Sometimes BBC America just drops the ball. They were doing well at first; premiering "The Impossible Astronaut" at the same time in the US and the UK was a wonderful move, bringing Americans right up into the action that until then only UK viewers had gotten to see first. While some British fans might argue that Americans don't deserve such early access to a British culture staple (believe me, I've seen the arguments), American fans certainly were happier with the show, especially since they didn't have to wait weeks until they saw the episodes air on BBC America.
And then came Memorial Day. "The Almost People" was postponed because of this holiday, pushing the American syndication of the series back a week and leaving fans floundering for air as the UK moved on to the midseason finale without them.
Was a hiatus really necessary? I don't think so. BBC America did so to avoid a projected drop in viewers with Memorial Day weekend -- but just how many would have disappeared? Perhaps more importantly -- just how many would have disappeared compared to how many won't come back when "The Almost People" airs next Saturday? The same-day airings did a lot to combat online piracy of Doctor Who, but throwing in a hiatus and a weeklong delay might just send some American fans back to their old ways -- especially with the crazy buzz that is going into "A Good Man Goes to War," the next episode of Doctor Who for UK viewers.
While I'm not going back to piracy, I'm a little frustrated that BBC America has decided to, for the last two episodes of the first half of the season, essentially undo all the good they'd done in having same-day airings. I'll be crossly waiting until next Saturday, when "The Almost People" airs on BBC America. And I'll be trying not to think about how the British have already seen the next episode.
"The Almost People" airs Saturday, June 4, on BBC America. "A Good Man Goes to War" airs in the UK on June 4 on BBC One.
As an Irish viewer who has access to viewing British TV networks on a daily basis, your argument doesn't seem worthy of an article such as this. You appear as if you feel entitled to viewing Doctor Who, a foreign show, on the same day that it is broadcast in Britain. You do not know the pain of having to wait weeks or months for British and Irish networks to broadcast US dramas. Try having to wait three months for the latest season of Fringe, or having to wait indefinitely for Season 2 of The Good Wife, before thinking about how you feel injusticed by what BBC America have done.
'Injusticed' and 'entitled' aren't the words I'd use. My article mainly stems around the fact that postponing the good thing that BBCA once had will probably lead to less viewership for them in the long run, with a side-effect of frustrated American viewers. Wouldn't dream of comparing my situation to yours.
Oh I agree with you completely in that respect. These mini-hiatuses do more damage to ratings than networks seem to realise.
Hold up. HOLD. UP! Did I just read that we Americans have no clue about having to wait for shows that originally air in Great Britain? That assumption is laughable at best. Let me list some examples for you: UK Skins used to premiere about three to six months after it aired in the UK. Now we will not find out what happened past Season Three unless we buy the boxsets from the BBC America website. Doctor Who premiered months after its BBC premiere on SyFy and BBCA, with CUT episodes, mind you, which still sent people back to the Internet for complete versions of the episodes. Torchwood, HEX, Being Human, Primeval, Footballers Wives… Hell we still haven't had the luxury of seeing the critically acclaimed Misfits yet, and probably will never get the chance to after the crap storm behind the content on MTV's version of Skins. We aren't saying that we are necessarily entitled
Two wrongs must make a right then? So you gain a personal sense of justice because we have to deal with the same thing? If it isn't right your you to see your shows later, it isn't right for us to see ours later. I don't remember people here defending the late shipment of The Good Wife or Fringe.
Good wife and Fringe are shit
You're argument is invalid
And nothing of value was lost
I think you're absolutely right. Everyone over in the UK has to wait for things like The Mentalist and other American shows. I think it's only fair we should have to wait for shows from the UK to come over to the states.
I don't know I guess people are just impatient and what everything right now anymore >.< And I have to say, THREE MONTHS!? That's terrible! Now that's something to be upset about…
I was going to write a paragraph or two myself on the subject, as a UK (Wales) television-viewer, but that's not necessary now.
Thank you, Paul. Sincerely. I second you.
Paul hit the nail on the head. Try waiting months for and you may have an argument.
I completely understand your frustration, but as Paul says, there is an element of "welcome to our world"…
Here in the UK we are just part way through season 1 of Parenthood; Season 3 of Trueblood won't hit terrestrial TV til later this year, this weekend I saw a trailer for Mildred Pierce 'coming soon'… and as for whether anything beyond season 1 of Deadwood will ever see the light of day over here – I guess that ship has sailed!
Hang in there for a whole extra week… it's good for the soul!
I kind of agree with the others -I realise it's a pain to wait an extra week, but honestly BBC America doing same day broadcasts is really really good, especially as we wait weeks and months for the same kind of thing to be reciprocated. I don't think Americans don't 'deserve' to have the same day viewings, in fact I welcome it and hope it becomes standard for all TV shows – but, one week isn't the end of the world, and you can just think of it as a nutty hiatus so that many of your shows have on a seemingly random basis just to make sweeps for particular episodes.
