Fox has made another bad decision in the form of “Gotham,” which in itself is a blemish on the Batman franchise.

The story follows a young James Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department in an era before Batman starts reaping justice in their jurisdiction.

“Gotham” is essentially “Muppet Babies” with characters from the Batman mythos. It’s a melting pot of people from the franchise but they are presented in such an in-your-face way that it loses all of its appeal. Name dropping does not equate to character development.

The fact is if you’re watching this show, you’re likely familiar that it takes place in the Batman universe. Therefore, the writers had no need to hand-hold the viewer and beat them over the head with character references.

Also, let’s not pretend that having young Bruce Wayne featured so prominently is a good idea. While he grows up to be Batman, you completely rid him of any interesting traits when he is immediately training right after his parents’ death. Spoilers, by the way.

It’s trying so hard to be a cop show, but the writing and dialogue sells itself as a cartoon. There’s nothing technically wrong with that, but Fox is going about the show entirely the wrong way.

Even the animated Batman series from the 90s was presented in a way that was not only true to the characters, but it didn’t treat its audience like children, even though in reality, they were.

The primary reason I’m so upset about “Gotham” is that it had potential to be something wonderful.

“Gotham” took what could have been extremely compelling television and instead traded ingenuity and wit for base level references.

There is no understanding of the art of subtlety, which would have made this show excellent. But no, it’s a torrent of garbage. It’s the worst thing Fox has done since they canceled “Firefly.” Never forget.