What Would Make You Stop Watching?

[Si Hunt]

Apologies for the negative thread! But over the past few days several people have said things like "If such and such happens, I'm not watching any more."

Are you being flippant, speaking 'theoretically' or would you really literally not turn on the TV set?

To everyone, is there anything the new series could do that would make you stop watching? Just never catch the latest episode?

It's an odd one. I mean, sometimes I watch "Time Team" if I'm bored. I can't think what they could do to Doctor Who that would make me just not want to watch a new episode. Even just out of curiosity value.

Or do you disagree? If they cast Dawn French as the Doctor and Harry Hill as the companion (I was going to put Catherine Tate then, whoops!) and reduced the budget to ?100 an episode, would you still tune in?

Si.

[Philipnet]

For me, I think if they changed the character of the Doctor so much that he (or she) was barely recognisable, that would make me turn off. Someone who was so up himself, bigoted, racist, intent on shoving his own political view point on everyone rather than accepting people for who and what they are; that would do it I think

[Dino]

I'd stop watching if they just gave up, started using ideas they've done before (at least all uses of the Daleks in the series have been "progressive" from one dalek to a whole fleet to a Cyberman showbiz team up to a bizarre New York caper to the masterplan 2.0 with extra Davros) if the Doctor just became a catchphrase machine.
If Mike Post did the incidental music.

Funny enough I was thinking of starting a thread called
"Doctor Matt Smith-What's the Worst that can happen?"

Actually, I'm not sure if I could stop watching... but it would break my heart so much to see it go wrong.

[WhiteCrow]

To quote myself ...

I dispise the idea of the Doctor turning into some abhorant "young Inspector Morse".

But things which would make me turn off ...
* "Everyone lives ... again". Stephen Moffat repeating himself.
* "Yeah, me is the Doctor, biggin' it up wi' the Timelord massive". Doctor Who tries to "get down with the kids".
* "The Timelords have been alive all this time, but I just told everyone they were dead cos I wanted to get into Rose's knickers on a sympathy ****". Stephen Moffat reboots one of the most dramatic twists of the New Series, and kind of drags all the Doctors angst into the gutter in a single line of dialogue.
* "The TARDIS is broken, and I'm going to do all my adventures on Earth. As a cost cutting exercise." Doctor Who gets a Torchwood reboot, and suddenly feels cheap.
* "The Chameleon Circuit is repaired ... kind of." The TARDIS changes from beloved Police Box into a kebab trailer.

[WhiteCrow]

Hmmm - much as I love him, can you imagine if Danny Elfman did the music for the series? It'd be worth it just for all the "I wish Murray Gold would return" posts.

[Dino]

Or if this story from NME.com is true...

Lily Allen could be appearing as 'Dr Who''s new sidekick, people behind the show have revealed.

The BBC are looking for a girl to join the new Doctor Matt Smith when he takes over from David Tennant in 2010, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Executive producer of the show, Piers Wenger, told the paper: "Having got the casting of the Doctor out of the way, the companion role is where we will be looking next. Someone terribly exciting like Billie Piper, who was at the beginning of her acting career but who had a profile for other reasons, would be great. We are looking for someone whose light can burn brightly."

Sources say that other female celebrities being considered include Kelly Brook and Rachel Stevens.

Wenger added: "We would never cast anyone on the basis of their celebrity, but if Lily wanted to audition we would be delighted. It would be a lot of fun."

NO! Just no...no...no! Billie went to a drama school did Lily? Don't think so?

[Llordllama]

I quite like the idea of a "Cybermen showbiz team" - that'd make me watch it. With you Whitecrow on all of yours (much as the idea of the kebab van made me chuckle!).

For me a drift towards "Buffisiation" would be the final nail in the coffin, go getting "teens" travelling the universe whilst making snarky comments at everything they meet. Keep the wonder and awe!

[WhiteCrow]

I used to be unsure about Buffy the whole "teens against the demons" thing, until I found all the actors were about my age (I was almost 30)!

Kelly Brook would be just terrible. She just can't act at all, I've not seen her in anything where she hasn't really struggled.