It may lead to less viewership, in fact I'll be very interested to see what the impact is on the numbers – they're pretty low in the US anyway though right, because of BBC America and not being shown on a more mainstream channel? Definitely look forward to you following this up with the ratings once they're in. I'd hope it'll keep its numbers, and maybe they just got bad advice to avoid Memorial Day weekend, who knows – it's the first season they've shown same-day as the UK, so I embrace this progress.
Hold in there, we'll do our best not to spoil anything :-)
I live in California. I don't have cable TV but I do have the Internet. I love the show Doctor Who and its three spinoffs, one of which has not even been shown in the US yet (K-9). I watched "The Almost People" on Saturday afternoon and have seen it several times since. I have seen the trailer to "A Good Man Goes To War" and the released scene from it featuring the blue heavyset goods broker (seen in "The Pandorica Opens" pre-credit sequence). I realize the BBC have put off Doctor Who's return until some time in September. According to the released trailers, we have yet to see the story with the living dolls and marionette or the naked River Song. While Doctor Who is off the air, we are now 39 days away from Torchwood. No premiere date has been set for the last three stories of "The Sarah Jane Adventures" and Australia has yet to start showing Series 2 if K-9, which is not a bad series.
For those that have not yet seen "The Almost People", I will not spoil things for you. The story does require multiple viewings to get the full gist of what is going on. You will also be compelled to revisit the five stories before it to put together all the clues that have been given the viewers around the world. I expect many people are going to wonder just who Francis Barber is playing and why she is as important as I am surmising she will be as a guest actress.
Much as been said that story 7 is a game-changer that will end is a major cliffhanger for characters. The last few minutes of "The Almost People" with have most any normal viewer of Doctor Who doing an abrupt WTF! Have fun watching it this Saturday. I plan to be watching "A Good Man Goes To War" this Saturday and I have heard it is 50 minutes long.
Thanks for reading.
Dean L. Kaufman
Just an American throwing in my opinion on the matter to Paul, et al:
We do, and have waited for months for many tv shows from the UK. We know the pain as well as you do, so please don't act superior in this. The point of this article, which you seem to be skimming past, is that it was decided to air this season of Doctor Who concurrently with the UK's airings. Had BBCA NOT done this then, while some American viewers would still complain, there'd be nothing to really complain about, we'd be waiting weeks/months for the season to start and it would be status quo. However, since they did start airing them on the same day, brining Doctor Who fans closer together (watching the same show on the same day means that friends on forums can be all caught up in the same excitement together), delaying this one a week is a step backwards.
The complaint isn't that we have a week's delay between the UK and America, the complaint is that we now have a week's gap when there wasn't before.
BBCA just dropped the ball on this one. I can wait an extra week, hell, I could wait months of years if necessary, but because this season of Doctor Who wasn't delayed, I, and other viewers, shouldn't have to wait that extra time.
Hopefully after the haitus, we'll all be back on the same schedule, with no unnecessary interruptions (and if they don't air them concurrently, but just air them regularly, I'd be perfectly happy with that too)
First Fox got firefly cancelled
Then SyFy (Really?) got SGU cancelled
Now this
This is why you cant have nice things, your networks are run by morons
I don't think most of the commenters have quite got the tone or gist of the article. It's more resigned 'oh come on…' frustration than 'WTF I HATE YOU YOU CRAZY *****'
The BBC has shown diabolically bad judgement in the past with pushing Doctor Who over here in the US (I'm an expat brit, and the difference is startling). It's always been shown late, chopped and screwed about with enough to ruin episodes. It's treated like an unwanted ugly step-child, if you'll pardon the expression.
About the only way it's been possible to watch the full episodes has been to either resort to illegal methods, or wait a year or so for the DVDs/Netflix streaming. If you take the illegal approach you had no several month wait, and its better quality without editing. I know people here for whom the only they have pirated ever in their life is Doctor Who. It's really not all that surprising that Doctor Who has been struggling to get viewers on TV.
This season was supposed to be different. Launched with huge fanfair, deliberately filmed episodes in the US, major launch event in New York, adverts all over the place, chat show appearances etc; though they moved it to BBC America which doesn't come as standard on most basic cable packages, reducing the potential audience.
It's not been perfect, the content is still edited slightly because they feel it necessary to add in an annoying Amy Pond 'quick intro' to the show, every single week 'when I was a little girl a strange man in a blue box… blah blah blah' . The advert breaks are annoying mostly because they come at bizarre places, but that's american television for you :) The end result is still, however, something mostly watchable.
