The CW Was Hilariously Cheap With One Of Its Superhero Shows
Gotham Knights has the lowest budget of any superhero show on The CW.
Not all studios can tout the seemingly endless budget of Marvel or Star Wars projects, despite sharing intellectual property with some of the biggest names in modern media. For the CW network, series such as The Flash and Stargirl have long been criticized for their low CGI budget, failing to live up to the standards of their box office blockbuster counterparts such as Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. According to a recent write-up in The Hollywood Reporter, The CW’s latest effort to bring Gotham City to life, Gotham Knights, has the lowest budget of any DC series ever produced by the network and still may face cancellation.
As the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike begins to loom over the industry, many networks are looking to cut costs. For the CW, this means gutting a number of their scripted series and pivoting to more unscripted content, with shows like The Winchesters and Kung Fu each getting the axe this past week. Despite touting such incredibly low budgeting numbers to produce, Gotham Knights seems to be next on the chopping block, as the series continues to bring in less viewing traffic than its sister series Superman and Lois.
Gotham Knights centers around a socio-political firestorm kicked off by the aftermath of Batman‘s untimely death. Without the Dark Knight himself to instill fear in the hearts of the city’s most dangerous felons, the city quickly devolves into chaos, leaving District Attorney Harvey Dent and a band of mismatched fugitives to attempt to keep the city from boiling over while investigating the true nature of Bruce Wayne’s assassination. The series is currently in the final weeks of airing its first season, with the last two episodes set to hit the small screen on Tuesday, May 23, and Tuesday, May 30, respectively.
Despite this news being reported to The Hollywood Reporter from a close source, many fans have already been made aware of the staggeringly low budget for Gotham Knights simply by watching the show. A tertiary glance at fan engagement on a number of online platforms such as Twitter and Instagram reveals dozens, potentially hundreds of critiques of the show’s costuming, props, and failure to secure more convincing shooting locations. While most television shows utilize movie magic to cover up their shortcomings, it seems that Gotham Knights lacks the budget to do even that.
Gotham Knights seems to serve as a cautionary tale for networks like The CW amid growing concerns that other entertainment unions, such as the Directors Guild and IATSE, may soon engage in a strike as well, proving the age-old adage that “you get what you pay for.” By seemingly trying to save money by skimping on production costs and overall quality, the network has actually lost money by failing to entice viewers to flock to the show.
If Gotham Knights does wind up getting canceled in the coming weeks, it surely speaks more to studio failure than it does to the general public’s gauged interest in Batman and Batman-adjacent projects. Though film outings such as Matt Reeves’ Batman and Todd Phillips’ Joker sport significantly higher budgets than the average CW television show, both films serve as contemporary examples that stories told in the setting of Gotham can and will attract huge viewing numbers if you’re willing to put in the time, effort, and money to make them worth exploring.
