By Matt Murphy staff writer
Gotham looks to be the next big show on Mondays on Fox, and it seems to be as good as the Caped Crusader character off whom the show is based. Laughs may not be com- ing, considering the main character does not crack a smile through the whole pilot. The show kicks off in a gang war-torn town where the cops are just as bad as the gangsters who run it.
The show’s cast has some well-known veterans and some who are getting their first big break. Ben McKenzie is the lead detective, Jim Gordon, and Donal Logue is his shady and mob- connected partner Harvey Bullock. What a lot of people will not know is this is not the first time McKenzie has been involved in a Batman project. He was the voice of the Dark Knight in the animated movie Batman: Year One. The producers at Fox sure know how to get a team together, snagging wife of world known actor Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith. The cast has quite a bit of chemistry.
In the pilot episode, fresh new detective Gordon (Makenzie) has just joined the GPD and is determined to change the way of the broken department, starting off by solving one of the biggest new cases: the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. His partner steadily tries to convince him to drop the case and let it go, considering the mob is be- hind it and, in a city like Gotham, the mob is where you don’t go. Gordon finds himself in a situation that could turn his world upside down. The show has a dark and depressing feel and visuals that will make you feel like you’re right in an episode of Law and Order: Gotham edition. Even with all this great praise, you have to ask yourself, “How far can they take it?”
We have seen shows try and fail to keep a steady audience with a show in the Batman
universe but not have a Batman. Shows such as Birds of Prey was a show about Batman’s daughter, but would not feature the Caped Crusader. When the show went into its first mid-season break, it received the notice it was canceled. Is this the fate Gotham is going
to face? I don’t think so. At first blush, this show appears to have some staying power.
The skies look bright even for the cloudy streets of Gotham. At least in considering its early episodes, Gotham hits all the right notes in all the right ways. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.