And then they add in a week delay and undo a whole bunch of good will. Yet again there is more incentive to pirate rather than watch legitimately, particularly because the main overarching story line is moving on significantly (which courtesy of twitter and facebook I'm unfortunately now all too aware of)
They did it because Gareth David-Lloyd who is in the new movie/pilot Red Faction: Origins which is going to aired the same weekend, he did Dr Who for a couple of shows, crossover from Torchwood, they want to share the hype, this is TV we are talking about.
I agree with my fellow American and Californian viewer Dean, it doesn't make any sense to delay a Doctor Who episode a week just because of a holiday(An unnecessary one mind you because there are two holidays in the year they just are named differently). I only have basic cable so I don't get BBC America at all but I do have a friend who downloaded the episode Doctor's Wife and made me realize that we have to wait a full week being left behind Britain. I would trade so many shows for Doctor Who because every episode still makes me feel that at any moment The Doctor could be defeated. My only compliant is Amy, she's so annoying and she's not doing anything that Sarah Jane, Rose, Martha or Donna couldn't do and I don't know she just rubs me the right way with her misplaced (hmm what's that word when you feel as you're owed something when you really don't deserve it?) entitlement(That's it!). Rory's getting better and becoming more interesting. I'm sorry I'm digressing but Doctor Who deserves to be seen worldwide at the same time or at least have an equivalent until Torchwood arrives. Am I the only one who wishes that Amy Pond will die? I'm sorry but like I said before she's annoying and if there was a companion who deserved an intro it would be a toss between Rose and Donna hands down.
CJ, it has nothing to do with GDL. Different channel, different audience and in some ways SyFy is actually downplaying him in the promos as it will be an advertisement for the BBC/Starz Torchwood: Miracle Day which is airing in July.
I have to agree with Twirrim on this. BBCA has gotten it wrong. In fact for a cable channel, the advertising comes in at the worst possible moments and without thought, it seems. In fact with Children of Earth they made it unwatchable. For long term Doctor Who fans who grew up in the States watching the series on PBS where it was shown uninterrupted, the BBCA programs are jarring. I've long wished that they wouldn't edit any of their shows for American consumption and would go to a sponsorship type advertising where the episodes would air intact. If they have to have advertising, put it in between shows and don't cut into the middle of an episode. That is what undercuts their credibility (and audience viewership) in the long run.
Skipping a week because of a holiday weekend in the age of DVRs makes me think that the people running BBCA are folks who used to work in regular network television and are stuck with a mode of thinking that no longer exists with the viewers. They really need to listen to what their viewers are telling them if they want to retain them.<cite> </cite><cite></cite>
I don't really mind waiting a week. I'll have you know I'm STILL waiting for Season 3 of True Blood & I LIVE in the US. Why would this be? Because I can't get HBO shows on my ROKU in ANY kind of timely fashion. Word is, HBO is trying to negotiate a way so those of us who refuse to buy cable (rip off cable, can I say) to just buy the HBO shows we actually WANT in a timely fashion. What a concept – consumerism in action, etc.
So a week for Dr Who, no prob (I get it thru Amazon on ROKU – YAYY)
BTB, I get the new Bleash episodes about 9 hours after they appear in Tokyo – w/English subs. Go little anime geeks!
CJ – I completely agree, that Amy Pond back story every week is just insulting.
When a gal has to buy a region 2 dvd player and load up on holiday or from Amazon UK just so she can see things that aired in the UK over a year ago (sometimes more) it makes me wonder why I pay the nearly 200 dollars for cable. But thanks BBCAmerica, neverending reruns of Star Trek make up for the one time you showed Gavin and Stacy 3 years ago.
COME ON!!! Who the heck celebrates Memorial Day anyways? I'd rather get my weekly fix of DW. This would be a good reason for some people to resort to piracy. Seriously, you get a freaking cliffhanger and are expected to just sit and wait when there are websites allowing you to watch the new episode right away. Ridiculous!
1. This is Doctor Who we are talking about. This show transcends borders.
2. Cable is such an archaic concept.
3. OMG get over yourselves with the we wait for this and the you wait for that. If you do not like the shows available to you MOVE.
You Americans now get to see our show Torchwood, before us, which I think is disgusting.
If I had my way you wouldn't get Doctor Who until months after us. It's a British show and I feel that if you get too used to it, you'll end up buying it or something and corrupting it like you did to Torchwood.
Who even cares – just connect to an open proxy in the UK and watch the episodes at the same time the Brits do. Those not smart enough to do this, well, then wait.
Oh yea, and whoever said it is "disgusting" that Americans can see Torchwood before Brits … you are not missing anything, that show sucks.