump
supporters.

This year's low-rated, horrible Kennedy Center Honors were like an auto accident on the freeway--I couldn't stop myself from looking at the wreckage. Trump has turned what was once a national honor into his own ego-driven, self-gratification ceremony. Probably because he felt slighted by the Center during his first term and refused to attend. It has since been revealed that once he got into his second term and appointed himself Chairman of the Board, he changed the rules of the board so only those he appointed were allowed to vote and thereby stacked the deck to get his name added. Then he announced he would be hosting. The honorees were figures he liked and who had hit their peaks decades ago. The resultant fiasco ceremony was a true embarrassment. 

For the broadcast, Trump made live opening and closing remarks. His opening speech was over 20 minutes and included the usual rants on tariffs, and lies about the 2020 election which he still can't admit he lost. CBS cut the political stuff and left Trump's bloviating about his supposedly saving the Kennedy Center and how this year's honorees are the greatest entertainers to ever walk the face of the earth. Really, Donald? Gloria Gaynor and Sly Stallone are on a par with William Shakespeare, Greta Garbo, and Charlie Chaplin? 

The remainder of Trump's mummified remarks were taped at the White House so Trump and Melania could be seen seen sitting next to the winner being spotlighted. BTW, there was a commercial for the $44 million dollar Amazon documentary on Melania that no one will go see in theaters.