GOTHAM.

[JamesC]

Well I watched the first 3 episodes of this last week and I have to say I really enjoyed it.
I'm not saying it's the most original programme out there but it was really good fun. It seems a bit silly complaining about the cheesy acting when the entire production is as camp as a row of tents. I thought the humour was pretty good and I found Bullock's resigned acceptance of corruption and willingness to speak with his fists very entertaining.
And apart from that, one episode had a villian whose modus operandi was handcuffing people to balloons and letting them float away. Bonkers!

[Professor Bear]

I feel sorry for the guy doing the Penguin, as he's throwing himself into it even when his storyline - especially his dialogue - makes no fucking sense at all even by this show's standards.

[Daveycandlish]

Well all you've said so far has made me want to tune into Channel 5 tonight for the first broadcast on peasant telly!

[Hawkmumbler]

I'll give it three episodes as well, but I wasn't a fan of Smallville and Arrow wasn't much better. As it is i'm sick of 'gritty' super hero addaptations.

I blame Frank Miller.

[Goaty]

Watch the first episode, I liked it, more like the Shield (that LA bald cop show) than Smallville which is good.

[Colin YNWA]

I stumbled across this last night were doing other things (I was very surprised it was on Channel 5 so soon). Now I must admit I was only half watching but damn it all seemed to take itself a little too seriously. It was so determined to be grim and 'mature' and hard-bitten it came across daft to me. It was so so lite as well all so shiny in the darkness. Everything planned, cold and clinical.

Not for me.

Its kinda symptomatic of my feeling towards lots of comic (particularly superhero) films and telly. Flash and Daredevil two of my all time favs are coming to the small screen and a few years ago I probably would have been cock-a-hoop at the thought. Now I can barely be bothered to think about them. Good telly is so much better than nearly all the superhero stuff I've seen. Good superheroes are so much better in comics than live action. So I'm cool that these things are there but they really don't work for me and Gotham seemed to define why that is.

Stop bloody trying so hard to be taken seriously. Either relax with who and what you are or let it go.

That's not to say they can't be serious, mature and good, I'm sure they can, but while they seem so self conscious about it I don't think they will!

[8-Ball]

Watched it last night and didn't care for it. As far as I could see it didn't have two original ideas to rub together and it just appeared to me to be another gritty detective show but with Batman window dressing. Meh.

[JamesC]

People keep describing it as grim and gritty but I don't get that from it at all.
I'd describe it almost as black comedy in lots of instances. The bit where Penguin is beating the guy in the alley and the cop goes out and they say they're just playing and the victim gives a big grin and a thumbs up. I thought that was supposed to be a joke. And in the later episode there's the balloon guy.
It's like there's this cop double act, one of whom (Bullock) is in on the joke and willing to go along with it and the other one (Gordon) is completely bemused by this bonkers city and is trying to keep a level head. Again, it's a fish out of water story which is more comedy than serious drama.
I honestly think the whole thing is supposed to be tongue in cheek and that people are reading it too seriously.

[Dandontdare]

I actually enjoyed last night's opener a lot more than I thought I would - they shovelled in a lot of proto-villains - Penguin, catwoman, Riddler, poison Ivy (and I wonder if we'll see that traumatised stand-up comedian again..), but that was inevitable for the first ep. I know that Montoya, Bullock and Carmine Falcone are all from the comics as well, but I've never come across Fish Mooney before - is she original for the show?

I think it works because of the leads - the Gordon/Bullock partnership was good, I liked the way they interacted, but I can't see this being must-see viewing every week.

[DaveGYNWA]

...but I've never come across Fish Mooney before - is she original for the show?

Yup

[CheechFU]

It seemed overly keen to throw every single batman character into nearly every scene.

Also do not watch The Flash. Seriously. Just. No.

[Bolt-01]

Nah- as i keep telling the kids- watch the first season if you are interested- then the second season if it has promise. after that drop it like a stone.

Remember how long it took Babylon 5 to hit it's stride? And Shield was wobbly for the first half of the season.

Remember that these are 'not' the comics you love- they are IP mines designed to capture advertising revenue. Don't expect to see more than glimpses of the potential.

Watched Gotham and mostly enjoyed it- hope that they don't try to build links to Arrow, Flash etc and I hope they keep the costumes downplayed as well. nice to see Sean Pertwee and directed by Danny Cannon...

[CheechFU]

I watched up to episode 4 last night.

bulluck is basically gene hunt from life on mars.
sean pertwee as alfred is great. The forgotten sean.
the only interesting character is emopenguin and he's not very interesting
cat girls head is very strange
jim's wife is stupid and ridiculously demanding [spoiler]at one point pretty much threatening to divorce him because he refuses to tell her cop secrets[/spoiler]
edward nigma is annoying
a couple of the endings to episodes were just too DUN DUN DURRRRRR!
some of the exterior shots of gotham look like they are made from cardboard

[Frank]

Don't think I'll bother with this. Does the presence of almost all of the usual villains while Bruce Wayne is still in short trousers mean this show's dropped the Miller/Nolan thesis that Bruce Wayne introducing an animal theme to his psychopathic attacks on purse snatchers causes the criminal classes to become more violent and flamboyant themselves?

[Professor Bear]

I honestly think the whole thing is supposed to be tongue in cheek and that people are reading it too seriously.

You can look at the list of Gotham's forebears like CSI Miami/New York, NCIS, or Cold Case to see that Gotham isn't a commentary, parody or reaction to anything, it's just another entry in an established sub-genre of the cop procedural where grittiness is ramped up to hide ridiculous plotting and thin characters.  Shows like Forever, Bones, Castle, Elementary, The Glades, Psych - these are the real parodies of the kind of po-faced murder panto that Gotham is just another poor example of.