Why did HBO Max order a Gotham police drama amid a backlash over cop shows?

The Mary Sue

"Who thought now would be the right time for a Gotham cop show?" Vivian Kane says of HBO Max's announcement that it is teaming with The Batman director Matt Reeves and Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter on a Gotham City Police Department series. "First of all, there’s no word as to whether (Robert) Pattinson will be a part of the series, and we already had a Batmanless Gotham cop show: Gotham," says Kane. "More importantly, though, is the fact that cop shows are finally being widely recognized as the obsolete propaganda they’ve always been. Full-on copaganda shows like Cops are getting canceled; Brooklyn Nine-Nine is reckoning with its role in the way entertainment softens the image of the police. A lot of people are finding cop-based entertainment especially distasteful right now, following weeks of protests against police violence and murders. Does anyone really want to sit down and watch a show about the notoriously corrupt fictional police running and ruining Gotham City? It’s not like those cops are going to be portrayed as heroes, it just doesn’t sound like a very enjoyable watch!"