10.0/101 votes#1 - Oh, My Aching Back (aka Archie's Aching Back)
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 1/26/1971
Archie is convinced he'll collect a large settlement from a petty traffic accident if a Jewish lawyer handles the case. The stylistic minimalism of the Bunkers' sparsely furnished set is on full display in this early episode. According to director John Rich, who grew up not far from Archie's neighbood, the Spartan look of the Bunkers' living room deco was achieved as a result of painstaking efforts. The director remembers personally supervising the cracking of windows and repainting of walls to give the place a run-down, lived-in look. "I told the set designers to take all the color out of it," remembers Rich. "Norman and I wanted to do the show in black and white, but CBS nearly went into a coma. So we decided to do the next best thing and shoot the entire show in muted sepia tones."
Director: John Rich
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
8.5/102 votes#2 - The Yegg Foes in Gotham
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 10/20/1966
When the lease payment for Gotham City fails to be made on time, possession of the city falls into the hands of Egghead. Chaos ensues as the villain fires Commissioner Gordon and bans the Dynamic Duo from city limits. While the criminal underworld enjoys free reign, Batman and Robin search the city charter's fine print for a solution.
Director: George Waggner
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
8.5/102 votes#3 - Scat! Darn Catwoman
Season 2 Episode 41 - Aired 1/25/1967
Batman agrees to let the Catwoman drug him. But he appears to have a headache and the Catwoman permits him to take an aspirin. After the drug is administered, Batman appears to assist Catwoman on her crime wave. However, the police receive anonymous telephone calls that enable them to pick up members of Catwoman's gang, including the drugged Robin. Meanwhile, the Gotham City police try to trace the hot line to the Batcave. Batman is there with Catwoman. He uses a device that foils the trace. Eventually, Batman reveals he hadn't taken an aspirin but his universal drug antidote that prevented the drug from working. Catwoman tries to flee on top of a warehouse near the Gotham River. Batman is in pursuit and corners her. But, unwilling to go straight, she falls into the river. Has she lost her life, or just one of her nine lives?
Director: Oscar Rudolph
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
8.5/102 votes#4 - Catwoman Goes to College
Season 2 Episode 49 - Aired 2/22/1967
Catwoman is released from prison, and claiming she wants to enrich her education, enrolls at Gotham City University. She dresses one of her own henchmen as the Caped Crusader in order to frame him for a robbery. With Batman in jail, she goes ahead with her plan for a mass sit-in at Chimes Square. Catwoman is more than surprised when Batman himself shows up at the event. However, his efforts to expose the villainess are futile, and she prepares to terminate him and Robin in front of the whole crowd.
Director: Robert Sparr
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
8.5/102 votes#5 - Batman Displays His Knowledge
Season 2 Episode 50 - Aired 2/23/1967
Catwoman goes ahead with her scheme to steal several Batagonian Cat's Eye opals, but she has trouble finding someone to fence them since such rare stones would be easily spotted. With little recourse left, she decides to turn them in for the reward money. It seems like the perfect job for her acquaintance, Freddy the Fence. But when he notices that the gems are fakes, Catwoman realizes she has been tricked by Batman and vows to get revenge on the Caped Crusader once and for all.
Director: Robert Sparr
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
8.3/103 votes#6 - The Wail of the Siren
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/1967
Lorelei Circe, aka The Siren, launches a two part plan to become the richest and wickedest woman in Gotham City. First she puts Commissioner Gordon under her stunning spell and orders him to stow away in the Batmobile in order to find out the location of the Batcave as well as Batman & Robins secret identities. Secondly she entrances millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and implores him to sign over all his wealth and belongings to her.
Director: George Waggner
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
8.3/103 votes#7 - I'll Be a Mummy's Uncle
Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 2/22/1968
With plans to build an indestructible empire, King Tut goes in search of Nilanium, the world's strongest metal. But with the only known deposit lying directly beneath Wayne Manor, Tut's tunneling soon leads him to the discovery of a lifetime - the Batcave itself. With their secret identities in jeopardy, Batman and Robin race to stop him before his find is leaked to the world.
