10 Reasons Why We’ve Already Given Up On The Gotham TV Show

6. Budgets Over Expectations

The producers of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD complained recently that viewers expected too much from the series; that they went in believing they were getting a Marvel movie every week - which just wasn't feasible given the budget they had (though in actuality, the reasons why viewers didn't respond to Agents of SHIELD were fundamental flaws; characters you didn't care about, storylines that didn't make sense, bad writing, etc.). The reason why the focus is on the Gotham City Police Department AND is set before Batman and the many costumed villains appear is to keep budgets down. Take a gander at the TV schedules and you'll see a dozen or more cop shows €“ why? Because they're cheap to make and are quite popular. Gotham looks to be another cop show in the mould of CSI/Law and Order/Every Generic Cop Show. With cop shows, you don't need flashy special effects, office sets are cheap, and locations tend to be limited and readily available, especially in a city that could easily be replicated. But do Batman fans want to see a cop show/police procedural or do they want Batman? Of course it's the latter. So it doesn't matter if you come up with a way to set a show in Gotham and make numerous references to Batman within it €“ it's still a cop show/police procedural. Fans of the comics don't want CSI: Gotham, they want Batman. Gotham won't give them that €“ but they will give them cameos of a kid with a sullen expression and his cockney butler in between Gotham PD poring over case files and eating donuts. Exciting!