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Doctor Who To Be Axed, Again
twofish writes "According to UK tabloid The Sun, hit BBC sci-fi program Doctor Who will reportedly end next year after its fourth season. Producer Russell T. Davies has decided to bring the hit sci-fi show to a close — to 'go out at the top' — so he can concentrate on other projects, according to the article. Davies and other senior staff are feeling the strain of the heavy workload imposed by the show, nine months a year of 16-hour days, and plan to resign en-masse in 2008. Davies, a long-time fan of Doctor Who, relaunched the series in 2005, 16 years after the original series was axed." Update: 05/31 16:36 GMT by KD : Reader palewook points out that the UK Guardian sets this story straight: "But there isn't any way it would be axed even if [Davies] left. He loves the show and he does feel that maybe it would benefit from some new blood."
Well if you read the text you can see that it is not because of low ratings...
it doesn't sound like its poor support for the show, and from what I gather its quite popular there. It sounds more like the senior staff are just burnt out. I guess it would be up to the BBC and others involved in the show to decide if they want to try and go at it with different writers/producers/directors/etc. They've got lots of notice, so its not like they don't have time to mull over the options.
It is the Sun after all. But don't mind me, please resume panic.
I'd like to thank Russel a lot for his efforts: a lot of people like me was missing the Doctor.
But I'd also like to tell BBC that there could be other producers able to continue the job.
After all you can slash resources from some other (maybe more stupid) program.
In any case, may God save the Great Britain and the Little one.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
Nah, don't worry it'll be back. I've lost count of how many times that shows been pulled, revived and then cancelled again.
Mind you, there must be a limit that even a time lord can regenerate.
The monsters were scarier in the 1980s though - or was that because I was much younger?
FYI, a LOT of British series do this sort of thing (limited runs, going out on top voluntarily). Same thing happened with The Office, Ab Fab, etc. We Americans could learn a lot from these Brits (Lost and Heroes writers, I'm looking in your direction).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I give the man props for helping to bring the show back but he has, on average, written the dullest of the episodes in the new series. The beauty of the Dr. Who format is that it is designed to be timeless and exist far beyond the mortal limits of the humans involved. The only constant in the cast is the Doctor and he can "regenerate" every time the actor wants to move on to other things. The production staff should be equally replaceable. Want to move on? No problem! Take a sabbatical? No problem! A show like this should be able to run almost indefinitely, like, well, the previous series. :) I do hope they change their minds.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
At least the news came from a reputable news source... wait, thats not right. The sun is possible the worst of tabloid news. I would wait and see if this is confirmed from a news source that is less obsessed with celebrity and made up bs.
Just reading the unofficial fan page, I noticed this: (about half way down)
"The BBC has given an official statement to FreemaAgyeman.com, calling the Sun's story "absolute rubbish"."
So, a bucket of salt needs to be taken with this.
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This is coming from The Sun, one of the nations gossip 'newspapers'. Doctor Who is made by the BBC, considering how this latest series of Doctor Who has talked to BBC first I find it slightly suspicous, I mean the qoutes not even from Davies:
A source said: "The heavy workload -- nine months of 16-hour days every year -- has started to take its toll. It was decided the best thing for the show was go out at the top next year."
I'm betting this is anouther in a long line of Sun articles designed to sell newspapers which is based on gossip, when the BBC says there will be no more Doctor Who I'll believe them. As it standard Doctor Who is the BBC's most popular show so even if Davies were to quit I doubt they would axe the show.
The X-Files lasted 9 seasons/series of 20-30 episodes each. TNG, DS9 and Voyager lasted 7 years each with 20-30 episodes each. SG-1 lasted 10 seasons of 20-30 episodes as well.
Why in heavens name would they be burnt out with 3 seasons with only 13 episodes each? i'd understand your standard US TV show but a UK show that churns out that few episodes shouldnt be complaining.
I'm thinking the writers are just being honest that they cant write proper stories no more.
Well if you read the text...
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I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
I'm not pleased, either. I can understand the reasoning - high workloads can lead to burnout - but I concur with other posters. Let someone else do it...Doctor Who stories tend to benefit from fresh ideas and it can reasonably go in nearly ANY direction.
