Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:29PM2 comments ›
Sat Mar 29, 2008 — by Rick Marshall
'Doctor Who' Rescheduled, Russell T. Davies Annoyed
Expects to lose 1.5 million viewers.... owch!
Outpost Gallifrey reports that Doctor Who Executive Producer Russell T. Davies has become quite vocal in his disappointment regarding a decision to move the hit series to an earlier timeslot on the BBC, as well as other changes planned for Season Four.
According to various reports cited by the Doctor Who news site, the decision to move the program to 6:20 PM in the weekly schedule, and a push to film in high-definition video, have met with significant opposition from Davies and others involved with the show.
From a Broadcast report posted on the site:
Russell T Davies is predicting that Doctor Who could lose up to 1.5m viewers when it returns in a new 6.20pm slot next month.
The writer and executive producer of the series told the Broadcast television drama conference today that the BBC should maintain the later 7pm-7.15pm slot and the budget for the sci-fi series but it had mucked it up.
The BBC believes the programme would do as well in the new slot, he said. "Well, we'll see, but I think I'm right."
Not all time travel is welcome.
See what they did with that "time travel" line? Clever.
What does this mean for the American audience? I'm not certain, but it seemed worth noting for all of the Doctor Who fans here at ComicMix. Feel free to discuss in the comment section.
Jump to comments (2)
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Comments (2)
John Ostrander (4:18 PM on Sat Mar 29, 2008)
I'd be interested in knowing the Beeb's thinking for the time change. It's obvious that the Doctor was doing extremely well where it was. My mistrust of "geniuses" in programming who feel they have to tinker and then, if they're wrong, will blame the show rather than their own tinkering. I'm also confused by the "7:00-7:15" notation. Surely that's not the amount of time it runs. Or is the starting time variable within those two parameters?
Lee Houston, Junior (4:44 PM on Sat Mar 29, 2008)
Dear John, et al.:
The BBC has never had a "set" schedule for running anything per se. While a show's production company has always had a practically free hand in regards to a program's content, the BBC has always controlled what time a show airs. Hence things like Torchwood airing much later in the evening compared to what they consider "children's" programs like they perceive Doctor Who to be.
The "powers at be" there presumably think the earlier time slot will attract more children, the alleged target audience, confirming their perception of our favorite Time Lord being "family fare".
Meanwhile, the Sci-Fi Channel has a deal in place similar to BBC America's arrangement with Torchwood! The American presentation of the good Doctor will begin April 18th with the 2007 Christmas movie "Voyage of the Damned".
AND the Sci-Fi Channel also has the broadcast rights to the other Doctor Who spin-off Sarah Jane (Smith) Investigates, which will start the week before, although the program is listed as The Sarah Jane Adventures. That series was totally produced as a true children's show, hence the earlier time slot, although it will probably be rated TV-PG since I have discovered that a lot of our fellow American viewing audiences are apparently not as "mature" as those overseas.