Gotham

Okay so it's official. They're in pre-production for a Tv show taking place in the aftermath of the Waynes' murder. Yes those Waynes. And my initial thoughts were..."why?"

And then I thought of it a little more and am a little on the fence but here goes.

Okay most of the major players that make Gotham City Gotham City wouldn't be around yet. No Oracle, No Catwoman, No Nightwing, No Joker.  heck even though people are talking about this being about Jim Gordon he would still be pretty young at this time. Maybe a beat cop but not so much known as the crazy awesome guy he is.



Most of the adaptations of Batman admit that a lot of the crazy is a direct reaction to the new not sheriff in town. Heck even Gotham Central a (very good) comic series created deliberately to focus on the nonsuper powered Gotham PD largely dealt with their reaction to the Dark Knight supplanting them as Gotham's protector. Here's a hint. They don't like it.

But what I will give you is that Gotham itself could be interesting. My problem with the premise is that most of the interesting stuff going on at this point in the timeline is usual organized crime stuff. And if you want to make a show about old timey gangsters, just go ahead make a show about old timey gangsters.



And then the rebuttal is Court of Owls. Haven't read it but most people agree it's one of the better stories to come out of the New 52. But even the most fan servicey mainstream show is not going to start with that kind of thing. The show is going to start out as a crime drama. Maybe a period crime drama, but a crime drama.

It took Arrow an entire season to give us Black Canary, probably the second or third most important character in the Green Arrow family literally. (C'mon Miles they gave you Huntress with both her origin...well an origin Huntress is complicated... and costume intact. What do you expect?


Grumble Grumble. Huntress hails from Gotham. Wait for it.)

Which brings me to another point.

Why Batman, er I mean Gotham? Arrow is just now starting to move out of the shadow of the Dark Knight Trilogy to become it's own thing. My major beef with at least modern Tv shows based on the DC universe (Timmverse  and DC Nation stuff excepted) Is that they all have to take place in Gotham even when they don't. It's like the writers don't know how to write any other setting. I'm not even talking about wild i.e. high production cost places like Themyscira or Oa either.  How about revisiting Dakota City, or maybe Central City, or how about Fawcett City. I'm just saying you have more choices than NewYork/Chicago expies.

Look the reliance on Gothamlike settings is part of a larger problem in television. Lack of fun. Look I like drama. I do. But one not all dramas should be the same. I'm just now getting to a point where there is more on TV than Law and Order knock offs. And part of that is the availability of shows that don't have to always be so damn grim all the time and are free to have some fun.






And yes Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is better than the original. There I said it.