The current version has even managed to do a decent re-vamping of Daleks and Cybermen (when most re-hashings of old ideas tend to get tired). There is PLENTY more to do with this show...heck, remember that not only are there more incarnations left, we also have however long the FIRST doctor was around before his debut as an old geezer in a junkyard.
It IS a good formula for generating interest - "leave 'em wanting more" rather than getting stale (which, by the way, it wasn't at the end of its first run - internal issues in the Beeb got it canceled, not poor ratings or lack of interest).
Hey, Beeb, there's a SciFi channel out there doing reruns...and there are plenty of shows that should have found a second/third life there (Firefly is a three-four season show on SciFi, easily...and it's one of the few places US audiences can watch any Doctor Who that isn't internet).
... bullshit on this. A popular show, in it's prime, that's currently raking in cash hands over fist for the BBC from various products and merchandising efforts, is going to be axed right in the middle of a massive wave of popularity? Yes, you might kill a popular show just as its popularity or quality is fading, give it a dignified death, whatever. But this makes no sense. Producers and writers can be replaced, refreshed, whatever. Combined with the fact this is the Sun reporting this, and ... well ... as I said, bullshit.
I wouldn't believe a word that rag says. It's the worst of the Murdoch rags. Even the people who work for it consider it pretty disreputable.
Here's an example... Tango produces a commercial where old lady puts pin into balloon and old lady pops. The Sun called up the "help the aged" charity and said "They're blowing up old people. do you think this is right?". Woman who hadn't seen it agreed that on the face of it it sounded bad. The Sun then ran a story about how Help the Aged wanted the ad banned.
They do not fact check unless not doing so will get them sued. Their source could be a teaboy for all we know.
What, someone at the Sun? The newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch? The Rupert Murdoch that owns Sky TV? And would like the BBC's TV licence abolished? Surely not.
I take it you missed the Heroes season finale? Horrible.
Why should we believe thenm when its something that is more popular than any Sky show, and they can't buy it
For me there was something missing in the Christopher Eccleston Doctor. He wasn't the irrepresible, undaunted Doctor of the old days. That, and all the random pop culture getting thrown around didn't help.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
The truth of the matter is that Russell T Davies has stated publicly for quite a while that he won't stay on forever - he has previously said he wouldn't be in the Executive Producer role after 2010. Another truth is that he has no control over what the BBC choose to do with the show after he leaves. Quite an important truth is that Doctor Who is one of the BBC's most important programmes - regularly top of the ratings (after soaps) and a merchandising gold mine. The Sun is not a reliable source for stories like this as they will take a germ of a story and run it in whatever direction suits them. Anyone concerned that the fourth season will be the last should stop worrying.
The Sun is always wrong about Doctor Who. It has been printing one manifestly untrue story about the series every week for months. Just because you read in a tabloid that a Lancaster Bomber has been found on the Moon doesn't mean you automatically believe it (note to self: excellent plot for Doctor Who episode).
Personally I would be a lot more worried if the Sun reported that Doctor Who was definitely on for ten more seasons.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
The shows you mention all share a very important trait: Many main characters. It's easy for Patrick Steward to take a week off by writing him to some peace talk conference on a planet without skipping the week. Hey, it could be made into a plot device.
... who?
Not possible in Dr. Who. What's Dr. Who without Dr. Who? Dr.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The Sylar thing, that's the only thing that's really bugged me the entire time. It's like when Sylar is tied to the chair, don't bandy words with him, kill him immediately! And when he gets free of the chair and Peter comes in and saves you and Sylar gets knocked down, do something to cut his head off! Never assume the bad guy is dead until you have his head removed from his body, then burn it all just to be sure. I hate it when they have to resort to character mistakes to keep a baddie alive.
With regards to that manhole thing, Sylar could have done it himself or maybe something else came up and got him. Convention says he's still alive, though. (drat)
The best way I ever saw this handled was in the Buffy v. Dracula episode. She dusts him, everybody walks off, and then they do the typical "baddie comes back to life, muhahahah!" thing with him coalescing from the vapor. STAB! POOF! Buffy was watching. Then he does the vapor thing again. "I'm still here," she says. The vapor goes away. Class.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Rupert Murdoch
/ \
/ | |
/ \
News International Sky One-----COMPETITOR--------BBC
/ | |
The Sun Various----LOWER RATINGS----Doctor Who
Do you see what's happening here?
