Doctor Who: USA?

[SiHart]

In Gary Gillat's excellent article in the latest DWM, he makes the point that for all Doctor Who's success, it hasn't managed to really conquer the USA TV market. Its doing OK on Sci-Fi, but not reaching the heights of other US series such as Lost or Heroes. This, he believes is due to the show's inherent Britishness.

The only way that Doctor Who might succeed on US TV is for it to be remade in the States, with an American cast and rewritten scripts, possibly remaking the episodes we've seen already in the UK but with an American slant... a US shopgirl in New York meeting a strange alien when shop window dummies come to life... that kind of thing.

Obviously, I know very little about US TV and stuff, but I do know that over the last few years BBC Worldwide has been offering show formats to the States and remaking them with some sucess- The Office for example. Could Doctor Who be another one? Would it work?

What do you think about the idea? Who woukd be a good US Doctor and companion? Would you watch a new version of the show?

Si xx

[WhiteCrow]

This reminds me of a thread I think I started on how bad and Americanism Doctor Who could get.

Could an American Doctor Who work? Well wasn't the TV movie an attempt to Americanise it? And it didn't really work.

Part of me thinks "why shouldn't it work". But ...

You mention Heroes and Lost - they're really adult dramas aimed at adults. Doctor Who has universal appeal to adults and children. It's hard to think of a show from America with such broad appeal - perhaps Star Trek Next Generation? But even that was skewed at a slightly more adult audience.

American kids TV is of course kind of dumbed down.

[Si Hunt]

Gillatt's article was fantastic up until about the third page, then it turned into a weird and not unfrightening "what could happen next?" speculation (seemingly unprompted) before accellerating into ridiculous waffle about Doctor Who being certain to outlive him and go on forever. I think he just got a bit carried away.

The second bit, where he mentioned Doctor Who:USA, I didn't particuarly like the idea of. I'm not sure why, I felt a hint of absurd anger that he'd thought of it and might give them ideas. On considering it, I guess I could put up with an American version of our show... but it's not something I'm particuarly keen on. Doctor Who lasted many years in its first incarnation without us having to put up with a syruppy version set in LA, I don't REALLY agree with him that one is suddenly inevitable now.

Si.

[NorthernStar]

What a horrible prospect!

But would it work though? I don't recall the ratings for Next Gen, Buffy and the like but I'm pretty sure they were demographic hits rather than bone fide smashes. I could see any series based on Dr Who going the same way and it would still be a cult thing, just a bit bigger.

The thing that really annoyed me about the article is that it seemed to suggest that the show's lack of an American following was somehow a failure that needs rectifying. Why is this? I doubt there's many, say, Icelandic fans of Who but no-one's bothering about that.

America, in general, doesn't really show much interest in things that aren't American (hense Hugh Laurie losing out on an Emmy again) and that's fine. Accept it.

[WhiteCrow]

The thing that really annoyed me about the article is that it seemed to suggest that the show's lack of an American following was somehow a failure that needs rectifying. Why is this? I doubt there's many, say, Icelandic fans of Who but no-one's bothering about that.

Obviously if it was big in America, then that would be great.

But, it's a series produced by a Welshman, by BBC Wales for BBC Wales license payers. As such it's a huge success story - it's even popular outside Wales.

[JohnMan]

I live in America and find that the show is perfect as is. I think the major problem as to why it's not bigger in America is because I do not believe SciFi, which shows it, targets youth with it's programming. Thanks to me, all of the kids in my family love the program. The family gets together and we have long conversations about the show. I grew up watching it in the early 80's on PBS, and at that time, it came everyday as soon as I got home from school. The timing of the program was aimed at trying to catch young viewers, and it did. SciFi shows the program mostly at 7-8PM on Friday nights... usually, youth/teenagers will have something else to do on Friday nights. Plus, at that time on other nights, SciFi will usually show silly wanna be sci-fi/ horror movies. Because of this, parents automatically assume to not let the young ones watch the channel at that time because of the other programming.

Anyway, if SciFi would market the program to both young and older people, plus, air it at a time where young people will actually realize it exists, I honestly believe it would at least double in viewer numbers.

