Be Desireless. Be Excellent. Be Too Old For This Shit: Donal Logue As Gotham’s Harvey Bullock

I’m not gonna lie to you: I am a flat-out Donal Logue fan. From The Tao of Steve (which namechecks Steve Austin, which is always a way to make me sit up and pay attention) to Grounded For Life to Knights of Prosperity (which, if you’ve never seen it, you should really make an effort. The damn show was originally named Let’s Rob Mick Jagger, for Christ’s sake; how could you not give that a day in court?) to the much lamented Terriers, the guy is just someone I like watching on TV.

He’s just seems like a dude, you know? A regular guy who you could have a beer or ten with, shoot the shit about the Red Sox (sure, he actually seems to like soccer, but he’s Canadian, which means he’s probably polite and will try to talk baseball with you), and have a few laughs with. Because the guy is funny, in that kind of ironic, Generation X way that speaks to a generation who learned what was funny from Bill Murray and David Letterman.

But to be fair: the man is also concentrated death when it comes to television shows. Knight of Prosperity and Terriers each lasted only a season. He was on Life, which was also excellent, but that only lasted two seasons. Hell, even his “hit”, Grounded For Life, lasted five seasons… but it was cancelled by Fox  – Fox! – after two and a half seasons, and only survived another two and a half by being picked up by WB, who, in the parlance of Chris Rock, needed a hit like a crackhead needed a hit.

It’s a real conundrum: I’ve learned that when Donal Logue is cast in a show, it is likely to be good, and yet go away soon, like a common nitrous oxide high. So when I heard that he was cast as Detective Harvey Bullock on the upcoming pilot for Gotham, a series about life in Gotham City back when Bruce Wayne was training to be a detective using Blue’s Clues, I had mixed feelings. Because Logue’s involvement was anecdotal evidence that the show would probably be good… but it was also anecdotal evidence that it might not get past the pilot phase.

Which would be a shame, because the Warner Bros. has released the first promotional photo of Logue as Bullock, and I gotta tell you: the guy looks right. And you can see what I mean after the jump.

Now, there are some of us who grew up in the 80s who, when we think of Harvey Bullock, automatically think of that fat fuck who played Eckhart in the Michael Keaton Batman movie. Which would be the “classic” Bullock look… but here, Logue looks in a little better shape, but with the right rumpled, disheveled appearance to be true to the character. This version of Bullock I can easily see shoveling down a dirty water dog while making dark and snide jokes over a corpse that’s sporting a frozen and unnatural grin… and yet still be able to, I don’t know, make it up a flight of stairs. And the reality is that any cop too fat to make it up the steps wouldn’t live long enough to say, “I’m getting too old for this shit,” in a Gotham City with no Batman to back his play, or at least save his carcass.

So I guess the bottom line is that Donal Logue’s involvement and look in this promotional still make me excited to see Gotham… and yet based on unfair history, Donal Logue’s involvement and look in this promotional still make me afraid that we will never see Gotham. Let’s hope for the best.

(via Comics Alliance)