FOX Renews Gotham For Season Two

FOX wants more Gotham.

The network has given an early renewal to the fantasy crime drama, set in a pre-Batman city of Gotham. The series chronicles the early years of Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and the rise of the city’s criminal elite.

The show has proved a solid hit for FOX, earning 8.2 million live viewers (14 million with DVR numbers) with its premiere — FOX’s biggest fall drama debut in 14 years (when accounting for DVR). The show has held north of 6 million live for most of its fall run, and the most recent new episode drew just over 7 million.

But the DVR numbers tell a bigger story: FOX says there the show has been averaging 10.6 million viewers, making it the number one broadcast drama among men 18 to 49 and men 18 to 34 (two key advertising demos).

After initially ordering an awkward 16 episode first season, in October FOX upped its order to a standard 22 hours.

The show has been a bit uneven in the early-going (as most are), but seems to be finding its creative feet as of late (the still-too-frequent hackneyed dialogue notwithstanding). With colorful villains and heroes who prove they are worth rooting for, Gotham just might prove by season’s end that it shouldn’t be called “a Batman show without Batman” any more.

Gotham airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX, with the next new episode arriving this week (January 19). Head over to SciFi Stream’s Gotham show guide for details on upcoming episodes!