Dept. of Doctor Who and the OMGWTFBBC

[kaffy_r]

No full series for Doctor Who in 2012

Or what I like to call "contracting the cable custom." I can understand wanting to do Something Big for 2013, the 50th anniversary of the show. But this kind of stretching exercise is really frustrating for me as a fan. I suffered through months-long hiatuses of Battlestar Galactica, and I've learned to live with the strange beast known as mid-season finales (really? I do not think finale means what you cable marketing execs think it means) on some of my favorite cable series. I'm even cognizant that the Doctor Who decision might be at least partly generated by budget scarcities, and fully aware of the show's successful start after, what, 16 years, so a gap of less than a year shouldn't be that huge a burden to bear.

But still ... yeah ... OMGWTFBBQ

Hunkers down to wait for further news and clarifications, thinks "maybe I don't need to panic quite so much," settles on fanfic as coping mechanism

Comments

[cygnia.livejournal.com]

Before I click on that link, are there any spoilers for the rest of this season?

[kaffy_r]

Just re-checked. No spoilers.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

settles on fanfic as coping mechanism

My personal favorite.

[kaffy_r]

As a friend of mine has said, there are times when the fanfic fanon seems more realistic than the show canon.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

I agree. The show can and will go on--this isn't necessarily a bad development. But it is very disappointing.

[kaffy_r]

Being a grown-up means dealing with disappointment .

I hate being a grown-up.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

I know, right?

*pouts*

[kaffy_r]

My sentiments exactly. With a side-order of foot-stamping.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

But didn't they contract 14 episodes? *confused*

Oh, well, we survived the great Tennant mini-series year. I can get through anything after that.

[kaffy_r]

I'm guessing that the 14 episodes will be stretched across two years; perhaps 7 in 2012, and the final 7, plus Something Big, for 2013?

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

I hate waiting, but right now I'm a little more upset about Luther. Can't wait to see my favorite disfunctional couple:John and Alice.

But yes: very dissapointed to see how Amy and Rory take to their "Big Girl"!

[kaffy_r]

I haven't seen Luther, but I've heard good things about it. What's the bad news?

[mythdefied.livejournal.com]

When the news hit Twitter, I had a mini-meltdown at work. So, yeah, totally with you on the WTF?. I'll be doing a hella amount of ep rewatching and fic reading, I expect.

[kaffy_r]

When I'm in my office at work, as opposed to working out of the house, people have become used to my exclamations or declamations about DW. And my actions figures and such.

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

It actually DOES make a certain amount of sense in the context that British shows are generally produced in blocks of 6ish episodes -- a US-style 13-ep run is already a double-length commitment to them and a strain on the actors relative to other local acting opportunities and schedules, so I can see the logic of doing a batch of episodes as two shorter runs, made a little closer together than they'd ordinarily like to do two series, and calling that "one season" for the US market's purposes... Doesn't mean we have to like it, though. :)

[kaffy_r]

True. I think the biggest impetus could well be budgetary. The Conservative government has been cutting all governmental, or governmental-related budgets like whoah, so the BBC — which was already being nibbled to death by tiny budgetary ducks over the past few budget years — could see the writing on the wall and undoubtedly transmitted news of it to their various producers and show-runners. Moffat and his team could have decided it would be better to use money from two fiscal years to put together one reasonably-funded season's worth of shows, then split the shows over two season.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it, until proven wrong.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Double damn with a side of oh fuck. This is really disappointing in the sense that I want more of my favorite show, but I also worry about what it will do the the quality and public opinion of the show. The 2009 specials year seemed to sour a lot of people towards the show. Mostly that was because most of RTD's specials were disappointingly bad episodes, but the point is that when fans have to pin all their hopes for a year on a handful of episodes, any duds hurt more.

[kaffy_r]

I'm less worried about the quality of the show suffering because this move could be a way to stretch dollars and maintain quality at the same time (see my reply to robling_t, above) than I am about viewer frustration. And even there, I'm not as worried as I might be; I saw how loyally BSG fans stuck to the show after horrible hiatuses; I know how loyal DW fans remained between 1989 and 2005.

But they will have to return with 14 high quality shows, and a bang-up plan to celebrate the 50th in 2013 to maintain my confidence.

[clocketpatch]

I do not think finale means what you cable marketing execs think it means

THIS THIS THIS!!!

I've been laughing my ass off every time term pops up in the marketing because it is so completely ridiculous. I mean, really?

[kaffy_r]

It's like ... I don't know, "supremely mediocre" - it is nonsensical on its face and at its core.