Monday, July 21, 2014

Cult-TV Theme Watch: The Mayor



A mayor is the highest-ranking municipal official of a city or town.

Given a mayor’s authority and power, it is no surprise, perhaps that many such governing officials have figured prominently in cult-television history.



In the original Batman (1966 – 1969) for instance, the villain known as The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) ran for the office of Mayor of Gotham City against the Caped Crusader (Adam West) himself in “Hizzonner the Penguin/Dizzoner the Penguin.” 

On The Simpsons (1990 – present), Mayor Hemby -- a Kennedy sound-alike -- runs the town of Springfield…incompetently.

And on Smallville (2001 – 2011), the Mayor of Clark Kent’s Kansas home-town was none other than The X-Files’ Cigarette Smoking Man, William B. Davis.


Cult-TV’s most famous mayor, however, remains his honor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener) of Sunnydale.

Mayor Wilkins was the (delightful) “big bad” for the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003), and sought to control all of the burg’s power and direct it towards his own “ascension” to full demonic form.

Unfortunately for Buffy the Scooby Gang, the Mayor’s ascension coincided with the high school’s graduation ceremony…


Recently, another evil Mayor has darkened our TV screens.  On ABC’s Once Upon a Time (2011 - ) Lana Parilla plays Mayor Regina Mills of Storybrooke…really Wonderland’s Evil Queen. 

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