Actually NME's thing really depresses me. They're looking for "name" for Doctor Who's assistant. But not, alas actresses.

Technically of our batch of companions, only Freema is an absolute bona fide actress. Billy was more famous as a pop star, but even so, she had proved herself within the Canterbury Tales as being an actress. Likewise Tate was more known as a comedian, but she herself excelled herself.

None of the names in the list have really any sort of acting credentials. Even Matt Smith though a relative unknown has enough work behind him on screen that we can see he's a capable actor.

Hopefully this will be like that rumour about Amy Winehouse becoming the next companion.

[Pip Madeley]

Billy was more famous as a pop star, but even so, she had proved herself within the Canterbury Tales as being an actress.

Billie always wanted to be an actress and studied at Sylvia Young - she's as bona fide as Freema in my book (and better).

[SiHart]

Nothing.
I think I'd always give it a chance no matter what they did to it, just in case it was good.

Si xx

[Paul Monk]

If my telly broke down and we couldn't afford a new one.

[Dave Lewis]

If the Doctor joins an internet message board. Just imagine it:

DOCTOR SMITH: "Exciting! Iconic! Exciting! What? Too wide?"

LILY ALLEN: "Doctor, what are you doing?"

DOCTOR SMITH: "I'm just checking out Roobarbs, my dear - they seem to think that my face looks like a horse's."

LILY: "Toerags!"

DOCTOR SMITH: "Over on Digital Spy, they're calling me 'the worst Doctor ever'."

LILY: "Bilgebags!"

DOCTOR SMITH: "At OG, they're talking about something called 'audience shares' and 'including videos and repeats'."

LILY: "Doughnuts!"

DOCTOR SMITH: "Doughnuts? Meanwhile on Ian Levine's forum..."

LILY: "Who?"

DOCTOR SMITH: "You know - the fat, talentless one that you don't like very much."

LILY: "Peaches Geldof?"

DOCTOR SMITH: "Exciting! Iconic! Exciting!"

[NorthernStar]

The TV movie in the 90's put me off. Half human!

So much so I didn't take much notice of the show's return in 2005, (other than yikes! Billie Piper! after reading that in the paper) not completely because of the disappointment of the movie, I'll admit, but life was in a particular place, my daughter started school etc.
I didn't even catch it until after the first Christmas Special when, cheered on by recommendations by others (in particular, WhiteCrow) and curious about the new guy, who really looked the part, I took advantage of UK Gold's Dr Who weekend and finally saw series 1 in one big binge. And wondered why I'd ever stayed away in the first place.

I'd hate to see Moffatt riding rough shod over some of the themes built up by RTD for both the Doctor and his companions. I think it's fine if we see a more upbeat regeneration as long as it doesn't sh*t on the past.

A move towards happy endings would bother me too, particularly ones like Forest of the Dead that everyone played as if it were happy when it wasn't. Far from it.

I don't want to learn the Doctor's name or have him "explained."

And let the clicking fingers thing just be a one off. Fonzie Who leaves me cold.

I could come to accept one or two of these, but all might have me reaching for the off button.

[WhiteCrow]

Billie always wanted to be an actress and studied at Sylvia Young - she's as bona fide as Freema in my book (and better).

Was I dissing her? I don't think so. I said she was more famous as a pop star, but had proved her acting credentials. She turned out to be a very good actor.

Even if they've come from the Sylvia Plath School of Drama, I'd hope whoever's chosen has some kind of TV drama work to their name. Being a companion is a major role, and you need a bit of experience. But that's going to the age thing all over again!

If my telly broke down and we couldn't afford a new one.

There'd still be the iPlayer Paul.

[Ralph]

Most of what came after City of Death...

[Alex]

Hmmm. This is a difficult one, as I don't think anything could stop me watching for good, though I imagine it might get to the point where I'd not be annoyed if I missed an episode if they brought in really bad writers - I'm thinking of the likes of whoever wrote Demons, or any of those really annoying episodes of Eastenders where it's just one or two characters moaning the whole time. Replacing the cast with soap rejects would make me struggle too, if I ever hear the words "Peter Dean...is the Doctor!" I'd be suitably horrified, but even then I'd tune in to catch the odd episode.

