A September of Who!
So while the Doctor Who Blog staff have been…MIA (various reasons; we’re working on becoming more frequent) the premiere date has been up for a lot of discussion… Would the BBC start Series 7 at the end of August? (no.) Would it be on September 1st? Would it be on September 1st in the UK and September 8th in Canada and the US? (the nasty precedent of Memorial Day 2010 and 2011 lingering over a Labour Day weekend premiere on BBC America)
Well, now we have the answer. According to the BBC’s official Facebook page for Doctor Who, it’s being shown on Saturday, September 1 in the UK, the US and in Canada! Hooray.
We have a complete report on the DWIN site.
As ever, we’ll be ramping up the blog again and will have TARDIS files for every episode (plus last Christmas’ special) and will have the blog open for discussion on the night of broadcast.
Sadly, with the split season, we’re only going to have just enough Doctor Who to fill up September. But there’s lots more to come next year! Are you excited?
Posted by Graeme on Wednesday, August 22 at 9:36 am
6 Comments...
Although I understand that BBC America and Space had to wait till BBC One made their announcement (there must have been ruffled feathers last year when BBCA and Space announced the date a month before the BBC), it’s still ridiculous that in 2012 the BBC is still so concerned about “counter programming” that it waits till literally the week before before announcing. Imagine NBC or Fox doing that - we already know exactly when, say, the new season of NCIS begins. They really need to come into the 21st century. If I were the BBC brass I’d announce now when the second half of Series 7 begins so we aren’t faced with months of fans speculating whether it’ll be January, March, April, or July. It’s bad enough the annual chorus of disgruntled fans who’d rather see DW air 24 episodes a year like the US does are sounding off over there being “only” 13 episodes plus Christmas, and the split.
In other news, I see the new BBCA trailer reveals another familiar face is appearing this season…
Posted by Alex on 08/22 at 12:00 PM
I agree with Alex. You would think that the BBC would want as much promotion as possible in regards to a start date for the new season. Granted, us “die hards” need little to convince us to tune in but you’d think they would always be wanting to attract new or casual viewers. Had they have been advertising since, say late July then more people would be aware.
Posted by Doug Grandy on 08/22 at 12:23 PM
Hi everyone. This is very good news. I am looking forward to the new season and to some interesting and insightful commentary here at www.DWIN.ORG.
@ Alex and Doug: I’m really not bothered that we have only just got a date for the new series. I grew-up in the UK, so perhaps I’m used such things, but is it really so important for the BBC to give a start date months in advance? Space and BBC America have been trailing DW for a while now; I’m sure a very large number of people got the message to expect something this Fall (OK, late Summer). Would anyone put their life on hold for a television show?
It might not be very “21st century”, but the reality is that even if DW is a big hit globally, the biggest part of the BBC’s money comes from the licence fees levied on British viewers by the British government. The BBC realized a long time ago that the best way to keep this (their preferred)funding model, is for their shows to be more popular than those of the competition. Spoiling tactics are common and the BBC has good reason to keep their schedules secret for as long as possible.
Posted by Andrew B on 08/22 at 02:20 PM
I can not figure out where to talk about this, but has anyone noticed a similarity between the deep red grass fields of Gallifrey and Panjin ed Beach China. Have fun
Posted by Joe R on 08/26 at 12:31 PM
It’s the way British television does things. They never announce more than two weeks in advance for anything. *Anything*.
Posted by Graeme on 08/31 at 12:34 PM
@Andrew B - it’s fine when the show is only being seen in the UK, but Doctor Who is now an international series. As far as I am aware it is the only series in the world that is being broadcast on the same day in 4 different countries around the globe. BBC America and Space (I don’t know about ABC in Australia) routinely announce their programming months in advance. The BBC needs to realize Doctor Who isn’t just theirs anymore, and they need to announce the dates early otherwise it generates speculation which is never good. The fact the Christmas special airs on Dec. 25 without fail yet the BBC refuses to confirm until darn near the 20th makes them look stupid in the 21st century. And we should by right be given the return date for the last 8 episodes when Angels Takes Manhattan airs at the end of the month. But we won’t so you’ll have people panicking and thinking it’s been cancelled (seriously) or that we won’t see the back 8 until next summer. The policy might have worked fine in the old days. It no longer works today.
In other news, has anyone noticed that Space has changed the length of the timeslot tonight? It was originally a regular 60 minute slot, but it’s now 65 minutes, taking into account the fact Asylum is a few minutes longer than usual. Good on Space for continuing to air virtually (completely?) uncut episodes! I wonder though if we’ll have to put up with the “When I was a little girl…” intros again this season?
Posted by Alex on 09/01 at 11:47 AM
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