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Talking TV: Is ‘Gotham’ a ‘Bang!’ or ‘Bloop!’ for Fox?

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Fox is beaming its Bat-signals on Monday nights with the new series “Gotham” -- and we want to talk about it.

The live-action story of the city and its characters’ origins made popular in DC Comics’ Batman franchise is finally meeting the eyes of the franchise’s built-in loyal (and analytical) audience. But executive producer Bruno Heller said precautions were taken against making this a fanboy-only experience.

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FOR THE RECORD
Sept: 23, 1:19 p.m.:
An earlier version of this post said the chat was being held on Tuesday, Sept. 23. The chat was canceled due to technical difficulties and is being rescheduled for next Tuesday, Sept. 30.

This story was originally published at 12:27 p.m., Sept. 22.

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“To do the show that we’re doing, it was important to have someone running it who has the perspective of the general audience as well,” Heller told Times staff writer Meredith Blake on the set earlier this summer. “The danger of being too deep into the universe is you’re only addressing the connoisseurs.”

The drama is less about the Caped Crusader (Bruce Wayne hasn’t even hit puberty in this version of the tale), and more about a young James Gordon (who later becomes Commissioner Gordon) and the beginnings of the supervillains and vigilantes, including the Riddler, Catwoman and the Penguin.

Times TV critic Robert Lloyd found the pivot in focus away from Bruce Wayne to be refreshing, writing in his review of the series: “It’s possibly a minority opinion in these comics-crazy days, but I find it something of a relief that there’s no Batman in ‘Gotham,’ a well-assembled new series set in the future Dark Knight’s hometown in the time before he put on the cape and the cowl.”

The series airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox, and we want you to join in our water cooler talk by tuning in to our Tuesday, Sept. 30 edition of “Talking TV” at 12 p.m. PDT.

We encourage you to send in your thoughts/questions about the new series to #askLATimes or by leaving a comment on this post.

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Twitter: @villarrealy

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