Law and Order: Gotham City

*Originally published on 6/8/10



It was announced recently that the long running Law and Order would conclude next season. While Dick Wolf is fighting for one more, it looks like it's coming to a close and the game of cancellation chicken NBC had going with Fox and The Simpsons will finally come to an end. The franchise will live on, however. Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Law and Order: Criminal Intent will go on and NBC is launching a new series, Law and Order: Los Angeles, taking a cue from CBS' popular CSI franchise.

If you're going to do a Law and Order show based on a city, why not mix the format up and do something unexpected, like say Gotham City? Yes that Gotham City.

Ardent comic fans will point out that a similar idea was used for the long running comic Gotham Central, which focused on the life of the Gotham City police officers. It's a rather brilliant concept, and though I haven't read it, it has gotten good reviews all around. The downside is that, from what I hear, Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock are absent. Renee Montoya's a great character, don't get me wrong, but when it comes to Gotham PD, they are the holy trifecta. Had the other two been present, it would've benefited the title immensely. As such, the show would utilize all three major characters, allowing the concept to better tap into it's massive amount of potential

One person in a forum even summed it up as Law and Order: Batman so I do owe some credit to that commenter as it prompted me to write this article.

Batman is an immensely popular character and fans can't seem to get enough of his world. Gotham City has almost become a character in its own right with its gritty atmosphere and wide array of colorful characters. This will allow the network to piggy back on the success of the character and his world without needing a huge budget as it is essentially a crime drama.

One of the downsides of the later incarnations of Law and Order is that they became primarily police shows. That's fine, but what made the original stand out was that it combined police drama with court room drama and put it into one show. Law and Order: Gotham City would take it's cue from the original and have both genres included in each episode.

You may ask yourself, who would the attorney be? Why, Harvey Dent, of course. Yes, we can see Gotham's White Knight in action as he and Gordon launch their crusade against the organized crime as well as Gotham's wide array of "freaks".

From my understanding, Batman didn't play a part in the Gotham Central comics. He was alluded to, but it was mostly about the cops. The same approach can be taken here. I don't think Batman should be ignored, but he shouldn't play a very large part either. Make his presence felt without having him act as the deus ex machina of any given episode.

I think that this series could work rather well. Of course, there are legal rights issues that would have to be settled for it to work, but I see no reason why an arrangement couldn't be set up that benefited everyone involved. It's something to think about NBC. You, along with CBS, have been dropping shows like flies and you'll need something to fill in the gap. A show like this will not only fill the gap, but draw in a large amount of viewers. If you get the right cast and crew of writers on board, you could have a major success on your hands.