[Captain Tancredi]

I think for me it would have to be if the series was ever handed over to a production team that really didn't know what to do with it, seriously misunderstood what it was about and made it into a travesty of what it could and should be. In other words, if I didn't feel particularly safe and comfortable sitting in front of it, because for me Who serves roughly the same purpose as the prose of Arthur Conan Doyle and a mug of cocoa- a little island in the day that isn't part of the mundane world.

[Pip Madeley]

Was I dissing her? I don't think so. I said she was more famous as a pop star, but had proved her acting credentials. She turned out to be a very good actor.

Did I say you were "dissing" her? I don't think so. I was just pointing out that Billie had attended a drama school and as such can be considered bona fide like Martha (the fact that she was a pop star is irrelevant).

[Andrew Curnow]

I can't really think anything would put me off watching Who. That said, obviously if it started to be made in such a way that it was Doctor Who in name alone - if, for example, the Doctor became for no reason a gun-toting, more aggressive, hero in the Rambo vein. Assuming that the BBC would always ensure the show was still recognisable on a fundamental level, then I don't think I'd be put off watching. There might well be occasions when I watch an episode once and never want to see it again, but enough to make me stop watching the next episode, and the next? Nope.

[Dirk Gently]

Lily Allen could be appearing as 'Dr Who''s new sidekick, people behind the show have revealed.

Wenger added: "...but if Lily wanted to audition we would be delighted. It would be a lot of fun."

Lessons in how to take something & make a mountain out of it.
There is nothing there that suggests that Lily Allen could be doing anything other than music. The quote is Wenger merely saying that it would be fun if Lily Allen auditioned & that he would be delighted at this turn of events if it occurred.

[shada pavlova]

You know what?

If you piled all these horrible things into Doctor Who,

I'd still watch it. Every week.

Because that's what I do.

[Jamie McCrimmon]

I stopped watching it when Colin Baker took over, after really trying to keep watching. For me, that was when it became a pale imitation of itself. I started watching again with McCoy, though. I also skipped a few of Tennant's stories because I found Martha's wooden acting and dull character hard to watch. The introduction of overt sexuality, in particular a relationship between the Doctor and a companion, didn't feel right but I tried to stick with it anyway. I'd stop watching again if it became something which irritated me, rather than entertained me. Maybe if the focus on the Doctor having a love interest intensified, and it felt more like a soap opera, that might put me off.

[Kaybee Bailey]

I'm not sure it's a matter of particular things - I mean, I thought daleks running reality TV shows sounded crap, and how on earth could all those companions fit into The Stolen Earth without it being tacky. So I've decided, I'll stop watching the day I stop enjoying it. Simple as. Might never happen, might happen at Easter. At the moment, I look forward to watching a new episode, and the vast majority of the time I enjoy watching it and feel better afterward than I did at the beginning. If I ever lose that feeling, then it won't be worth it. But I really hope I never do.

[WhiteCrow]

During the first season I stopped watching in after Aliens of London - farting aliens, and bad alien effects after I'd told someone at work "there's none of that any more".

I kept recording episodes though, and it was only after seeing Bad Wolf I decided to catch up and found it had got good, and with the Empty Child, exceptional.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

For me it would just have to carry on going the way it has been for the past few years. I don't know if I'd actively avoid it, and I haven't missed an episode so far, but it's getting to the point of being casual viewing for me now, where I wouldn't make any effort to tape it or catch up on it if I happen to miss an episode.

I'm looking forward to the Moffat era, not so much because I think he'll necessarily any good, but simply because it will at least mean something different. As for Matt Smith, I don't really care about him because I think the casting of the lead is pretty unimportant compared to how the character is written and how the series is shaped.

If it carries on the same, or gets even worse, I would probably stop making any effort to watch. I don't think I'd ever get to the foot-through-the-TV-solemn-oath-to-never-again-view stage, but then in some ways you could argue that just drifting away because you don't care anymore is sadder* than that anyway.



*In the emotional sense. Clearly, sticking your foot through your own TV is "sadder".