The show itself isn't like other programs shown in America. It doesn't 100 percent fit it's style and because of that, it will never be as big here as it is in the UK, but there is a very hungry market in USA for good television and Doctor Who CAN fill that void if only more people knew about it...

Also, i've noticed that the majority of times SciFi airs reruns will be something like 4-5 am... like yeah, a lot of people are going to be up and watching it then too. Especially those 7 year olds that like to stay up all night drinking cool-aid and watching hellraiser.

Poor... poor marketing. I think that summarizes the SciFi channel as a whole. I love scifi, but i can't stand that channel. It has so much potential, but it's blowing it.

[JohnMan]

One more thing... America recently finished showing series four of the show. Like i mentioned, it aired on Friday nights. I find this to be the absolute worse time for the show, especially during the summer, because nobody here in the USA, unless they absolutely have to, stays home to watch TV on a Friday night. During the summer, kids go to the theater's, go to play ball games, etc... Friday Night, 8PM, during the summer time, is one of the worse times to show Doctor Who.

[Rob McCow]

Doctor Who killed by poor scheduling? It's happened before!

Very interesting to get the perspective from overseas. It seems that Doctor Who needs to be sold to the schedulers rather than the audience, so that might be the niche for an Americanised version of the show.

I for one would love to see an American take on it!

[Andrew Curnow]

I really enjoyed Gary Gillat's article - but the one thing I think he doesn't really look at is that US 'cult' series never really take off over here. I don't know how popular Heroes is in the US, but it's definitely not a mainstream hit here. Ditto Lost, etc, they are all BBC2 or Channel 4 territory (if they even make it onto terrestrial at all). So to suggest that Doctor Who's failure to make it in the US is an oddity isn't quite the whole picture. Even Star Trek, other than the original series back int he 60s & 70s, has never been presented or viewed as a 'big' mainstream show over here.

[Phillip Culley]

The problem I see is that I don't think I've seen a program like Doctor Who on TV in the US - they're either kids shows dumbed down too far for adults, or adult shows which are unsuitable for the younger ones.

Plus, we have to remember that showing Doctor Who on Sci-fi is analogous to showing it on Sky One - the only people who see it are those who actually subscribe to the channel, meaning that comparisons to Heroes and Lost are unfair, since they're available to everyone who has a TV. Therefore lower figures are expected.

Were there to be a US version of Doctor Who, I think it would go for something more serious (dare I saw po-faced?) and lose the charm the series has now. I'm not convinced that would work as a series and in the long run could be more detrimental to the UK series' image over on this side of the continent.

[Dave Lewis]

From the comments I see here - both from the UK and US - it seems that despite the hurdles a series like Doctor Who 'USA' would have to bestride to get over in 2008 (and beyond) to be accepted as a programme loved by a cross-generational audience, there does seem to be a vast gap in the scheduling of NBC/Fox/CBS/Non-PBS-TV-channel-whose-name-I-don't-know for such a show. I have no idea if it would work; but has it ever been attempted by one of the major networks?

American Idol and America's Got Talent are both British ideas that have been massively successful in the States* - is there even a slim possibility that a family-orientated fantasy-ish drama series** could ever have the same mass family appeal?


* I already know what you're going to say about AGT - but it was a Cowell devised idea that was so successful in the US they thought/realised that it would work equally well in the UK.

** The words 'sci' and 'fi' need never ever be applied. I only put in the word 'fantasy' in case Simon Cowell decided that the way forward was Eastenders redone as Dynasty.

[Dave Lewis]

I seem to have namechecked the high-waistbanded-one twice in as many sentences - put him as Rassilon, Piers Morgan as the Master, Sharon Osbourne as the Rani and David Hasselhoff as the Doctor* and I guarantee a ratings smash.


* What a ridiculous suggestion...

[Dave Lewis]

No more asterisks ever again, promise* - how wank are they?


* Unless absolutely neccesary.

[Jeff]

I seem to have namechecked the high-waistbanded-one twice in as many sentences - put him as Rassilon, Piers Morgan as the Master, Sharon Osbourne as the Rani and David Hasselhoff as the Doctor* and I guarantee a ratings smash.


* What a ridiculous suggestion...

