Thoughts on the GOTHAM TV Series

Aw Lordy.....

Let's be honest: the first thing that springs to mind about 'Gotham' is that it will likely bomb. Now let's fill our heads with something other than a knee-jerk reaction and explore DC's past and present.

Compared to Marvel, which was pushing out a variety of movies even before it became an independent studio, DC Comics is extremely conservative. Or are they? It's my belief that DC is in an abusive marriage with Warner Bros, who refuses to take their properties seriously. Perhaps it'd be a better analogy to say they were poor parents. At any rate, DC has only proven time and again that they have wonderful ideas, many of which show up often in animated form.

The late Dwayne McDuffie was a tremendous part of the DCAU's success, responsible for exploring characters outside of Batman in 'Justice League' as well as putting together Grant Morrison's 'All-Star Superman'. When he passed, I lost interest in much of DC's animated outings, mostly because they've gone so far away from McDuffie's more thoughtful writing style, and have instead blugeoned through stories like glorified trailers.

One giant hurdle that's been standing in the way of all fronts, is Batman. Yep, that's right, Batman. The most successful comic book character in all of creation, the highest grossing film character in the last decade, and he's the one holding everyone back. He's very kind about it, sure, and he's very generous too. What's been declared the best comic book-based show on television (whether that's true or not is irrelevant) began by emulating the Nolan trilogy. 'Arrow' has introduced Batman characters Firefly, Deadshot, the League of Assassins, Nyssa Raatko, Huntress, while name-dropping Ra's al Ghul and Blüdhaven plenty of times. It began with similar elements such as the protagonist returning home from an Odyssey of sorts to fight corruption, using fear as a motivation, rendering his own identity of a douchebag playboy as cover for his night-time activities, and facing an archenemy who wants to destroy (part of) the city through the use of some prototype doomsday device. Since its second season veered off in a different and much more refreshing direction, the show has been able to discard the 'Batman' roots and enter its own territory.

But 'Arrow' is a CW series on local television, and is hardly the most-watched show. Many people on our beloved site would deny 'Arrow' a place in the new cinematic universe even today, as you read this. Is it really that much of a guilty pleasure? Now is a good time as any to regard 'Man of Steel'. Everyone at work knows me as a big geek with a collection of name badges featuring logo stickers of Batman, Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern. Sometimes I go the whole nine yards and wear corresponding colors to go along with them, like a gold tie with a burgandy shirt or a red tie with a blue shirt. So when I'm asked about the new Superman movie, most people are surprised to hear that I thought it was "ok". I don't get into it like I would here, so I sum up my feelings with something like: "I thought the action was great, but they made Superman into a brooding loner." Clearly the Goyer/Nolan pairing were still in the Batman frame of mind. So even though my fandom is on full display, I can't actually regard the material with love I wish I had.

DC Comics Entertainment has a long way to go before the movies and tv shows become self-reliant, completely independent of Batman.

'Gotham' has Jim Gordon as the main character. Not in the way that Michael C. Hall was one of the main characters of 'Six Feet Under', but in the way that Stephen Amell is the star of 'Arrow'. Do you know how long I've been (not really) lobbying for the more "mundane" outing that doesn't revolve around a hero's journey to save the world from a supervillain? Now granted, my dream would really be a DC version of the Guy Ritchie movie 'Snatch' starring the bad guys, but this is good too.

Now some members of ComicBookMovie.com will argue to death a point that Detective Jim Gordon isn't anywhere near as interesting a character as Batman. Some of the more respectable quotes are listed below...

"As much as I like Gordon, all he can really be at this point is a generic good cop surrounded by generic bad cops so he can generically resist the temptation to become a generic bad cop because he's a generic good cop." - MetahumanAbominationKlone

"But the thing is, Jim Gordon isn't as interesting as Batman. I'd argue that Jim Gordon is only interesting BECAUSE of Batman. Without his relationship with Batman, he's no different to any other cop." - Batmaniac

"I don't understand the point of this show....there making a story where there is no story." - Spidey10

"No no no NO! Why should we support a BATMAN show (without BATMAN), that has been confirmed to have no relation to the films and is basically a rip off of Smallville?" - GliderMan


I'm going to go branch off the main road here for a momentary detour and bring to focus a Canadian television show starring one of the extras from 'Man of Steel' - 'Flashpoint'.

