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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