Gotham (Fox: S2:E2 "Rise of the Villains" - The Maniax)

[Dr Mordrid]

http://hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/batman-prequel-series-coming-fox-635645

UPDATED: The network has given a series commitment to a drama about Batman's police liaison from "Mentalist" showrunner Bruno Heller.

Fox has given a straight-to-series order for comic book drama Gotham, based on Batman character Commissioner James Gordon.

The origins tale centering on the DC Comics fixture comes to the network from Warner Bros. Television. The series will be executive produced and written by The Mentalist showrunner Bruno Heller. News regarding Gotham City's most notable police officer comes on the same day that ABC launched its own comic franchise, Agents of SHIELD, from corporate sister Marvel and based on the long-running intelligence group featured in the comics.

WBTV and DC are already in the TV business with The CW's Arrow and potential spinoff Flash in the works, but Gotham takes them into more familiar territory. A description for the series says that in addition to showing the history behind Gordon, it will focus on the villains that made the fictional city famous.

Since it chronicles events before Gordon meets Batman, the superhero will not be part of the series -- but Gordon's roots in the Batman universe go quite deep. He first appeared in Detective Comics #27, the same issue that introduced the Dark Knight. He was famously portrayed by Gary Oldman in the Christopher Nolan trilogy and the late Pat Hingle in the 1989-97 Batman features.

The series also isn't Fox's first flirtation with Batman this development season. The network recently gave a pilot order to The Middle Man from director/exec producer Ben Affleck, who is set to play Batman opposite Henry Cavill's Superman in the upcoming Zack Snyder feature.

Gotham joins Fox's Tina Fey-Matt Hubbard-Robert Carlock comedy as the only projects that have landed the rare straight-to-series orders for the 2014-15 broadcast season. (CBS' Steven Spielberg-produced Extant also was picked up straight to series for summer 2014.)

For Fox's part, Gotham marks the latest comic book adaptation in the works at the network. The network is also adapting Alan Moore's Vertigo comic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which received a put-pilot commitment in July. Homeland's Howard Gordon is also prepping Boom Studios' Unthinkable, which also received a hefty commitment from Fox earlier this month.

The Gotham series also comes as The CW is still mulling Amazon, a potential Wonder Woman prequel series featuring the early days of the Justice League heroine. NBC tried to bring Wonder Woman to the screen two years ago with prolific producer David E. Kelley attached, but the much-maligned pilot failed to move forward. If The CW's Wonder Woman and Flash projects were to move forward and Batman to appear on Gotham, DC could see the bulk of the Justice League either on TV or on the big screen.

[KRSESQ]

That will be fine until the New 52 kills Gordon off.

[Dr Mordrid]

[Dr Mordrid]

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/ben-mckenzie-to-play-young-commissioner-gordon-in-foxs-batman-origin-series-1201093480/

Ben McKenzie to Play Young Commissioner Gordon in Fox’s Batman Origin Series

“Gotham” has found its Detective James Gordon.

Fox and Warner Bros. TV have tapped Ben McKenzie to star in “Gotham,” casting the “Southland” alum as a young version of DC Comics’ famed Commissioner Gordon.

Fox topper Kevin Reilly announced at the net’s winter TCA session that “Gotham” will feature the origin story of Gordon along with Gotham City’s notable villains. A young Bruce Wayne will also be featured, as “Gotham” follows Wayne from his pre-teen years to the moment when it puts on the Batman cape for the first time.

Bruno Heller penned the pilot script for “Gotham,” which has a series commitment at Fox. He will exec produce with Danny Cannon, who also helmed the pilot.

McKenzie is no stranger to the Fox family, as the thesp landed his breakout role on the net’s sudsy drama “The O.C.” McKenzie also has experience working in the Batman universe, having voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in 2011 animated pic “Batman: Year One.”

The actor is repped by CAA, Management 360 and PJ Shapiro, Ziffren and Brittenham.

[Dr Mordrid]

http://tvline.com/2014/02/11/gotham-casts-the-penguin-alfred-barbara-gordon-essen/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Fox's Gotham Casts The Penguin, Alfred, James Gordon's Fiancée and Captain Essen

Robin Lord Taylor (Accepted, The Walking Dead) has been cast as Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin, a low-level psychopath — toiling for a gangster named Fish (nod to Jim?) Mooney — who hides his sadistic lust for power behind an exquisitely polite demeanor.

Next, British actor*Sean Pertwee (Camelot) will play Alfred Pennyworth, a tough-as-nails ex-(Royal?) Marine who has loyally served the wealthy Wayne family and now, in the wake of Thomas and Martha’s tragic deaths, is protective of their young son Bruce.

Now, for the women in James Gordon’s life.*Zabryna Guevara (Burn Notice) will play Captain Essen, his boss at the GCPD Homicide Squad. She balances the worlds of police and politics with a Machiavellian skill that’s as much corporate litigator as cop.

