Doctor Who in America
It’s been nearly a year since Doctor Who premiered to great success in the UK and Canada and now it’s the turn of the United States. The new (Christopher Eccleston) series debuted last night, Friday March 17th, on the American Sci-Fi channel. As part of a double premiere Sci-Fi aired both “Rose” and “The End of the World”.
During the build-up to the American premiere we’re seen more and more US media coverage of the series including coverage in American TV Guide, The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly.
It is fantastic to welcome yet another important country to the new era of Doctor Who. The new series has already aired in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, France, Italy, South Korea, Israel, Belgium, Spain, Hong Kong, and Hungary.
What did American fans think of the debut and the new series?
Posted by Mike on Friday, March 17 at 11:42 pm
4 Comments...
For those Americans who (like me) live close enough to Canada to have seen the CBC broadcasts (either first-hand or by having a friend tape them), the 2005 series is slightly old news. It’s been more interesting to observe the US media’s reaction to the show.
For one thing, it reveals just how well-known the original show actually is in the US. Not all PBS stations aired the entire 1963-89 span (though several did), but the early Tom Baker seasons seem to have been shown across the entire country, so most TV-watching Americans born before the early 80s were probably at least vaguely aware of Doctor Who, especially if they were sci-fi fans.
Almost all of the US media coverage displays considerable awareness of the old series and its fandom. USA Today’s coverage tersely mentioned that Doctor Who was back and that fans would probably start arguing the new Doctor’s merits, while Entertainment Weekly’s story used the fan term “companion” without definition, and its brief recap of the old show’s history even mentions the TV movie’s death slot opposite Roseanne. TV Guide’s story used a photo of Tom Baker as its main illustration, demoting Eccleston’s photo to a standard police lineup of the ‘other’ Doctor’s faces. And the Sci-Fi Channel’s Who page is full of irrelevant old-show trivia - they even tell you that the TARDIS chameleon circuit was briefly fixed in “Attack of the Cybermen”! The 2005 Doctor Who is in no way being sold as a new product - all the coverage emphasizes the fact that this is an old and familiar show coming back at last, even though the intentions of RTD and the BBC were theoretically to make a series that was free of continuity baggage.
The US coverage also seems to further reinforce the differences between US and UK perceptions of the old show. Every US story of any length mentions two main aspects of the old show: its shabby production values (often mentioned affectionately rather than derisively), and its quirky humor. UK fans, by contrast, prefer to regard the old Who as spooky and well-produced; they get defensive about the show’s production flaws (for us they were part of the show’s underdog charm) and seem to tolerate humor only in the smallest of doses. Those who now fault the early JN-T era for humorlessness and sterile slickness forget that he was just giving the vocal UK fandom exactly what it was pleading for.
In any case, it’s great to finally have the show on American TV. Airing on a niche cable channel on a Friday night may deny it the kind of mainstream audience it has enjoyed on the BBC and CBC, but considering the glowing reviews and considerable goodwill towards the old series, I don’t see how Doctor Who can fail to catch on all over again.
Posted by Curt on 03/20 at 09:44 PM
loved it loved it loved it
spent my teens in England and was able to watch the doctor through 3 regenerations… looked to the new series with some trepedation but was RICHLY rewarded. Still campy but definitely updated in a positive way. New doctor is simply brilliant!
Posted by angelique on 03/21 at 12:14 AM
i live in virginia and downloaded the new season last year on bittorrent. LOVED IT. i hope it flourishes here too.
Posted by JARED on 03/21 at 10:13 AM
Sadly, the Sci Fi Channel here in the States has done an absolutely horrendous job of promoting the new series of Dr. Who.
If it had been Battlestar, you would seen ads, promos and posters constantly all over the place. You wouldn’t even be able to get away from it. Dr. Who was essentially caught by people who accidentally came across on the empty Friday night slot left open by that awlful Stargate series.
If that wasn’t bad enough, after the broadcast of “Rose”, they were already touting its availability for DVD purchase. That doesn’t help. This doesn’t help ratings when most people are nowadays waiting for a TV series’ season release on the format instead of actually watching it as it airs.
When it came to episodes with celebs, like Simon Pegg, they weren’t even seen in the tv ad for its promotion. They just decided to use some goofy line by the Doctor talking to some other actor. I mean, at least throw in a shot of the actual creature of the week. Bloody hell!
Unfortunately, we don’t know how their lost opportunity (that they’re wholly responsible for) is going to effect future seasons to come. Will the next season be broadcast here in the States? Who knows…
Posted by Chazy Sciota on 06/19 at 09:32 AM
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