At the TCAs on Saturday, FOX announced that their hit Batman prequel series Gotham would be returning next season for a second year. That news of course comes as no surprise as the show debuted to strong ratings and has retained respectable numbers throughout the season. It is currently that network’s top rated scripted series and has been well received by fans and critics and I have had the show as Likely to Get Renewed in the Power Rankings all season. Gotham has managed to tread the precarious waters of its potentially limited premise and deliver a show that has successfully mined the pre-Batman universe and struck the right nerve with its audience thus far.
The network also renewed two other (non-genre) shows but didn’t see fit to give sophomore series Sleepy Hollow the greenlight for a third year yet. Instead, they have said that they believe the show needs some “tweaks” to get it back on track. Following is a quote about the show from FOX CEO Dana Walden:
It’s very difficult on a show like this to get the exact right balance. Honestly, we felt watching the show, as passionate viewers, the show got too serialized. As part of our diagnostic process on any show, we tried to determine what’s working and what’s not working. We’re trying to return the fun to it a little bit. It’s an epic battle between good and evil, so there’s a tendency to be a little dark. It’s all about calibrating the show, not about making dramatic changes.
She claimed that no cast changes are coming, but that they want to make it into a “show that’s easier to access week to week”. How much impact this network tinkering will have remains to be seen, especially considering the fact that the show only has six episodes left to air in its current season. And while its ratings have dropped notably from its first season, it is still performing relatively well compared to the rest of FOX’s scripted shows and its number are at about the same level as The Following was last season when it got renewed. I believe that Sleepy Hollow still has a decent chance to come back, but I can understand where fans might be nervous about the network’s promised “tweaks” to the show (TV.com goes into more detail on that at this link).
