The split season discussion thread - 2012

[Anthony Williams]

So, with the first half of Series 7 out of the way, how are we left feeling about the gap between now and the rest of the episodes?

Did you feel (like me) that just as you were beginning to get into the season, that it was cut short? Or did you think that the run of five episodes left you salivating for more, and rather excited for next year? Or do you just not care?

I DEMAND TO KNOW!

[Andrew Curnow]

Well, ever the cynic, I think that in a couple of years time we'll see generally shorter seasons, so I remain unconvinced that we'll really end up treating this year + the early part of next year as "season 7".

I certainly can't see any point to doing it, and 5 episodes is too short a run IMHO. And although we fans are very aware of it, I can see a lot of more casual viewers being surprised this coming weekend to find that Doctor Who has already finished for the year.

[Si Hunt]

I'm glad we are getting SOME Doctor Who, but I feel a little shortchanged. Five weeks just isn't enough.

Si.

[duncan]

I am not a fan of split seasons as I have seen many shows take a break midway through a series and the ratings suffered as a result. One series later and the shows have been axed. However, ratings are quite healthy for Doctor Who at the moment. Five episodes is way too short and I definitely feel as though I have just got into it as it comes to an end.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

If Merlin wasn't starting this weekend and running through to Christmas then I'd have agreed. I don't think the casual viewers will be too bothered as a result.

If we hadn't just had the final 5 episodes of Amy and Rory in September would people have really prefered to wait until the run upto Christmas as that would've been a really long broadcast gap and the 8 month wait we did have was long enough.
It makes sense to re-introduce Jenna-Louise at Christmas when they've got a fairly captive audience and I'm happy to wait for that and I'm also glad we got the mini series we did get for now.

The 5 episodes we've just had are being branded as "Series 7 Part 1" on the impending DVD and BluRay release so the next block of episodes from Christmas 2012 - February 2013 will definitely be considered as Part 2 of the same series just as the the 2 parts of Series 6 were last year.

[SiHart]

The ratings are still high, the AIs are through the roof, people seem glad to have Doctor Who back, so whether its 5 episodes or 13 in this run, it doesn't seem to matter really to anyone outside of fandom.

I'd have loved more, but I know there's more to come, so I don't really mind.

[Si Hunt]

Isn't that a bit like saying - sales of this new book are healthy, people have bought them all, so why print up any more?

Si.

[SiHart]

Possibly, but the difference is we know more are on the way. Just like we did last year... And we survived thst gap all right too.

Sent from my LT15i using Tapatalk 2

[Simon R]

I don't like the suggestion that we won't get a full or half series 8 next year.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I don't think there's any need to worry at this stage. They're not going to announce what they're planning for the rest of next year and beyond until they've finished filming series 7 first.

[Dino]

I can't decide at the moment. It used to be "A Town Called Mercy" as I'd seen that at least twice. However by rewatching the series (I've been too busy the past couple of days to continue) my response is "Asylum Of The Daleks!!! No... hang on... Dinosaurs On A Spaceship! No... wait..."
My brain is still in a state of flux at the moment. But I am enjoying the last five than the last five episodes of the last series.

[J.R. Southall]

My brain is still in a state of flux at the moment...

Ah, that explains you posting in the wrong thread!

On subject, though, and here's a thing: they're currently averaging something more like a series (14 episodes) every 15 months, rather than the 12 months it was before. So if they had scheduled more than the six for 2012, then 2013 would have had fewer as a result. And much as I'm disappointed not to have had a full series' worth right now, realistically speaking I think I'll be slightly more happy with a fuller schedule for the 50th Anniversary.

Besides, the point at which Amy and Rory leave is quite an appropriate one to leave things, for now.

[Alex]

It's been way too short a season, and I just don't get it, it's one of the Beeb's flagship programmes and I still feel it's treated bizarrely. What's presumably going to be a three and a half month break (discounting the Christmas special) feels like forever, and I'll be even more put out if season eight doesn't air in the autumn.

All that talk of bringing the show back to it's natural Autumn home seems like nonsense too, given that September was (and usually is) a vaguely sunny and pleasant month...