I dunno. The different Doctors were so... different, then I don't think the latest could be judged any better or any worse. I mean, I enjoy the new shows, think they're the best SciFi my TV has seen in over a decade, but I still think Tom Baker was the best Doctor.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Could be true, could be bollocks, but as long as it gets some page views or shifts a few more papers, I doubt they give a toss. Looks like they succeeded.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
How did I know that the tabloid Sun story would be on Slashdot, while the more level-headed, better-sourced Guardian piece would not?
9 2376,00.html
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,20
The BBC has insisted that the future of Doctor Who's executive producer, Russell T Davies, "has not yet been decided" in spite of reports today that he will quit the hit show after the next series.
A BBC drama spokeswoman said that Mr Davies has signed up to oversee this year's Doctor Who Christmas special and 2008's fourth series.
However, she added that his involvement with Doctor Who after that has not been confirmed.
"Discussions have not begun so we cannot say if Russell will be involved or not," she said.
A senior BBC Wales drama source told MediaGuardian.co.uk that Mr Davies may be preparing to leave the show.
"Russell has always said that he wouldn't be with the show forever and he has made no secret that the hours are quite exhausting," the insider said.
"But there isn't any way it would be axed even if he left. He loves the show and he does feel that maybe it would benefit from some new blood."
Today's Sun claimed that the show will be axed after the fourth series because of the decision by Mr Davies to quit as executive producer.
The Sun reported that Mr Davies and "senior staff have hatched a plot to hand in a group resignation in summer 2008 and that the show will end after series four".
It quoted a "source" who said that Mr Davies had become fed up over an exhausting workload of 16-hour days nine months a year.
Mr Davies has been the creative driving force behind the Doctor Who revival, which has been a resounding critical and ratings success, and his departure would be a blow for the BBC.
As executive producer he has taken on a "show runner" role, overseeing all creative aspects of the drama and in particular leading the team of Doctor Who writers, as well as scripting individual episodes himself.
The showrunner role is common on long running US TV drama and comedy series, but not often seen in the UK.
However, if Mr Davies does leave Doctor Who, the BBC will want to keep such a popular show going by bringing in a new executive producer to take over his creative responsibilities.
There are several options.
1) The very beginning: This has the advantage that you get to see the series evolve. To my knowledge, the lost episodes are largely 2nd and 3rd doctor. There's probably a list somewhere you can look it up.
The special effects are circa the era the show aired in. If you aren't fond of the age old effects, this might not be the start for you.
2) Third Doctor onward: The jump between the second and third doctors was large enough that one could viably start here without needing the previous backstory. By this point, the series had established most of its tenants.
3) Fourth Doctor onward: Not as good a spot as the others, but Tom Baker was the most popular doctor, had the longest run, and had a couple episodes written by Douglas Adams.
4) Ninth Doctor onward: Skip the old series entirely, go to the new series. You gain the benefit that you'll quickly be up to speed with other people starting here, but you'll probably feel inadaquate when some diehard who watched the series as it aired starts rambling about the other doctors.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
That wasn't the first time rules were made up on the fly in the show, and it wasn't the last. The regeneration thing was really fabricated at the last minute to explain a change of Doctor. There have also been enough hints dropped in the series, novels (though not all of them could be considered canon) and audio plays that Who is not "just" a time-lord but maybe something else entirely. He might reach regeneration 13 and pronounce "Well, that was unexpected." That would probably then allow a new storyline where Who tries to find out WHY he regenerated a 13th time.
But it doesn't really matter that much; most of the rules that were set in the series have changed over time or been outright ignored. The regeneration thing might be enough of a "biggie" that they'll have to find a reason for it, but I suspect it could be easily pulled off. After all, this is Doctor Who; part science fiction, part dinner theatre and part mystical fantasy. All bets are off.
Oh, and as for the story? Codswollop. I no longer live in England but when I was a teen living in England the only two reasons I read The Sun were (a) for the entertainment value and (b) for the breasts on page 3.