The show was inspired by the success of the Batman series. ABC brought The Green Hornet to television in the 1966-67 TV Season,  which introduced martial arts master Bruce Lee to American audiences and starred Van Williams as the Green Hornet.

Unlike the Batman show, the TV version of The Green Hornet was played straight, but it was cancelled after only one season.

However, the meteoric rise of Bruce Lee as a major cult movie star ensured continued interest in the television property. As a matter of fact, Bruce Lee's popularity in Hong Kong, where he was raised, was such that the show was marketed there as 'The Kato Show' !

The TV series displayed the Hornet's car, the 'Black Beauty', as a 1965 Chrysler Imperial customized by Dean Jeffries. I named my first bike 'The Black Beauty' as I was very enamored of the TV Show!  I later met Van Williams at a SDCC show where he was signing autographs for the NOW Green Hornet series!

It was also in 1967 that Gold Key Comics produced a  comic book series based on the TV show, which mirrored that program's short life with a brief three-issue print run, with the first issue pictured to the left!  I never met Bruce Lee, but saw a program at the LA Sci-Fi & Comic Con where his brother showed home movies of the Lee family...