[J.R. Southall]

I suspect you're getting this backwards; the BBC haven't 'slighted' Doctor Who by arranging a shortened series, the people who make Doctor Who have handed the BBC a five episode mini-series (by prior arrangement, obviously, at the decision-making process) to play this autumn in advance of further episodes in the anniversary year.

You'll be very disappointed if you're expecting Series 8 next autumn, I fear. A more likely turn of events would be "special programming" for the latter half of the anniversary year, with normality recommencing in 2014, and Series 8 split between the spring and autumn of the year after next as a result.

[Andrew Curnow]

No I'm sorry, I just don't get that - how is being asked to air only 5 episodes this year as opposed to 13 anything but a slight? I'm not disputing there may well be a reason, either actor availability, or showrunner workload, maybe just double-booking of studio-time, I've no idea. But I can't see how it can be spun into a positive by dint of getting more episodes next year - it looks like it will only be more as a comparison to this year.

I mean, I don't know, maybe the truth is that it's never really been viable to make 14 episodes a year, and that the RTD guys managed it by working too many hours, and by 'running on fumes' - that's fair enough, but whichever way you look at it, last year we had 14 episodes, this year we've got a total of 6, that's not an improvement.

IMHO of course!

[Alex]

What gets me is that US shows manage to produce 24 episodes a year, and have a three month break as well. Now they may be bigger productions, but if that's the case the Beeb should raise the budget and match them - especially considering how much money Who brings in. I'd love to see a breakdown of all the worldwide tv sales / merchandising / dvd sales, licensing, etc, etc, does anyone know if one's ever been published anywhere?

Now it's so popular in the US as well, it really is time the Beeb raised their game. And as a showrunner, Moffat properly devotes his time to it, or gets someone in to help him with it...

[Anthony Williams]

What gets me is that US shows manage to produce 24 episodes a year, and have a three month break as well. Now they may be bigger productions, but if that's the case the Beeb should raise the budget and match them - especially considering how much money Who brings in. I'd love to see a breakdown of all the worldwide tv sales / merchandising / dvd sales, licensing, etc, etc, does anyone know if one's ever been published anywhere?

Now it's so popular in the US as well, it really is time the Beeb raised their game. And as a showrunner, Moffat properly devotes his time to it, or gets someone in to help him with it...

Alex (and Andrew) - I agree with you. 100%. I really, really do.

Sadly, though, the whole "amount of money it brings in" argument doesn't really work. I've been led to believe that because of the terms of the BBC Charter, the BBC cannot use anything that's brought in by its commercial arm to spend on programming. As a result, even if Doctor Who costs $2,000,000 (I'm guessing - I have no idea on the actual costs) an episode, but brings in an average of $20,000,000 per episode from the commercial side of things, it wouldn't be able to spend that.

Which is pretty terrible, really.

And at the end of the day, yes, we would all like to see MORE Who on TV each year. It was possible in the RTD years, I don't see why it shouldn't in the Moffat era.

[Mike Saville]

He's been gone a fortnight and he's counting in dollars already...

[Anthony Williams]

He's been gone a fortnight and he's counting in dollars already...

It's more because my laptop is American and doesn't have a key for the Pound sign.

[J.R. Southall]

No I'm sorry, I just don't get that - how is being asked to air only 5 episodes this year as opposed to 13 anything but a slight?

Well, it depends upon who you think is doing the asking, who it is that they are asking, and who you think is being slighted. I was trying to explain that it's not the BBC as a corporation who've told Moffat "Right, you can only have five (actually, it's six) episodes this year," but that as a showrunner and executive producer, Moffat has arranged for the lion's share of this year's production episodes to be broadcast next year, during the anniversary. Or would you rather next year be the one in which there were only five (or rather, six) episodes? I know which way around I'd prefer to have it! We've had twice as many episodes this year as we had in 2009, and need I remind you how many episodes we had in 2004? Patience!

Besides, the fact is, they're only midway through the recording of the next eight episodes (they only shot the Christmas Special the other week), so there probably aren't any more episodes ready. We were lucky to get this run as early as we did; the original rumour was that they were't going to be shown until November.

