They really screwed up not using this opportunity to go back to the old spring schedule.I think it's the right decision for the time of year. It's the right decision short of delaying to Easter.
I mean, a lot of stuff is different in the UK around TV just because of the nature of the license fee, the BBC as a publicly-funded, ad-free broadcaster, their remit, etc etc. Ultimately, Saturday is considered a really important day for the BBC as it's a very high day for prime-time, whole-family viewership. Saturday nights are when the big variety shows get put on - X Factor, Britain's Got Talent etc - or the biggest quiz shows, or whatever. For a while the BBC was really trailing behind rivals on Saturday nights, and then Doctor Who was actually their solution - it rescued Saturday nights for them and other rival channels commissioned very similar shows to Who like Primeval to counter it. Even the BBC started commissioning other shows, like Merlin, to fill the Doctor Who gap on a Saturday night when Who wasn't on.
Sundays tend to be either for the very light touch kids stuff earlier on in the day - like tea time - or the more adult dramas or documentaries later. The stuff in between is always sort of meh, or traditionalist stuff like antiques roadshow, so it's weird/interesting to see Who put in that slot. The counter-argument is that with time shift and online and iplayer being so big the day of the week matters less than it ever did, but it is something of a prestige thing. The big Saturday night shows are the ones that get Christmas specials, sorta.
Davies and Gardner used to say that it was key to keep the show present in the mind of the BBC as their most important weekend show. That's Strictly now, obviously, but before DW could at least claim to be on par with it. Being shunted to a different day removes that chance, but alas.
It is what it is, though. There is no sugar-coating it: whatever you think of the era (and I enjoyed much of it), Capaldi's time and even the latter half of Smith's time saw big drops to the live audience - disproportionately large, even, compared to the natural drop off in viewers thanks to more people shifting to watch online after the fact. So one understands why the BBC would reach this conclusion. Doctor Who used to be big enough that it could muscle into Strictly and push it later. It isn't any more. It's not the end of the world, but reversing this trend needs to be a priority for Chibnall... and maybe the new time slot will help. Maybe it won't.
That's a fair point, yeah. Glancing at the schedules, something like this makes sense: Countryfile @ 6pm, Doctor Who @ 7pm, Strictly results show, then a sitcom, then a drama. That's basically where Who would most naturally fit. Countryfile isn't much of a lead-in, but one hopes that Who can grow Sunday nights. The alternative is that Who becomes less of an "event show", which would be bad for the show.
To get to a spring schedule, they would've needed to push production up by like 6 months or delay it 6 months, but then it'd be airing next March/April instead of next month.They really screwed up not using this opportunity to go back to the old spring schedule.
It feels like one more annoying thing about this year. Only 10 episodes, weird time slot. Dunno what it would've taken, butb honestly, s11 should've gone out earlier this year with 12eps minimum.
I hope it ends up actually good...
Sundays in America turned into the most crowded night for dramas over the last few years, though.Thanks for the thoughtful response, things are different in the USA with eras of premier times (Thursday comedy block on NBC, ABC's TGIF on Fridays, CBS on Wednesday all being popular and waning in time) plus the pull of severa sports. Weekends are never really considered prime viewing times and Sunday is seen as a more family friendly time slot.
Sundays in America turned into the most crowded night for dramas over the last few years, though.
I usually have shows on Sundays. It was nice having just Who to wind down on a Saturday night.In the US anyway Sunday always felt like the night for prestigious drama (Probably because that's the night that premium channels like HBO usually airs new episodes of their shows). Saturday always felt odd to me since it's a dead night for TV in the US since people are more likely to go out on the weekends. One of those little differences between the US and UK I guess.
I'm fine with it being on Sundays.
Wait, was this posted before?
Doctor Who Magazine says the title of the first episode is "The Woman Who Fell to Earth."
They're previewing Ep1&2 in their September 20th issue
I really hope they show some restraint with all of the jokes about being female etc. It'll start to get in the way of the narrative for me.
They've shown absolutely no restraint so far about how wonderful they think they are about casting, producers, writers etc. All good information to know and thoroughly needed, but it feels like they are blowing their own trumpet too much.
It's weird, but the closer we get to premiere time, the less hyped I am. I think we've been waiting for this so long that I've kind of just run out of anticipation? Does anyone else feel that way or am I just crazy?
It's weird, but the closer we get to premiere time, the less hyped I am. I think we've been waiting for this so long that I've kind of just run out of anticipation? Does anyone else feel that way or am I just crazy?
Not that it matters, but in-show they've been clear that it's not even going to be commented on - she's just going to get on with it. Out of the show, I think a conversation absolutely should happen and they should make a noise about it, as it's important and historic. I agree in the show it just needs to be as if nothing has really happened though - after all, this is normal for a Time Lord.
I mean I'm not going hype-crazy but this is the first time I've felt any level of genuine anticipation for it coming back in years. A mix of big breaks over the last couple of years and a new team coming in mean I'm actually curious about seeing it. I started getting quite meh about new series mid-way through the Moffat era.
I'm mostly the same. Excited for Whittaker and what a new Doctor brings, trepedatious for Chibnall. Annoyed by lack of exciting info and the 10 episode schedule.I always get excited for a new Doctor or new companion but especially a new Doctor. It's sad to see the previous Doctor go but I really like the way it keeps the show fresh.
A new showrunner helps with that too of course since the style of the show is going to change somewhat. I'm a little more worried about Chibnall though than I was Moffat since Moffat wrote some really outstanding episodes under RTD and Chibnall hasn't written any outstanding episodes of Who (though I thought Broadchurch was pretty good so that gives me some hope).
It's weird, but the closer we get to premiere time, the less hyped I am. I think we've been waiting for this so long that I've kind of just run out of anticipation? Does anyone else feel that way or am I just crazy?
A new showrunner helps with that too of course since the style of the show is going to change somewhat. I'm a little more worried about Chibnall though than I was Moffat since Moffat wrote some really outstanding episodes under RTD and Chibnall hasn't written any outstanding episodes of Who (though I thought Broadchurch was pretty good so that gives me some hope).
Even what little we've seen thus far has looked far too much fun for that- the tone they're promoting Whitaker's Doctor is miles away from that.I'm extremely worried the new tone is going to be generic bbc drama
SFX have a long and noble tradition of covering the bottom of the F.
An Australian distributor let it slip that the next two Classic Who releases will be a Season 10 bluray set (Pertwee's S10 that is) and The Wheel in Space. Though no word on whether Wheel is a reconstruction, animation, or actual recovered episodes.