The Hollywood Outsider – Film and Television Podcast | Reviews An award-winning film and television podcast for the fan in all of us
While at Comic-Con, we were able to catch the pilot presentations of several shows. Were they fantastic? Were they meh? We’re here to tell you! So check below and find our thoughts on the recent pilot offerings for Gotham, Flash, Constantine, iZombie, and even Wayward Pines!
For the world premiere of the Gotham pilot, Warner Brothers brought Arrow himself (Stephen Amell) to introduce it with Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) in tow. The pilot is well directed and showcases Jim Gordon as a man who will not be bought. Once he realises his own partner is on the take, not to mention local mobster Falcone is on to him, Gordon is forced to manipulate both sides of the law to bring order to Gotham City. This is a dark, moody pilot and did enough to keep us invested in its future. This is NOT overly comic-booky if that is something that concerns you. Bright lights, supervillains, nor superpowers are present in any fashion. You do get a touch of Catwoman, the beginnings of the Penguin, as well as a new mobster presented as the horribly named Fish Mooney (who is suprisingly well-cast with Jada Pinkett Smith). Gotham feels more along the lines of a dark, serialized drama with a rich history of characters to pull from than Arrow or Smallville. Along the lines of Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy in terms of look and feel, just lacking the guy running rampant in a rubber batsuit through the wee hours of the night. Keep an eye out for Gotham this fall on FOX.
Of all of the pilots screened at Comic-Con, Constantine was the one I was most skeptical of. The original film with Keanu Reeves was fine, but it was never something that demanded 22 more hours of explanation. So walking into the this with that trepidation I have to admit, this was pretty fun! This pilot has been reworked and changed from what appeared online (sorry if you thought you saw it, they duped us), specifically the ending. Matt Ryan plays our British demon-slayer whose soul is damned to hell. No, he doesn’t smoke…and I can honestly say it affected the character not even a little bit. This is a fun, breezy show that seems better suited to cable than NBC, yet NBC is where it will be come this fall. Also, fun fact dropped by producer David S. Goyer at the Constantine panel: Bear McCready (Battlestar Galactica) will be scoring this series. Bazinga! Look for Constantine this fall on NBC.
Continue reading for our thoughts on The Flash, Wayward Pines, and iZombie!