Fall TV Preview 2014: FOX’s Gotham [PHOTOS and VIDEO] 

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

We like a story about a superhero as much as the next person, but we’re glad that’s not what Gotham‘s about. The fact that this is an origin story not only about Batman and the many villains he encounters throughout his life, but that the main character is Jim Gordon — before he became the commissioner — is what intrigues us the most. We loved Ben McKenzie in Southland and The O.C. We loved Donal Logue in Vikings and Terriers. So the moment FOX announced this series, we knew we’d be watching.

Series synopsis, from FOX:

The good. The evil. The beginning.

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.

Characters

Growing up in Gotham City’s surrounding suburbs, James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) 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), 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), 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), 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), mob kingpin Carmine Falone (John Doman) and many of the characters who will become some of fiction’s most renowned, enduring villains, including a teenaged Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman (Camren Bicondova), Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) and Edward Nygma/the future Riddler (Cory Michael Smith).

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), as he goes head-to-head with major crimes unit detectives Renee Montoya (Victoria Cartagena) and Crispus Allen (Andrew Stewart Jones). 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 Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee). 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.

All character images credited to Justin Stephens/FOX.

TV Goodness Fall Preview Ratings System
Watch Live
Watch Later on DVR
Undecided — Need to Watch Some More
Not Watching at All

Our expectations are sky-high, which is probably unfair. But executive producer Bruno Heller dazzled us with HBO’s Rome, so we’re expecting big things. Coupled with a very talented cast and characters we can get to know before they become the heroes and villains from the Batman movies? It’s a very exciting prospect. We also love the noir look of the pilot and think this series has so many interest places to go. This gets a Watch Live from us.

Gotham premieres Monday, September 22nd at 8/7c on FOX.

 VIDEO

Sneak Peek:

Erin Richards talks Gotham at Comic-Con 2014