It feels too soon when the video game hasn’t even come out yet despite a few years of hype, but a Gotham Knights pilot was ordered by The CW.
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With the writers of Batwoman in charge, the nascent production doesn’t look like it’s off to the right start and if the bad reputation CW’s adaptation of the Scarlett Knight garnered wasn’t bad enough, the sliding ratings don’t bode well for Gotham Knights.
YouTube commentator HeelvsBabyface, called upon by Bleeding Fool, recently took a look at the numbers and predicts the Knights will be DOA.
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As Gotham Knights is yet another Batman spinoff where the Dark Knight is either dead or missing, HeelvsBabyface doesn’t think anyone – woke or not – is in the mood for another DC show without Batman, based on Batwoman Season 3 ratings and the tepid state of The CW.
While Batwoman’s average ratings are down only slightly from last season by about six percent, the key demo of 18-49-year-olds – at whom advertising is aimed – has dropped by 28.79 percent. I.e., nearly thirty percent of the audience left after last season.
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There was an uptick in ratings going into February but mainly because the episodes had the debut of Poison Ivy, a Bat villain people genuinely want to see – until they find out Batwoman maintains the status quo with her and gives her powers to Mary Hamilton (Nicole Kang).
They also made Ivy a lesbian – “the only story they know how to tell,” HeelvsBabyface observed. He then excoriates the writing of CW programming at large as “dogsh–” and if he ran a show like Batwoman he would kill off all the characters and start over.
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He, and many others, don’t believe Batwoman should carry on due to how shoddy and dull it is, but in the case of Naomi, HeelvsBabyface sees a worse trend. Calling the show “shoddily put together” like “they don’t even care,” he proves the bad quality shows in the ratings.
Naomi, which is halfway through its first season, is doing worse than Batwoman. Viewership and the 18-49 demo dropped around 20 percent in the second episode and then around 10 percent in both the third and fourth.
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For HeelvsBabyface, the character didn’t have the intrigue or goodwill of Batwoman going in; the problem with Naomi started on the page. She “wasn’t written with good intentions,” he said. “She was written to be a progressive character as opposed to an entertaining character.”
“People want entertainment,” he added, which they were getting from Superman & Lois at least – until, that is, this season where the CW effect of “identity politics” is making that series’ ratings head downhill.
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Superman & Lois’s averages are steadily declining with each ep of Season 2 though not as sharply as Batwoman or Naomi, and this could very well be due to Superman questioning – if not repudiating – his patriotism.
With the same roster of people writing and producing these shows under Greg Berlanti, it’s academic to expect more of the same rinse-and-repeat politicized themes and writing from Gotham Knights.
The CW’s declining ratings are happening not only during an increased social justice push but also while the network is being put up for sale. If the network lingers in limbo, the Gotham Knights pilot and others ordered might never materialize into shows.
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