Batman is an American live-action television series based on the DC Comics character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin—two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City from a variety of archvillains. It is known for its camp style and upbeat theme music, as well as its intentionally humorous, simplistic morality aimed at its preteen audience. The 120 episodes aired on the ABC network for three seasons from January 12, 1966, to March 14, 1968, twice weekly during the first two seasons, and weekly for the third. A companion feature film was released in 1966 between the first and second seasons of the TV show.

Batman held the record for the longest-running live-action superhero television series (in terms of episodes) until it was surpassed by Smallville in 2007.

The series focuses on Batman and Robin as they defend Gotham City from its various criminals. Although the lives of their alter-egos, millionaire Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson are frequently shown, it is usually only briefly, in the context of their being called away on superhero business or in circumstances where they need to employ their public identities to assist in their crime-fighting. The "Dynamic Duo" typically comes to the aid of the Gotham City Police Department upon the latter being stumped by a supervillain, who is usually accompanied in their appearances by several henchmen, often with nicknames themed around the criminal or the crime, and, in the case of male villains, an attractive female companion. Throughout each episode, Batman and Robin follow a series of seemingly improbable clues (also known as "bat logic") to discover the supervillain's plan, then figure out how to thwart that plan and capture the criminal.

For the first two seasons, Batman aired twice a week on consecutive nights. Every story is a two-parter, except for two three-parters featuring villainous team-ups (the Joker and the Penguin, then the Penguin and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds) in the second season. The titles of each multi-part story usually rhyme. The third and final season, which aired one episode a week and introduced Yvonne Craig as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, consists of self-contained stories. Each third-season story ends with a teaser featuring the next episode's guest villain, except for the series finale. The cliffhangers between multiple-part stories consist of villains holding someone captive, usually Batman and/or Robin, with the captive(s) being threatened by death, serious injury, or another fate. These cliffhangers are resolved early in follow-up episodes, with captives escaping the traps.

Ostensibly a crime series, the show's style is intentionally campy and tongue-in-cheek. It exaggerates situations and plays them for laughs, while the characters take the absurd situations very seriously.

According to West's memoir Back to the Batcave, his first exposure to the series concept was through reading a sample script in which Batman enters a nightclub in full costume and requests a booth near the wall, as he "shouldn't wish to attract attention". The scrupulously formal dialogue and the way that Batman earnestly believed he could avoid standing out while wearing a skintight blue-and-grey costume convinced West of the character's comic potential.

Producers developed several tentative scripts for Two-Face but never produced any of them. Clint Eastwood was allegedly considered for the role shortly before the series was canceled.

In the early 1960s, Ed Graham Productions optioned the television rights to the comic book Batman and planned a straightforward juvenile adventure show much like Adventures of Superman and The Lone Ranger, to air on CBS on Saturday mornings.