[Anthony Williams]

J.R. - the thing is, that we all became accustomed to having a full series of Doctor Who for four years from 2005 until 2008. Then again in 2010 and 2011. Why isn't it possible to have a full series in 2012 and in 2013. THAT is the question that's on everyone's mind.

[Larry]

I suspect you're getting this backwards; the BBC haven't 'slighted' Doctor Who by arranging a shortened series, the people who make Doctor Who have handed the BBC a five episode mini-series (by prior arrangement, obviously, at the decision-making process) to play this autumn in advance of further episodes in the anniversary year.

You'll be very disappointed if you're expecting Series 8 next autumn, I fear. A more likely turn of events would be "special programming" for the latter half of the anniversary year, with normality recommencing in 2014, and Series 8 split between the spring and autumn of the year after next as a result.

they may be planning some thing really really big for next year anniversary and Moff may very well feel that a one off big blockbuster special will be so much more special as a stand aloan episode rather than being buried halfway through a series but I still feel a little bit cheated with what's happening next year. The Series break didn't bother me last year because we got i either side of the summer - but moving the 2nd half of this series to next year just seems to me to be a ploy to give the fans some thing when the reality is we are not getting a new series next year.

[Martin Curnow]

It's not really a split season is it - it's not a summer break like last year but rather 5 episodes, a Christmas special in a couple of months and then the other episodes next year - "a new season".

I'm sure I read somewhere about them entering the longest phase of production they've had so I am hoping we will have the rest of what is called this season around Easter, followed by another season starting in the autumn and taking us towards "Who 50" .

[J.R. Southall]

Well, if the prediction I've read elsewhere proves to be correct, then next year will see the equivalent of roughly three episodes' worth of Doctor Who more than during those four years from 2005 to 2009 (in other words, the 8 x 45 minutes plus 7 x 60 minutes). Lord knows if that's true, but the source seems rather good.

Anthony, I don't think it's reasonable to remain accustomed to good times when everywhere else, belts are being tightened and services are being pegged back. I suspect if we hadn't hit a recession and the money was still available for Doctor Who to remain in as heavy a production schedule as it was in the latter 2000s, then it probably would be still. But the fact is, everything is being pegged back at the moment, and the BBC has lost a substantial portion of its income.

2010 and 2011 look to the untrained eye like they were the equivalent of those 2005 to 2009 years, but they weren't.

Series Five had a far longer production lead-in than the series in the latter part of RTD's era, and the Series Six production schedule saw half that series being held back to the latter half of the year. Sooner or later, something had to give: the 14 episodes that were made annually back in the 2000s are now being made 15-monthly, and it's to the benefit of the anniversary year that the broadcast schedule that has been chosen has made 2012 the year of transmission deficit rather than 2013. There should, if my calculations are correct, then be a full series in 2014 and maybe even 2015, before we get to another year in which the episode deficit hits again.

[Andrew Curnow]

I have to ask, is this guesswork or is this definitive? I'm particularly interested in this comment:

as a showrunner and executive producer, Moffat has arranged for the lion's share of this year's production episodes to be broadcast next year, during the anniversary. Or would you rather next year be the one in which there were only five (or rather, six) episodes

Isn't that a bit like me going into my boss on Monday and saying, I've decided to only work eighteen months out of the next two years, how would you like it split? In other words, why has Moffat (if that is the case) decided that we need to have a short year either this or next? I have to say, I find it hard to really believe he has that much pull with the BBC, but maybe I'm wrong. A bif part of the showrunner role is surely to keep the show ON the air, not to reduce how often it appears.

The other thing I have to say, is that I can't think of ANY other show where this happens. Most other series have a set number of episodes each year, and generally a fairly regular time of year. And I guess what really niggled me, having rewatched last week's episode this morning, is that the continuity announcer followed ad's for Strictly and Merlin with a comment along the lines of "it's all going to be very exciting next week" before then bringing on Doctor Who. Shouldn't WHO be part of the Autumn Saturday line-up?

BTW, I realise I'm very inconsistent, I didn't mind the 'Gap Year' at all - but on that occasion one could see the reason, being a change of personnel, whereas this time, whatever way its spun, it just looks like a move to reduce the amount of screentime we can expect from now on. Yes it's better than 2004, but that's not really the point is it?