Drinking much?

[MacNimon]

It doesn't seem such a long time ago that the Hoff was genuinely touted as the next Doctor...it's enough to make you break out in a cold sweat!

[Dave Lewis]

Drinking much?

Not nearly enough as I need to - although it's many times more than I ought to. Perhaps you could help; nip into that brewery near you and FedEx me a few cases...

[Jeff]

Not nearly enough as I need to - although it's many times more than I ought to. Perhaps you could help; nip into that brewery near you and FedEx me a few cases...

Sure, I'll send you a bunch of O'Doul's and Busch NA. How would that be?

BEHOLD NIRVANA!

[Dave Lewis]

Cool and awesome!

[Jeff]

Cool and awesome!

I knew some guys once who stole a bunch of O'Doul's from a concession stand and later claimed to have gotten drunk off of them. Then they tried arguing with me after I called them morons and explained that it was non alcoholic.

[Dave Lewis]

Conversely, I know a former pub landlord who once gave a driver inummerate bottles of Marston's Low C - a low calory beer of 5.0% ABV - thinking it was non-alcoholic...

[chalkie]

dr. who usa? just look what they did to red dwarf!!! nuff said

[Dave Lewis]

Pardon?

[Philipnet]

I can only think of Red Dwarf when it comes to remaking a UK show as an US one; not exactly a hit, was it.
And it doesn't help that I don't like The Office and can't stand Ricky Gervais.

[Whitney]

Plus, we have to remember that showing Doctor Who on Sci-fi is analogous to showing it on Sky One - the only people who see it are those who actually subscribe to the channel, meaning that comparisons to Heroes and Lost are unfair, since they're available to everyone who has a TV. Therefore lower figures are expected.

Just wanted to let you know that that's not quite how it works here. When you get a television, you can slap some metal ears on it and get about 6 basic channels. These include PBS (educational, cultural, and British stuff), local news, political station, two or three entertainment channels (not scifi, probably ABC or NBC) and the TV guide channel to mock you and tell you what you're not getting.



No one pays for a TV and only does that. The people who stick with the air waves are the very poor. The vast majority of the nation gets what's called Basic Cable which is very cheap and is a group of around 80-100 channels Depending on where you are, these channels can be good or can be crap. SciFi is usually in Basic Cable. I'm sure that there are places where it's not but I've never heard of such a place.

I would second that the timing is a difficulty for "noobs" to watch Doctor Who. SciFi will air a new episode that's a cliffhanger of a two parter, and then air an old episode, which is really confusing and I've had people complain to me about it (like it's my fault or something. I'm apparently the American Doctor Who Diplomat). They will really mix up the episodes. Someone posted that they're now airing them on fridays, but I guess a year or two ago, I kept getting complaints from people that they couldn't follow the story because they couldn't understand WHEN SciFi was airing it because it was all during the week at different times. SciFi chan has a lot of issues (the least of which is Doctor Who, have you seen their original movies??).

EDIT: BBCAmerica you HAVE to pay for. It's ALWAYS on a paid plan. HBO is a bit different in that, depending on the company, you either can buy it seperately, or it's in a very expensive plan (that seperate fee being bundled with other channels, often BBCA). Those channels would be more similar to what you're describing SkyOne. Many people do have them, we love our TV and HBO dang it, but it's not average to have it.

[FlyingBeastie]

as an american i'd like to voice my complete and utter objection to remaking Who in the states (or any other british shows for that matter!!! they butchered coupling and the office is crap, it was only good for one season in my opinion.)

hmm, well, i guess to some extent, yes, it doesn't work here cos' of its britishness. its a culture thing, i think. in britain you lot have Who that works as a family show, here in America they've done away with those. torchwood i think works better than Who over here cos' its more dark and (sex sells)- actually, i haven't seen Fringe, but from what i've heard its pretty much a US version of TW.

but yeah, i don't think they should worry whether or not Who works here in the US, cos' even if they tried getting the attention over here they'd have to sacrifice parts of the show that made the few of us who do watch it over here fall in love with it.

so yeah, i think they should just leave it be, cos' Peri and the made for TV series didn't work, they should just leave it at that.