Fox Broadcasting Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly presented his executive session to the Television Critics Association with a big plan to kill pilot season, presenting an RIP Pilot Season tombstone graphic. More on that later. One of his new pilots is “Gotham,” the Batman prequel starring Detective Gordon before he becomes the police commissioner, and a 12-year-old Bruce Wayne. Reilly confirmed the entire slate of Batman characters and villains will be in “Gotham,” including The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler and Catwoman. However, we will meet them before they find their costumes and modus operandi.
“We’re arcing to that because we’re not starting in that world where the villains are in costume,” said Reilly in a follow-up with a group of journalists after the panel. “You see markers for it that are kind of delicious. You begin to see where the evolution and the eccentricities that become those characters, but you really arc there. We don’t start off with capes and costumes.”
“Gotham” will be in production and on the air at the same time that the Batman Vs. Superman feature film is heading to theaters. Reilly said “Gotham” exists entirely as its own franchise, though will be tonally similar. “Christopher Nolan’s not a producer. We’re not going to directly access [it], but it’s going to be very organic to that world. There is [a] complete disconnect. Warner Bros. manages the entire franchise and it’s one of their top global franchises of all at this point. There will be an awareness of both and we’ll have to choreograph when they’re in the marketplace, but the productions are not piggybacking on each other.”
As for the young actor, Reilly guessed he’d begin at about 12-years-old, but Bruce Wayne’s path is not set in stone yet. “First of all, our actor I think will grow up. I can’t give the exact markers of how old he is here and how old we start. Some of that will have to be sized up, but I imagine if we do our job well, it’ll be great. He’s going to be a young man and you’ll feel ready to go. Listen, not to say in some season we couldn’t skip ahead and jump. I think we’ll have to size it up as we go.”
While Reilly would cite cable’s success with slower schedules and shorter seasons in his presentation, he hinted that “Gotham” could be a long network series. “Warner Brothers would like it to go 22 [episodes] because they just want as many as they can get. We’ll see. We’ll cross the bridge when we get there.”
Reilly is staffing “Gotham” in February to go into production ahead of traditional pilot season.
With his “RIP Pilot Season” graphic, Reilly cited Damon Lindelof’s analogy at the HBO panel for “The Leftovers,” that when you slow the conveyor belt, the quality increases. Reilly considers pilot season an outdated system designed for the old three network world. Networks traditionally produce 80-100 pilots and only green light a few, whereas cables can focus on honing their few pilots to get them just right.
“Cable networks are able to course correct creatively and recast,” Reilly said. “Every first season show needs course correction and needs further cooking.”
Reilly listed 9 more series on which he is moving forward without pilots:
“Wayward Pines” is already in production of episode 5.
“Gracepoint,” the American remake of “Broadchurch” is fully cast and goes into production in two weeks. As for why they’re making their own series when Reilly himself is an admitted fan of “Broadchurch,” Reilly was frank.
“There are cultural particularities,” he said during his session. “As great as ‘Broadchurch’ is 99.99% of the audience will not have seen that show and will be more comfortable with something set in America. We really did contemplate airing as is but it would probably be a lower rating, where we could have a big win with this. Don’t fix what ain’t broke. That show will be an American version very faithful. They did 8, we’ll do 10, we have a different ending than they have.”
David Tennant is the only “Broadchurch” actor to return for “Gracepoint,” but Reilly said it would be a mistake to import the entire cast. “It felt like his Hugh Laurie moment in time so we decided to go with him, but at a certain point you’re just redoing the show.”
Should America’s “Gracepoint” be successful, it could have a second season independent from “Broadchurch.” “They’re writing the second series in England. If we do a second season, it’ll probably be a hybrid where we could just skim off some things. But i think at a certain point, it starts to take on its own life just as the ‘The Office’ did and that’s what I anticipate.”
