This is something I've been thinking over a lot, not that I would ever have the opportunity/means/talent to pull it off, but I'd like to get the thoughts of the regular bunch of "nuts" that hang out here...

Adam (elvis8batman) brought it up in the Arrow thread about bringing Batman back to television. Smallville evolved from the idea of following a young Bruce Wayne around the world as he trained/studied to become Batman (BTW, I still think that that would be a brilliant way to do Batman on television) but I think I have an idea which would be a completely new take on the character for most people and would still allow for big screen adventures the way Smallville and Superman Returns could be done at the same time. We had the serials of the 40s which cast Batman as a gang-buster, the West Batman in the 60s which sort of covered the crazier aspects of superheroes in the early Silver Age, the Burton-verse films which showcased the over-the-top villains, Nolan's films which brought Batman back to a certain realism and the Timm-verse which pretty much covered it all. My idea is to do a show which showcases Batman the detective. Pretty much every filmed version of Batman mentions the detective aspect but doesn't do much with it... What about doing Batman as a crime procedural? Granted, you'd still have to have the lead in the bat-suit and you'd need to have the regular cast of rogues (at least in a background capacity) and a certain suspension of disbelief when it comes to comic book-style crime but it seems to me that something like this would be a huge hit considering all of the other procedural shows on the air (how many CSIs are on right now?...). I would see the show centering on the Batcave and Bruce and Alfred with Barbara, Dick and Tim (or whoever) being the support team. Seems like a good set-up, to me at least, that would allow for Bruce to hobnob with socialites, Matches Malone to slum with the underworld and the operatives to hide in the shadows looking for clues.

Okay... that's what I've got, what say you?...

are you suggesting something along the lines of CSI:Batman?

Isn't that niche of tv show already played out enough?

I'm not trying to rag on you Jim, but I definitely see the potential for this to be a very thorough and productive conversation, which will, hopefully, be seen by someone who has the capacity to make it a reality (as miniscule as that might be).

I do agree that the "detective" aspect is the most lacking in most Batman stories, regardless of the medium.

Perhaps something with a bit more action element to it, closer to say the BBC Sherlock series and less "crime lab exposition" than a typical CSI or NCIS.


Than again, I remember back in the day a pitch for a Giffen/DeMattias style JL show that would be done "Barney Miller" style and set almost exclusively in the HQ and I was all for that so who am I to say really?

I would probably give it a shot because it's Batman but I hate crime shows like that. They all play out the same and they're so predictable. My wife really likes SVU and I don't understand why. Every episode plays out the same...someone is getting snoogled or beaten or both and then they catch the person responsible...the end.

I would watch any (decent) Batman show on the air. Heck, I even watched Birds of Prey back in the day and that was pretty horrible. I don't know if I'd watch CSI: Gotham. I hate that genre.

I do think a Law and Order type thing with Matt Murdock/Daredevil could work very well. Courtroom drama with a superhero twist would have decent crossover appeal.

I fear it's a moot point, though. Warner's doesn't seem to be interested in farming Bats out to TV unless it's animated.

Hi Jim, thanks for starting this thread up. I agree with you that the detective element of Batman has never truly been mined in live action. I think that the best examples are still in the Timm-verse animated shows.

I think with TV budgets being what they are now, and the quality that can be afforded to a show effects wise, Batman and his extended family and rogues are ideally suited for TV.

I'd love to see them follow certain story arcs from the comics, mapping the show out for ten seasons giving us batman alone to start, then introducing Dick as Robin in the second season, Babs as Batgirl in the third, by the fifth or sixth season Dick becoming Nightwing and Babs getting crippled by the Joker. leading up to Tim joining as Robin around season eight, culminating with the the Knightfall saga being the series finale and Batman taking Gotham back at the end.

I think making the episodes a bit like an action/crime drama with episodic or on going investigations would be great. Many shows now have season long story arcs that get touched on over a length of episodes rather than wrapped neatly up in an hour, so this would suit I think.

A little while ago I was day dreaming and thought of a show concept myself. I was watching Arrow and thinking of what other DC characters would work for TV, and came up with this....

