Last year, Fox won a bidding war to get the Batman prequel series, “Gotham.” And after only three episodes, Fox is now giving “Gotham” a complete 22 episode run.
Earlier today, Fox announced that it has placed a six episode order of “Gotham” on top of the 16 episodes initially planned for the first season. This pickup comes after the series premiere of “Gotham” was Fox’s highest rated fall debut in 14 years. “Gotham” also set a record with an 82% increase in Live plus 7 viewers in the coveted 18 to 49 demo.
Prior to its premiere on Fox, Netflix preemptively acquired the streaming rights to “Gotham” beginning in September 2015, which will theoretically launch before the second season on Fox.
Related: Netflix Picks Up ‘Gotham’ Before Network Premiere
Yes, everything is coming up “Gotham” for Fox… except the show itself. After only three episodes, Bruno Heller’s “Gotham” has revealed itself to be wildly uneven in tone and performances. The writing has been especially problematic, as Batman’s famous villains have been forced into nearly every episode and the “Balloonman” vigilante story was ludicrously terrible.
The one real high point of “Gotham” is Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot, the man who is better known as The Penguin. Cobblepot’s murderous rampage through Gotham City’s underworld has been very entertaining as he plots his rise to the top of the criminal underworld. Despite great leading actors in Ben McKenzie and Donal Logue, the James Gordon and Harvey Bullock pairing hasn’t been as fun.
Every drama tends to go through growing pains before finding itself creatively. There is always the potential that “Gotham” could get better if some of its flaws are addressed and recognized. The real question is whether viewers will have the patience to follow “Gotham” all the way through the season. I believe that depends upon how satisfied the general audience is with the show. Even a very flawed TV show can survive if there’s a sizable audience watching it every week.
“Gotham” airs Monday nights on Fox.