Erin Richards (Breaking In), meanwhile, has been cast as James’ fiancée, Barbara Kean. A sophisticated ER doctor, she stands by her future husband — which can be difficult in a world as corrupt (batty?) as Gotham.

[Dr Mordrid]

The official synopsis is out,

Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world's greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon's story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner? What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world's most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face and The Joker?

GOTHAM is an origin story of the great DC Comics super villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist, Rome), GOTHAM follows one cop's rise through a dangerously corrupt city teetering on the edge of evil and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time.

Growing up in Gotham City's surrounding suburbs, JAMES GORDON (Ben McKenzie, Southland, The O.C.) romanticized the city as a glamorous and exciting metropolis where his late father once served as a successful district attorney. Now, two weeks into his new job as a Gotham City detective and engaged to his beloved fiancée, BARBARA KEAN (Erin Richards, Open Grave, Breaking In), Gordon is living his dream even as he hopes to restore the city back to the pure version he remembers it was as a kid.

Brave, honest and ready to prove himself, the newly-minted detective is partnered with the brash, but shrewd police legend HARVEY BULLOCK (Donal Logue, Sons of Anarchy, Terriers, Vikings, Copper), as the two stumble upon the city's highest-profile case ever: the murder of local billionaires Thomas and Martha Wayne. At the scene of the crime, Gordon meets the sole survivor: the Waynes' hauntingly intense 12-year-old son, BRUCE (David Mazouz, Touch), toward whom the young detective feels an inexplicable kinship. Moved by the boy's profound loss, Gordon vows to catch the killer.

As he navigates the often-underhanded politics of Gotham's criminal justice system, Gordon will confront imposing gang boss FISH MOONEY (Jada Pinkett Smith, The Matrix films, HawthoRNe, Collateral), and many of the characters who will become some of fiction's most renowned, enduring villains, including a teenaged SELINA KYLE/the future CATWOMAN (acting newcomer Camren Bicondova) and OSWALD COBBLEPOT/THE PENGUIN (Robin Lord Taylor, The Walking Dead, Another Earth).

Although the crime drama will follow Gordon's turbulent and singular rise through the Gotham City police department, led by Police Captain SARAH ESSEN (Zabryna Guevara, Burn Notice), it also will focus on the unlikely friendship Gordon forms with the young heir to the Wayne fortune, who is being raised by his unflappable butler, ALFRED (Sean Pertwee, Camelot, Elementary). It is a friendship that will last them all of their lives, playing a crucial role in helping the young boy eventually become the crusader he's destined to be.

GOTHAM is based upon characters published by DC Comics and is produced by Warner Bros. Television. Executive producer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist) wrote the pilot, which will be directed and executive-produced by Emmy Award nominee Danny Cannon (the CSI series, Nikita).

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=51876

FOX's "Gotham" prequel has had some major promotion in recent months with many photos -- both official and unofficial -- dropping to highlight the show's core cast. According to EW.com, at least one more name will get added to the cast as a guest star: Cory Michael Smith has been cast as "Gotham's" Edward Nygma, the man destined to become Batman's arch-nemesis The Riddler. Although Smith is currently listed as a guest star, EW reports that there is an option for him to get upgraded to a series regular.

Smith will join regular cast members Ben McKenzie (Detective James Gordon), Donal Logue (Detective Harvey Bullock), Jada Pinkett Smith (Fish Mooney), Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth), Robin Lord Taylor (Oswald Cobblepot), Camren Bicondova (Selina Kyle) and David Mazouz (Bruce Wayne).

The pilot, written by "The Mentalist" creator Bruno Heller, currently has a series commitment at FOX.

[Dr Mordrid]

Whoa....this is looking good.

[Dr Mordrid]

Villains!

[Elie]

Video is private

[Dr Mordrid]

Half way through S1E1.

So far THIS IS GOOD!!

Very dark, rough edged. Very noir.

[Elie]

Yes, really enjoyed the first episode! I have high hopes for this series

[Dr Mordrid]

As do I. The kid playing Bruce is already developing that hard edged persobality. Before long he'll be a real handfull.

The producers have said no Batsuit until the end of the series, but let's not forget that as a tween Bruce went out on a couple of cases in what eventually morphed into Robin's uniform.

[KRSESQ]

That will be fine until the New 52 kills Gordon off.

It wasn't New 52 but I called the character.

[Dr Mordrid]

Put SMILE on your FACE!


(Played by Cameron Monaghan)

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/10...-gotham-teaser

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A preview for next weeks episode, The Blind Fortune Teller, promises that the next villain to invade Bruce Waynes home is no joke. If that tagline wasnt quite obvious enough, the promo then cuts to a character, Jerome, laughing in true Mark Hamill style.
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"The Blind Fortune Teller"