Grade: 70/100
“Gotham,” the new Batman franchise TV series, is possibly the most highly anticipated show of the fall season, and I was lucky enough to see the pilot before its airdate.
The story takes place before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and centers on officer James Gordon, played by Benjamin McKenzie, but the show as a whole is meant to provide origin stories for many of the characters of Gotham City.
I like the idea of origin stories as a TV series, but I wish that the characters would have been introduced over time rather than so many in the first episode. There are just too many great characters in the Batman universe to try to pile them all in at once.
“Gotham” also features some completely new characters. One of those characters is a seductive mob affiliate played byJada Pinkett Smith. While it’s almost never a bad idea to introduce new characters, I see Smith’s character as potentially too similar to other characters like Catwoman and Poison Ivy to make a lasting impact. We’ll have to wait for more episodes to tell for certain.
Though I liked the intense plot of the pilot, its pacing was not what I wanted. It seemed a little too much like a crime and punishment, cops and robbers-type show, with too much dramatic dialogue.
All the hype surrounding “Gotham” seems to have made its producers more concerned with public accessibility than anything else. Netflix has purchased exclusive subscription video on demand rights for the series, though they probably won’t be available until fall of 2015.
“The Batman origin story is sure to have massive global appeal so it is fitting that, along with Warner Television, we have created a new model for distributing a show that international and domestic audiences will love,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, in a public statement.
To me, this sounds like the producers of “Gotham” are trying as hard as possible to sell out before the first episode is even publicly released.
This is never good for the quality of media.
Still, “Gotham” was exciting enough that I will certainly continue the series, though I’m worried it will get bland, even boring.
“Gotham” is scheduled to premiere at 8 p.m. Sept. 22 on Fox.