I went back to my old Sam Sherman interview, and he says he suggested serials to the manager of the NYC theater The New Yorker, and they went "through the roof" attendance-wise (BATMAN was one of 'em). The Playboy Theatre in Chicago found out about it through Columbia and did the same thing (as described above), again with great results.

Now, whether the success of The New Yorker's serials helped make Fox think a TV BATMAN would be a good idea (as Sam suggests), I dunno.