Is it a cop show? Yes, in many ways, yes. The formula dictates that there will be a cold open hostage situation featured at the false-start of every episode before it snaps to the beginning of the day where the subject escalates into the "villain of the week" and Team One responds to the emergency. Team One is an ace Strategic Response Unit (what Agents of SHIELD wish they were), a family of specialists consisting of the negotiator "Sarge", the team leader "Ed", snipers "Jules" and "Sam", and bomb/tech expert "Spike". It features the HUMANIZATION of the subjects not only through a walk into their sympathetic motivations (being coerced to rob a bank, taking a wife-beater hostage, forcing a doctor to operate on his dying daughter, off-duty cops turned vigilante gang busters, etc) but bringing in family members and friends who care for them. Although Team One is armed, they do everything they can to not shoot the subject. They're a team of heroes who have each other's backs, have lives of their own in and outside of work, and have their own trials managing the stress that comes with the job.

Should 'Gotham' be like that? I think it wouldn't hurt to take some influence, but Team One is meant to be the paragon of police work, whereas GCPD is infested with corruption. It's a fantastic show, having gone on for 5 seasons. No superheroes, just the team slogans "Keep the Peace" and "Connect, Respect, Protect".

As for being a small part of a bigger picture, you've got to understand that 'Gotham', 'Arrow', and 'Flash' are all prototypes. One of them has launched and has been pretty well-received, while one of the other two has some cautious optimism from this community - which is BASED OFF OF ARROW. Before WB makes ANY kind of commitment, they have to see how it works on television, and whether it'll grow into a larger thing or not. Even then, they would likely start over from scratch in order to cut out what didn't work, sacrificing all that did.

Can't say I do. TV is the proving ground.

I just don't understand why, if they have all of the Batman rights, they do not just do an actual Batman series.

Drop this show. Give us a crime drama, and show us how the Police, the DA's Office, and Batman work together, or in opposition, to solve cases and bring down criminals. Then throw in some Bruce Wayne billionaire/socialite for good measure. And be sure the keep the Bruce Wayne vs Batman character dualism to a minimum. I enjoy the Nolan films, but they beat you over the head with Bruce's struggle and it gets old fast.

Instant success, and if you portray Batman as more of a detective than a superhero, then you don't have to worry about blowing the budget.

I don't mind this at all, I think it's a show with great potential.
If they go down the procedural aspect of the show rather than superhero/super villain then it could be really good.

I'm not til thrilled on the idea of throwing in well known comic villains, the timeline can get confusing (if Batman is supposed to grow up and fight these guys later on...) I would've preferred them to use B-Villains that maybe haven't got their live action debut and so probably won't be seen in the cinematic universe.

All the hate for this show is undeserved since we haven't even seen a trailer for it yet, or anything. So wanting it to be cancelled ALREADY without giving it a chance is just pure childishness.

I would think there to be a way to incorporate this show into Canon if only they used common sense. What makes most of Batmans villains some of the most memorable is their story. I hate to tell DC but they keep missing the mark. They should've took the SHIELD approach and did it slightly different. This would've been the perfect time to please Batman fans and stay within the direction they were trying to move with the universe simply by making the show about Nightwing. Nightwing couldve dusted up with all of the Bat villains that wont make the movies. As well as explored Gotham thru flashbacks similar to Arrow. This young Gotham stuff is dumb. The reason why they couldnt make it part of the film canon is because this is a dumb idea. They are making the Wonder Years starring Batman. This is crazy to keep starting and stopping shows. They couldve used Nightwing and he couldve tied into Arrow and Flash and that couldve been A version of Young Justice withouty dampening the JL

I think the Gotham tv show has potential but i dont think it will do well in terms of execution. Good article though and if you do enjoy the show or if anyone else enjoys the show then i wont hate them for liking it.

Particularly for me i'll watch it but in the end i dont think the show would be suited for me.

A Batman tv show could have been better or even Nightwing.