3. Don't Save Things For Later
Arrow avoided the mistake made by earlier superhero shows like Smallville and Birds of Prey of using comic book characters sparingly. That didn't work ten years ago, and certainly wouldn't in 2013 where we have so many comic book movies and TV shows to choose from. People watch comic book shows expecting to see supervillians, not anonymous freaks of the week. Arrow avoided this by regularly using DC characters from the start. As well as all the previously mentioned characters, season one also saw Ollie encounter Huntress, Deadshot and Count Vertigo. Gotham has a big advantage over Arrow in that the rogues of Gotham City are far better known. This doesn't mean we should have the Joker right away, but there are plenty of minor Batvillains to fill up a first season.