Ra's. A show that chronicled the rise of one of DC's greatest villains. You could start with him as a young kid a couple of hundred years ago, and show how he grew to become the major player he is now. By the end of the first episode you'd have him as a young man, and that would be the actor that played him for the rest of the show. Each season could jump forward so many years to the next stage in history, different countries, as he travels and learns. You could show him being taken under the wing of historic characters that have tried to conquer and I would have him as someone that wants to do good for the people to start with but eventually becomes corrupted. He could learn about the Lazarus pits from someone he is with and those could be used through out the show to explain how he can be around for so long.

My take on it would be sort of like The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles meets Highlander. You could even have him meet up with people like Vandal Savage, who could at first be a mentor then turn into a rival/nemesis. It could come right up to present day where he maybe has run ins with Thomas Wayne and then Bruce as Batman later on. He could maybe meet Jonah Hex in the wild west?

I actually wanted to pitch the idea but wouldn't know how to go about that. But I just think it would e great for comic fans and regular folks too.

What do you guys reckon?

A friend of mine met one of the producers of Birds of Prey who told him one of the reasons that show failed was that because unlike Smallville's gorgeous Kansas corn fields the Gotham City of that show looked like a toilet. I suspect it will be VERY hard to make ANY modern kind of live-action Batman show with any degree of realism because Gotham is such a depressing place and really ugly to look at. Unless they can afford Tim Burton style visuals they could have the same problem with Gotham Birds of Prey did.

Thanks for the conversation, guys. I guess I played up the CSI aspect a bit too much in my description but that is an element that I think would be needed. Yes, it should have action, but it shouldn't be all Batman-beating-the-crap-out-of-the-villain-of-the-week, either. There needs to be a degree of realism to what is going on in Gotham but it still needs to allow for "super science" and possible supernatural activity as well without feeling "fake". It needs to be a world where Lazarus Pits, gentleman ghosts, zombies, immortal cavemen and cryogenic geniuses can co-exist with the "normals" of the DC Universe without ruling out aliens from other worlds or heroes out-of-time. Looking at the trailer for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that seems to be a world where anything can happen. I guess maybe something along the lines of a cross between Angel/Buffy and CSI/NCIS is probably more of what I meant than what came out last time...

To be honest, I kinda get my Batman fix by watching Person of Interest every week. And from the looks of things, I'm not the only one. Still... realistically speaking, I think that our best bet at bringing Batman to the small screen would be a Nightwing or Batman Beyond tv series. It's just that... and I don't know the why of this... but for some reason, Warner Bros. seems really possessive about Batman and where he shows up. Apparently, he is "too big" of a crown jewel to be wasted on TV.

Whatever. I know it doesn't make sense, but it's not like the word "geniuses" comes to mind whenever we think of TV Executives.

Anyways... If it were up to me, and I knew fans were looking for a Superhero show framed as a cop or csi drama, then my best bet would be to give The Flash a second chance as a show. But Nightwing still sounds equally good. And technically speaking, Chuck Dixon's original Nightwing run was everything you're describing.

Im all for any of these options- personally I like the CSI shows- at least when they come up with the "original" murder concepts-and having it with Batman- makes some of the tech that they use on Bones or CSI Miami- a little more plausible- however -stick with the classic or even modern character and costume designs-- I know some costume designs dont transfer well to 3-D- but make an attempt.

Also stick it on HBO or Showtime or even Starz- "without the jump cut thinking scenes from the DaVinci show"- bigger budgets-- and they could make it slightly more edgy-- look how much hype and push some of those get-- I believe thats the only place it could give Batman real justice.. And would actually let us get some of the costumes used in the comics- since they would never hit regular TV.

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I think series based on Gotham Central would be good. Focus on the cops dealing with the crime in Gotham and make Bats a background character. Of course WB may not want Bats as background character, but why not? It looks like the new SHIELD series is doing something similar, Gotham Central could be really cool and stylistically different.
I am also a bit worried with all of these ideas to bring comics to the small screen. Many superhero films have failed and they just need to fill 2hrs and have much bigger budgets than a TV episode. I hate seeing good comics ruined and then good series getting cancelled before they find an audience. We should be careful what we wish for and just be hopeful the next wave of super hero films and series are good.
One final thought, Jeff Parker’s The Interman and Juan Diaz Canales’ Blacksad would make great series. If you are looking for your next graphic novel, both are is great reads.