8 Reasons Batman Belongs On Television
Batman should be on the streets solving crimes, not saving the world from aliens.
Batman and Batman-adjacent news abounds as of late, with casting underway for the Joker Origin Film, Ruby Rose getting cast as TheCW's Batwoman, details about the DC Universe streaming service emerging from SDCC, and director Matt Reeves giving an update on the long-gestating Batman reboot, with Ben Affleck's involvement still a mystery.
In an interview at a Television Critics Association panel, Reeves described the film as a “very point-of-view noir-driven definitive Batman story,” a story that is “really about him being the world’s greatest detective.”
First of all, YES. That’s probably the best elevator pitch for a Batman movie anyone could make. In fact, it’s such a good approach that someone might want to watch something like that every Sunday, say for an hour or so, around nine-ish.
Of course, Warner Bros. wants to reserve one its most popular characters for movies, because it's profitable. And yes, there’s Gotham, but that’s diet Batman. We the people deserve the opportunity to tune in to a fully caped-and-cowled, crime-solving, batarang-hurling Dark Knight serving up hot knuckle sandwiches to Gotham’s underworld every single week.
It's been almost three decades since the crazy-how-well-it-holds-up Batman: The Animated Series and more than half a century since the delightfully camptastic Adam West series. It's time for Batman to return to TV.
8. The Price Is Right
While Batman is an exceptionally intelligent guy, and also the perfect physical specimen of a guy, he's still just a guy. A flesh-and blood, albeit very rich, guy with no superpowers.
And so are (most of) his Rogues' Gallery. He's a street-level hero fighting street-level criminals. So a Batman TV show wouldn't need the same kind of effects-heavy budget that super-powered shows like Supergirl or the Flash do.
That's not to say that a Batman TV show should have the production value of DIY YouTube channel. But with a focus on sleuthing, crime-solving and realistic hand-to-hand fight scenes, the show could allocate its budget towards amazing sets (more on that later) and practical bat gadgetry (also more on that later) instead of having to make it rain thousands of dollars every episode on a 30-second CGI fight scene. Until the Clayface episode, that's gonna be an expensive one.