Editorial: GOTHAM Gets Picked Up For a Full 22 Episode Season & I Don't Understand Why



Gotham has been doing decent ratings and numbers since it aired on Fox several weeks back. By decent I mean that it's doing similar numbers to Season 2 of Agents of SHIELD. Not the best ratings on TV but definitely not the worst. Kind of in the middle ground where shows linger when they're not amazing, but not terrible.

Personally, which is why this is an editorial, I don't get it. I've watched all the episodes of Gotham so far and I feel like I'm one of only a few who doesn't like this show. I know the series needs time to develop and find its footing — it took Marvel's Agents of SHIELD two/thirds of its first season to do it when it dealt with the fallout from Captain America: The Winter Soldier — so I will continue to tune it and hope it gets better. But I feel like the show insults my intelligence more than anything else. I mean, c'mon... Balloonman?! It doesn't get much more insulting than that horrid attempt at a villain.

In the pilot episode alone, you're bombarded with 3-4 Batman villains before the first commercial break. I thought this was supposed to be about Detective Jim Gordon and his rise to prominence. While Gordon is the face of the series it's all about the origin tales of Batman's villains. I hate to say it, but this is way lame.

This show needs to be about real detective work and not about Batman's villains. Cop shows are highly successful on television and I expected a somewhat fantasy version of one of the CSI shows but in Gotham. Maybe the show turns into this but it really needs to not focus on all these young Batman villains.

Change the focus strictly on the mafia because they own the city way before Batman ever wore his cape and cowl. A cop show with the mafia works. It has in the past on TV and it will always work as long as it is well written and produced. The longer Gotham ignores not focusing more on the mafia, the more likely its ratings will start to drop. But that's just my guess because you can only focus on young Batman villains for so long until the fan base gets bored, like I already have.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong since the power of Batman's fan base is large and strong. In the end, this is just my opinion on Gotham as of right now... and it could change as the season goes on but it's definitely an uphill battle in my eyes.