‘Batman and Bill’: Real-life comic-book justice
Hulu streams its first original documentary, “Batman and Bill,” starting today. A tale of real-life comic-book justice and wrongs righted over time, “Bill” offers a major revision to the history of the Dark Knight.
Since 1939, Bob Kane claimed to be the comic’s sole creator. “Bill” follows writer, “Batman” fan and comic buff Marc Tyler Nobleman as he sleuths his way through eight decades of DC Comics history to show that Kane’s self-aggrandizing legend edited out the major contributions of writer Bill Finger.
Nobleman explains how Finger conceived the original Batman costume, cape and cowl, Bruce Wayne’s tragic backstory, the Batmobile, Bat Cave and several of the major villains, including the Riddler.
While Kane went on to describe Finger as a mere ghost or hired hand, Nobleman and other experts interviewed here contend that he was a major architect of the billion-dollar “Batman” franchise.
As the comic thrived, Finger’s story goes from bad to worse. While Kane cashed in on the franchise’s TV fame, Finger subsisted as a freelancer, finally dying alone in 1974 and being anonymously buried in a potter’s field.
Many documentaries suffer from a lack of period footage. “Batman and Bill” solves that problem with the goofy and entirely appropriate use of segments presented in midcentury comics style.
Along the way, we’re let in on some comic-book lore, including the location of the first New York Comic-Con in a hotel so seedy and dilapidated that the building collapsed several months later.
Not content to reveal Kane’s perfidy and Finger’s fate, “Bill” goes on to chronicle Nobleman’s efforts to find Finger’s family and possible heirs and force the powers-that-be to provide him with an appropriate creator’s credit.
Unfortunately, “Batman and Bill” is simply too darn long. Clocking in at more than an hour and a half, the documentary spends entirely too much time telling Nobleman’s story and explaining his motivations and concerns, too often allowing the storyteller to overshadow the story itself.
‘ESSENTIAL’ FILMS
Alec Baldwin takes over as host of “The Essentials” (8 tonight, TCM), a weekly showcase and discussion of a mustsee film. Baldwin begins with the 1952 melodrama “The Bad and the Beautiful,” starring Kirk Douglas. Over the course of the season, Baldwin will invite colleagues to “The Essentials,” including Tina Fey, David Letterman and director William Friedkin.
MTV CASTS WIDER SPOTLIGHT
Adam Devine (“Modern Family,” “Workaholics”) hosts the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards (8 p.m. Sunday, MTV, Comedy Central, Spike, TV Land, VH1). It’s the first time that “TV” has been added to the title of this annual celebration.
The network wants to fete a golden age of content, stories and characters, regardless of the size of the screen.
So performers from movies and television will compete against each other in categories like Best Kiss, Best Hero and Best Villain. Additionally, traditional categories Best Actor and Best Actress have been folded into nongendered Best Actor in a Movie and Best Actor in a Show. New categories have been added to the mix, including Best American Story, Tearjerker, Best Host, Best Reality Competition and Next Generation.
The Golden Globes have combined TV and movies for decades. Still, this blending of formats represents a sea change in the perception of television’s prestige, influence and impact.
When the MTV Movie Awards were first handed out in 1992, Dennis Miller hosted a celebration that touted the blockbuster status of “Terminator 2.” The whole purpose of the proceedings was to get MTV’s young audience excited for the forthcoming summer’s slate of popcorn blockbusters. Back then, summer on television meant repeats of “Murphy Brown” and the Olympics.
Despite the onslaught of mega-movie franchise properties, last summer’s most talked-about pop-culture phenomenon was Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”
SO MANY CANDLES
Is it just me, or have TV news and documentary departments caught a case of anniversary-itis? April featured an onslaught of retrospectives on the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Friday’s “Dateline” featured a two-hour special about the 1997 death of Princess Diana. This weekend, Martin Bashir hosts “The Last 100 Days of Diana” (9 p.m. Sunday, ABC). HBO has just announced an “authorized” documentary about the “People’s Princess” to air later in the year, presumably on or before Aug. 31, the 20th anniversary of her death.
Just how many candles in the wind do we need?
TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTS
› The Chicago Cubs host the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball action (7 p.m., Fox).
› The Washington Capitals host the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals (7:15 p.m., NBC).
› College can be murder in the 2017 shocker “Deadly Sorority” (8 p.m., Lifetime).
› On two episodes of “My Cat From Hell” (Animal Planet, TV-PG): It came from the nursery (8 p.m.), from feral to friendly (9 p.m.).
› The Utah Jazz host the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinals (8:30 p.m., ABC).
› Young Eli’s fateful choice on “The Son” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-14).
› Goldie Hawn, Amy Schumer, Orlando Bloom, John Boyega and Lucie Jones appear on “The Graham Norton Show” (11 p.m., BBC America, TV-14).
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.