Classic Who on BBC America

[Mr. Adventure]

But BSG and TNG have a British guy in them!

[Allyn Gibson]

Robert D. Robot wrote:

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I do understand the needs of a commercial network. It just seems sad that the only British programmes that Americans are interested in (or networks think Americans are interested in) are Who, Top Gear & Ramsay on BBCA and the same handful of 20-30 year old repeats of British comedies that are shown on PBS on Saturday nights.

I don't disagree with you. WETA UK (a side-channel of a local PBS station), in my opinion, offers a better line-up of British programs than BBC America.

[Robert D. Robot]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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But BSG and TNG have a British guy in them!

OK-- OK, then..... so it's more like flying to Paris & going to a Mc Donald's & ordering "Le Royal Cheese"!

[Robert D. Robot]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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I don't disagree with you. WETA UK (a side-channel of a local PBS station), in my opinion, offers a better line-up of British programs than BBC America.

WETA UK sounds interesting! I lived in the Baltimore/DC area a while back & enjoyed WETA, but I wasn't there (I am assuming) when WETA UK came into being.

[C.E. Evans]

BBC America is an American TV Network. It may be owned by the BBC and show some of its programming, but it's headquartered in New York with Americans in charge of the daily operations and programming.

To use the McDonalds analogy, McDonalds has different restaurants around the world, but they tailor the menus in some countries to appeal to the customers there. BBC America is a BBC outlet geared towards Americans, and its programming reflects that.

[Mr. Adventure]

They did have more varied programming in the past (as well as being much less censored) but they must feel they'll have more success with this model. I think stations don't put as much value as they need to on building a stable schedule for the long run but it's probably hard to argue when a Top Gear rerun gets equal or better ratings than other stuff in that slot.

[Kosh Naranek]

Exciting. I have not seen any of the classic Who. I am stoked.

I have watched all of CE and DT. I am now on to Matt Smith. I am trying very hard to watch as much as I can in order. (I did however, watch the Chrismas Special and was a little nonplussed until I caught Asylum of the Daleks.)

Woo-hoo!

[Praetor_Shinzon]

sidious618 wrote:

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I wish they'd do this more often instead of showing 50 episodes of Top Gear a day.

agreed.

[marillion]

Praetor_Shinzon wrote:

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agreed.

QFT!!! I love the show, but hardly watch it now because I get frustrated that it's on soooo much...

I get the programming choices now, but I do miss the time when they had the quirky block of Brit-shows on during the day like the shows about the cleaning ladies, the antiques auction and the one with the lady who tried to get heavy people to eat veggies and wheat germ.. LOL.. I do enjoy the comedy block on Saturday nights though, be it a little inconsistent..

On edit... Regarding the Aztecs.. New Who viewers are in for a treat, or a shock, depending on how you look at it.. It's a shame that I just recently watched it on Netflix, so I probably won't watch it again this coming weekend... But you never know..

[Peacemaker]

They ran an ad for it today. We're getting a mini-documentary about the Hartnell era followed by "a classic story."

[sidious618]

Peacemaker wrote:

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They ran an ad for it today. We're getting a mini-documentary about the Hartnell era followed by "a classic story."

Sounds good!

[Anji]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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Interesting, and a surprising choice. I'd think they'd play it safe with some Tom Baker initially. It's what they used to play when they had classic Who back in the day.

True! PBS stations which were running the Doctor back in th 80s would only go as far back as Pertwee.

But the truth is, even back then, there was an interest in both Hartnell and Troughton episodes. All any network executive had to do was attend a convention and see how many people attended and sat through the entire version of "War Games." Heck, i knew people who went into that video room with their pajamas on! (They always showed "War Games" after 10 p.m.)

You can't appreciate the latter Doctors without seeing those who went before them and I wish BBCA would realize that we feel that way.

[Allyn Gibson]

Anji wrote:

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True! PBS stations which were running the Doctor back in the 80s would only go as far back as Pertwee.

Not true! I saw some Hartnells on West Virginia Public Television in the late 80s.

[Brendan Moody]

And a Maine Public Television station ran omnibus versions of (at least) "The Seeds of Death" and "The War Games" sometime in the 80s or early 90s; I had my dad's off-air tapes of them for years.

[Christopher]

My local PBS station here in Cincinnati showed everything available, including Hartnell and Troughton, over and over. But then, WCET was always one of the most stalwart supporters of Doctor Who in the US, and kept on airing it long after most PBS stations had dropped it. The local DW fan community would always come in for the station's pledge drives -- you'd see a lot of long scarves at the phone banks.