10 Awful TV Shows With Incredible First Episodes

Efforts to create a Batman show set before Batman go back to at least 1999 with a failed pilot script centring around a young Bruce Wayne penned by The Iron Giant screenwriter Tim McCanlies.

The idea was revisited years later by Rome creator Bruno Heller, but this time with a focus on a young Commissioner Gordon, and Gotham was born.

The first episode offers everything that Batman fans expect from an origin story. The death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, the introduction of future members of the rogue’s gallery like Oswald Cobblepot and Edward Nygma, and an overall gloomy atmosphere reminiscent of the Dark Knight’s most well-known stories.

But as the series went on, the writers clearly lost sight of what tone they were aiming for and it all soon went completely off the rails. What started out as a gritty, realistic take on the Batman mythos worthy of a Nolan film ended up as a strange mashup of Adam West and Tim Burton.

While there was still some fun to be had in watching what outlandish antics the residents of Gotham City were up to this week, any hopes the show had of being fondly remembered had long since gone out the window.