Gotham

I'm obviously showing my age, or perhaps it's the two small ones in the house, but there was once a time when the trashy, the vile, and the profane didn't come on TV until 9pm.

The idea of Gotham being a Fox police procedural pre-Batman left some room for hope.   The eight o'clock start time gave me promise that it might be okay for the tween/early teen crowd.  It's not something I was expecting to watch with my kids. 

But could you get a shot with more blood escaping from Thomas Wayne's exploding heart?    I wonder how many clueless parents sat their youngins in front of the TV for a Batman show and regretted it.  I mean it's as bad as a family of six children  walk out fifteen minutes into a showing of Superbad, but it's still not appropriate

I haven't watched more than a few early episodes of Arrow, but I don't recall any gratuitous violence shots. Everything was either off camera or at a less advantageous angle that still did not lessen the impact of the scene.  

I knew going in that Gotham was going to be rough around the edges.  Pre-Batman Gotham City is filled with sadistic mob bosses, some only an outfit and a schtick away from being a costumed villain.  It was not something I could watch with my kids, but the brutality immediately threw me off.

I am not a huge fan of the Batman universe, at best it could be considered a "casual hobbyist" but it was interesting to put current detectives on the GCPD back fifteen plus years before their backgrounds were established in the comics.  The future Penguin is delightfullly reprehensible, and quick encounter by Ed in the lab made me chuckle.  I even like Fish, and could critique her establishment's employee dress code when How I Met your Mother ran at 8pm and had whole epic storylines in strip clubs.

I do have a feeling that this series' version of Alfred will be a doctor's phone call away from medication the young Bruce Wayne.  Little Bruce is already way too intense.

Outside of the potential miscasts at Wayne Manor, I heartily approve of the rest of the cast, especial Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock.

I last saw Logue on the BBC Show Copper, and I don't believe there's much of a stretch between the two characters.  Crooked with his own sense of justice, Harvey's a survivor more than a full blown player in Gotham's corruption.  He can operate in the shadows as well as out in the light, and works as a perfect foil to James Gordon.

Gotham is third on my 8pm Monday line up (behind Big Bang and The Voice), so as long as Fox keeps showing Friday/Saturday rebroadcasts of episodes, I'll continue watching it, appreciating the effort, but pining for the days of sitcoms with ugly sweaters in the timeslot.

Edit:  I finally got to see the the second episode and it seems they went for shock and awe in the pilot to noticeable but off center violence.  When Falcone visits Fish and someone needs to get roughed up, the beating is off to the side of the screen, and the it continues off screens as a series of thuds and grunts as the camera Falcone finishes his conversation with her.

Other quick thoughts:

• "Stop sneaking up on people, it's rude!"   Still don't like Bruce or Alfred, though.
• Is Kat going to be Gordon's street level informant, or is it just a one episode ruse?
• For bonus points, in what twisted ViscountEric logic does Richard Kind playing the mayor tie directly into Dark Knight Rises (we do have to file down the serial numbers on a few things)?