Ok, seriously! I know Gotham's got that Batman money going for it but not every new series will have that. Why the hell does Fox even bother accepting new shows at all anymore?!
This is the problem with the US TV and video game industry. Nodody wants to take ANY risks with new properties at all unless there's at least a decent chance of starting a new epic world renowned franchise!
Gotham is nothing more than an exercise in how bankable the Batman brand name is. It just goes to show that people will watch something just because Batman is vaguely attached to it. Otherwise, the show is a failure, and rather pointless. Not only is it poorly acted and written, what's the point to watching a Batman series when Batman's never going to show up on it? At least Smallville had Clark Kent preforming Superman acts of heroism, even if he wasn't in the Superman costume or using the Superman name. All Gotham is proving is that it's Batman's rogues gallery, and not Batman himself that is the main draw of the character.
And yeah, the American TV industry is a very dated system. First of all, they are still trapped in the "100 episodes or bust" mentality that every series must reach 100 episodes so that the producers and cast can live on royalty checks for the rest of their lives, thanks to cable syndication. This means there's lots of unnecessary filler episodes in which nothing of any importance happens. Secondly, the showrunners are creativity bankrupt. Every series has to be of the "holy trinity" of go-to ideas of a police drama, a medical drama, or a court room drama. No disrespect to the police, doctor, and lawyer professions, but I only care about those jobs when I'm in need of a police officer, doctor, or lawyer, otherwise I couldn't care less about what they do in their daily lives. This is why I prefer series on cable TV, where there can be a bit more variety. Thirdly, everything lives or dies by ratings. If one million people or less are watching, then the show is canceled after five episodes and in some cases, even less than that.
I can totally understand why content creators are fleeing to Netflix. You can tell your season's arching story in 13 episodes or less, you can do ideas that reach far beyond police, medical, or court room dramas, and there's no need to fear that your series might be canceled after two episodes because the ratings aren't promising enough. Not to mention we the viewers win because there's no commercial interruption and we can watch the entire season in one sitting, instead of having to wait six or seven months to get the whole story. So yeah, as far as I'm concerned, new media is kicking the @$$ of television, and television has only its own backwards way of thinking to blame.
