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On his new Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien has the indescribable William Shatner on as a regular guest, but it’s Adam West who was Conan’s first love. Before Seth MacFarlane got his filthy paws on the self-mocking erstwhile Caped Crusader, the late-night host was sort of obsessed with West. From a 1997 Rolling Stone interview :

“I maintain that the television series Batman is one of the most brilliant pieces of American art in the last 30 years,” says O’Brien. The article recalls how a young Conan and the ever-brilliant Robert Smigel teamed with West on a network television series that never got off the ground.

The article continues: “In 1991, O’Brien and fellow Batman obsessive Robert Smigel, his friend from SNL, made a pilot [called Lookwell]  for NBC. Of course, it starred Adam West.

Smigel: “We were so happy. We had to fight so hard to get Adam West to be the guy.”

O’Brien; “He played an actor named Ty Lookwell who had a hit show in the ’70s, a Quinn Martin production. And when he had the show, he got to go to all these law-enforcement luncheons, and it went to his head a bit. So he thinks he can solve crimes. He carries around a badge that’s encased in a Lucite block and shows it to people. He wears turtlenecks. He’s a little down on his luck but just gets by. At the time, I thought Adam West was just right.”

The show did not get picked up by the network.

“There’s actually a little cult following of the pilot episode,” says Smigel. “That’s kind of nice. I’m really proud of it. But I was so disappointed that we didn’t get to revive Adam West’s career.”

You can watch the entire Lookwell pilot on Youtube.