Gotham
The networks are rolling into high gear with their Upfronts this week and that means a lot of conference calls and talk about what’s going on. With more genre shows getting the green light this year than ever before, there’s even more to talk about. With Fox, who is bringing Gotham to the small screen, they’ve been on a different creative approach for a bit now with their focus on providing new scripted material year round and ensuring that the summer season is just as important as the winter and fall seasons. Getting out ahead of the pack of the big networks, they’re starting to take on more of a cable approach while still honoring the prime time network approach. So with their Upfront this week, they talked a bit about episode orders in general, for Gotham in particular and the seasonal approach:
What can you say about episode orders and how you’ll determine that?
REILLY: When you look across the broader landscape, most cable shows are 13 to 15 episodes, and the audience seems very satisfied and excited to have that, and then waits up to nine months for them to return to the schedule. On broadcast, I hear just as many complains sometimes that we have shows that seem to continue to go on forever. I say this a lot, but there’s no standard order for a show anymore. I think the show should be tailor-made to what’s right for that particular show. Last year, Sleepy Hollow, in its first season, was making mini-movies every week. It was a big show. We stopped when we thought we could put on a creatively excellent product, and I think the show ended on a high note, as opposed to teasing it out for six or nine more episodes and having it barely hold together, and having a lot of repeats to get there. The other part of that is that Sleepy Hollow has now been back in series production already for a month, for next year. Next year, the order on Sleepy Hollow is 18 episodes. We will have almost all 18, in a row. They are now in series production, a good two months before just about any other returning drama on television, and the show is going to be really, really strong. I wish I had more last season, too, but it was healthier, in the long run, and it fit that show well.
REILLY: When you get these franchises with some built-in profiles in it and anticipation, the burden is that the anticipation and the build-up can exceed the delivery. While I felt like we had something potentially really huge in Gotham, you’re always nervous that it won’t live up. This is conjecture on my part, but I think they struggled to find the creative footing on [Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.] Also, those weren’t the actual franchise characters. With Gotham, you should look at the pilot when it’s available. You’ll see that it’s very sure-footed, creatively. The concerns about whether it will live up to its promise were put to rest when I saw it, a month ago. I’ve also looked at written material and our series bible for the 13 episodes. We have a staff now and they’re generating, and it really feels like it knows what it is. And the real selling point to me, on Gotham, right from the get-go, was that these are the actual series franchise characters. It is the prequel story. These are stories never told. There is The Penguin, Commissioner Gordon, Bruce Wayne and The Riddler. There are fictitious characters. Jada Pinkett Smith’s character is a new character, called Fish Mooney, and you’ll see characters like that. But, the tentpoles of the world are the great characters we know and love. So, I am feeling very good about where we are with Gotham.
Do you see Gotham as a 13-episode series, or will you order more, if it does well?
REILLY: We’ve already ordered it, pro-actively, for 16 episodes. That’s a comment on how strongly we feel about it. We were only contractually obligated to order 13 and we ordered 16 because we think that’s the way that show, at least in its first iteration, will be strongest. Could we do more next season? We certainly could. But, that’s where we’re starting with that one. That show is going to have a very strong serialized element. Because they’re off to such a strong start, and are starting earlier, we’ll size that up. But, 16 feels like the right about. In our mind, there’s no set standard order anymore. It didn’t come down on stone tablets that television had to be made in 13 and 22 episode increments. We had craft them, over here at Fox.