Director: Sam Strangis
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.8/104 votes#8 - That Darn Catwoman
Season 2 Episode 40 - Aired 1/19/1967
The Catwoman manages to drug Robin. The junior member of the Dynamic Duo is now the Catwoman's mindless slave. Batman is on the trail of the sultry villain, but he's hampered by the fact he can't harm his partner. Eventually, Batman is trapped by the Catwoman. He's in a giant trap and Robin is cutting the rope that will cause a giant mouse trap to snap on Batman. The Catwoman offers Batman a choice -- die by Robin's hand or agree to be subjected to the same drug.
Director: Oscar Rudolph
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.7/1026 votes#9 - Any Old Port in a Storm
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1973
A wine connoisseur kills his half- brother to prevent him selling the family winery to a merchant company so he can pay off his gambling debts.
Director: Leo Penn
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.7/103 votes#10 - Shoot a Crooked Arrow
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/7/1966
Archer and his gang have come to Gotham City, winning the public's favor with their Robin Hood style deeds of stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Batman and Robin set out to discover the location of their hideout and stop these villains, only to find themselves caught by a trap in the Archer's lair.
Director: Sherman Marks
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.7/103 votes#11 - Walk the Straight and Narrow
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 9/8/1966
Batman and Robin escape their previous peril and are back in action seeking to foil the Archer and his gang. After pulling off a counterfeit job, the villains head for their boat, planning to take their loot safely to Switzerland. The Dynamic Duo set off in the Bat boat to try to stop their escape.
Director: Sherman Marks
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.7/103 votes#12 - The Cat's Meow
Season 2 Episode 29 - Aired 12/14/1966
The Catwoman "steals" the voice of a television talk-show host in the middle of an interview with Bruce Wayne. She plants clues to suggest either the Joker, Riddler or Penguin may have committed the crime. In the meantime, she has fooled Commissioner Gordon into thinking she has gone straight. She makes her first mistake when she masquerades as Miss Klutz, a dance instructor visiting Wayne Manor. Allergic to dogwood, she sneezes and gives herself away. Her next target is to "steal" the voices of British singers Chad and Jeremy. Batman and Robin eventually track her to a dance studio, where a fight erupts. After it appears the Dynamic Duo has triumphed over Catwoman's forces, she drugs them. The heroes are placed inside a chamber where the sounds of water dripping will be magnified many, many times and drive them insane.
Director: James B. Clark
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.7/1026 votes#13 - Swan Song
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 3/3/1974
A Country and Western singer kills his overpowering wife in a plane crash while he parachutes to safety.
Director: Nicholas Colasanto
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.5/104 votes#14 - The Cat and the Fiddle
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 9/15/1966
Catwoman disguises herself as a wealthy recluse - Minerva Matthews - to exchange a quarter million dollars for two Stradivarius violins. Once the instruments are safely in her hands, the villain reveals her true identity and demands the cash back. But Catwoman is surprised to learn that her business partner - Zubin Zucchini - is also not who he appears to be.
Director: Don Weis
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.5/102 votes#15 - King Tut's Coup
Season 2 Episode 53 - Aired 3/8/1967
After a blow to the head, Yale's Egyptology professor once again believes he is King Tut. He mistakes Bruce Wayne's friend Lisa for Queen Cleopatra, and kidnaps her so he can bring her to Egypt as his bride. Batman and Robin soon locate Tut's hideout, thanks to a hidden tracking device. But soon after entering, they are captured by Tut's cronies, and Batman is submerged in a sarcophagus under five feet of water.
Director: James B. Clark
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.5/102 votes#16 - The Unkindest Tut of All
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 10/19/1967
King Tut has been predicting crimes, then secretly making sure they happen in order to gain the police's confidence. He hopes to then send them on a false lead while he commits the crime of the century. After failing an attempt to discover Batman's true identity, he gives his biggest prediction - a jailbreak of several super criminals. While the entire police force is sent to the penitentiary, Tut nabs a collection of priceless Egyptian scrolls from the Gotham City Library. The scrolls contain the key to an ancient statue, rumored to give its possessor control of the universe.
Director: Sam Strangis
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.3/103 votes#17 - The Funny Feline Felonies
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 12/28/1967
The Joker, just released from prison, teams up with Catwoman. They follow the clues of an ancient riddle to retrieve a nightshirt and an antique crib, which together form a map to a hidden cache of gunpowder which they plan to use for their next crime. Batman and Robin, together with Batgirl, follow their trail, little knowing that they are about to walk right into an ambush.
