Day: February 24, 2006

The rumblings are already beginning, though I’m not sure where folks are getting their information, that Sci-Fi Channel is – supposedly – not going to heavily promote its newest acquisition, the #1 drama series in Britain in 2005, Doctor Who. Stand back and prepare for me to really go off here, both from a fannish perspective and from the perspective of someone who promotes TV for a living.
Okay, well, maybe go off is a bit strong. First off, it is just a rumor and I’m trying to keep that much in mind. Despite that, we’re less than a month out from the premiere – and Thursday night was the first night I’ve heard any reports of someone seeing an actual on-air promo for the show’s March 17th premiere. And we’re talking about a network that has been known to promote stuff months in advance of the premiere. So while I am skeptical of the nature of this “news,” on a certain level I can feel in my bones that it is probably true.
If it is true, then Doctor Who is falling victim to the same thing that plagued it in 1996 on Fox: even with decent ratings, no one’s going to give it the promotional TLC that will be needed to get a U.S. audience to watch a distinctly British series because It’s Not Their Product. In ’96, Universal didn’t put any great pressure on Fox to look at the Doctor’s series potential, because they only had, at best, a 50% stake in the McGann movie (and even less creative control). They were much more keen on pushing Sliders to Fox, which Universal owned lock, stock and barrel. (That info comes from the excellent book “Doctor Who: Regeneration,” by the way, by Gary Russell and and ’96 movie producer Philip Segal.)
The same thing applies here. It’s not a Sci-Fi Original, nor is it going to become one. While Canada’s CBC got into the game early enough to be labeled “co-producers” on the first season, Sci-Fi clearly dragged their asses on signing up for the new show. (But I’m not complaining here; the loss of Sci-Fi as a co-producer has killed stuff like Farscape in the past. So I’m not bemoaning the fact that Sci-Fi isn’t demanding a piece of the production pie here – the show failing on Sci-Fi in the States due to lack of promotion doesn’t kill the show everywhere in the world.)
In the meantime, keep in mind also that the BBC has exercised its rights to the Who franchise to release over a hundred novels, and, through outside licensees, dozens of audio dramas and other products bearing the logo and the likeness of the star of that 1996 movie, all of which has put absolutely nothing in Universal’s coffers. Oh, by the way, refresh my memory…who owns Sci-Fi Channel?
On the less conspiratorial side of things, the fact that Doctor Who was one of the BBC’s top ratings-grabbers in 2005 may well be working against the show in the States. It did so well in Britain, why pour a lot of promotional energy into it here? Memo to Sci-Fi: one of the reasons that it did so well was that the BBC launched a very carefully engineered promo campaign that positioned the new Doctor Who as a new series that anyone could enjoy, not the latest entry in a franchise with 40+ years of backstory and continuity wrapped up in several media. It’s just possible that Sci-Fi Channel simply doesn’t know how to promote the new Doctor Who. (When, in fact, the ample material created to promote the show on the BBC from late 2004 through early 2005 should point the way for them; simply adapting that existing material would be cost-effective, and it apparently drew viewers to their TV sets overseas.)
The new series doesn’t require a full knowledge of every episode of the “classic” series to enjoy it, but the audience needs to know that. Hell, the audience needs to know where and when the show is. I hope the rumors of minimal promotion will be proven false in the coming weeks; I’d love to find that I’m jumping the gun on this one (even if it lumps me into the craignotbond.com camp 😆 ). I’d love to see the new Who find a steady spot in the U.S. TV schedule; I’d love to be able to see it without dipping into the questionable waters of downloading or getting tapes from across one border or another. Sci-Fi could have yet another hit on their hands here, and could make Sci-Fi Fridays a year-round ratings-grabber.
But first they have to put some time and effort into it. Something more than just buying the rights. Call me, Sci-Fi. We’ll do lunch. If you won’t listen to the BBC’s marketing experts, who successfully launched this show into the stratosphere, I’d be more than happy to help.… Read more