This has been way better than I feared, the only villain who annoyed me with his blatantness was Eddie wink wink nod geddit he's the Riddler Nygma. It's far from being another Smallville, it feels like Penguin's getting an actual arc and thankfully the show has Gordon to base itself around so the pressure to progress isn't all on Bruce, although to be honest I think they'll struggle to keep Bruce and Alfred involved in interesting ways.
Still, example vigilantes are a nice idea, and there's quite a few villains and characters who can make pre-Batman appearances as part of the fabric of Gotham.