Director: Oscar Rudolph
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.3/107 votes#18 - The Purr-Fect Crime
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 3/16/1966
Catwoman initiates a series of thefts that cause Commissioner Gordon to summon Batman and Robin. But the importance of the crimes go beyond the taking of the objects involved. The Dynamic Duo eventually find Catwoman's lair. But Robin is whisked away while Batman is given a choice between two doors. If he picks the right door, he'll find Catwoman. If he picks the wrong one, he'll face certain doom. The hero makes the wrong selection and is about to be attacked by a tiger.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.0/101 votes#19 - Monkees Marooned
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 10/30/1967
Peter trades his guitar for a con man’s treasure map. On a deserted island, the Monkees go hunting for treasure—and are hunted by a mad Australian (Monte Landis) and his man Thursday (Rupert Crosse).
Director: James Frawley
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.0/107 votes#20 - Better Luck Next Time
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 3/17/1966
Batman evades the attacking tiger thanks to his utility belt. First, he scales the wall. Then, he uses a sonic device "to split the tiger's skull," as narrator William Dozier informs us. The hero still has to free Robin, who is facing a separate death trap. Once that task is completed, the Dynamic Duo are back on Catwoman's trail. It turns out the feline villain is after the lost treasure of Captain Manx, which is in a remote spot outside of Gotham City.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.0/104 votes#21 - Hot Off the Griddle
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 9/14/1966
Catwoman makes her return known with a string of robberies. Hoping to lure her into a trap, Batman plants a news blurb giving the whereabouts of a rare canary, but Catwoman is tipped off and arrives prepared. Batman and Robin follow a lead to Catwoman's hideout, the Pink Sandbox, but soon discover that this villain has been waiting for them.
Director: Don Weis
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.0/102 votes#22 - Come Back, Shame
Season 2 Episode 25 - Aired 11/30/1966
Shame is back, and is using stolen vehicle parts to assemble a truck so fast even the Batmobile won't be able to catch him. Bruce Wayne tricks him into stealing his limo, which he (as Batman) and Robin use to track down his hideout. But the villain gains the upper hand in the ensuing fight, and the Dynamic Duo find themselves staked to the ground in the path of a cattle stampede.
Director: Oscar Rudolph
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.0/103 votes#23 - The Bat's Kow Tow
Season 2 Episode 30 - Aired 12/15/1966
Batman and Robin escape Catwoman's trap by hitting the precise note needed to shatter the glass chamber in which they're prisoners. They quickly get on the trail of Catwoman. The feminine feline criminal eventually "steals" the voices of Chad and Jeremy, Commissioner Gordon and talk-show host Allen Stephens. She blackmails the British government, which faces the lost of revenue from the taxes on Chad and Jeremy's performances. Batman and Robin eventually capture Catwoman and her gang, but not before Batman and Catwoman express obvious affection for each other.
Director: James B. Clark
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
7.0/102 votes#24 - Batman's Waterloo
Season 2 Episode 54 - Aired 3/9/1967
Though Batman escapes his watery trap, Robin is left in the hands of King Tut. The deluded villain still believes that Lisa Carson is really Queen Cleopatra, and calls Lisa's father to demand a ransom of $8,300,487.12, the mortgage on the Pyramids. Using the Jolly Jackson radio show to communicate, Tut negotiates the terms of payment with Batman. However, the villain most likely intends to keep both the money and Lisa, and has further plans to fry the Caped Crusaders in his royal boiling oil.
Director: James B. Clark
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
6.8/104 votes#25 - The Joke's on Catwoman
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/4/1968
Following a tip from Batgirl, the Dynamic Trio meet up at the Grimalkin Novelty Company, hideout of the Joker and Catwoman. There, they overhear the arch-criminals' plot and secretly trail them to a stash of hidden gunpowder. A careless mistake spoils the villains' evil plan, however, and they are captured and brought before the Gotham City judge. But when the jury seems less than interested in justice, courtroom mayhem ensues.
Director: Oscar Rudolph
Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross
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Stanley Ralph Ross Ratings Summary
"Oh, My Aching Back (aka Archie's Aching Back)" is the best rated episode written by Stanley Ralph Ross. It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. It was directed by John Rich. It aired on 1/26/1971 and is rated 1.5 points higher than their second-best episode, "The Yegg Foes in Gotham".