Memories of Dr Who on television (US)

[Hypaspist]

Did anyone else get this on PBS when they were younger? I remember when I turned it on one of the six channels we got and it was the most awesome thing ever! I think it was because every episode was like three hours long. It all had that 70's and early 80's cheese to it but it made it all the better as far as I was concerned. It was always hilarious when they had the call-in donation drives going with all of the operators in the back.

They did this weird thing where every five or six years, they'd replace Dr Who with this other British sci fi show but I don't remember what it was called. It was okay, but not that interesting. It had lots of T&A is all I remember...that and a weird episode where this green sand both instantly killed people and preserved their bodies perfectly.

anyway forgive my reminisces. Just wanted to see if there were any fans out there with similar memories from when they were kids.

 

[Klaus]

I was lucky in New England in the 80s when I watched them, I had 2 channels to choose from and one, WGBH out of Boston, was a flagship PBS station and even showed Hartnell and Troughton episodes. My first was the 3rd episode of "Robots of Death", then all the way through Davison and back to the beginning. They'd gotten to early Colin Baker on the way around again when they finally dropped it in the late 80s.

I know from previous discussions of this topic on here that I was very lucky, a lot of folks never saw early ones.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

WTTW Chicago had it from the mid 70's, supposedly starting with Pertwee. I only remember Tom Baker from whenever I started watching (late 70's?) till whenever they got back around to some Pertwee.

I saw many many iterations of the Tom Baker era, then Davison, then finally some Pertwee, more Baker and so on.

Probably why Baker is my Doctor and it was so cool to see him as the Cura(doc)tor.

 

[Lance]

WTTW Chicago had it from the mid 70's, supposedly starting with Pertwee. I only remember Tom Baker from whenever I started watching (late 70's?) till whenever they got back around to some Pertwee.

Yeah I remember reading a DWM article about Who in the US, and being surprised to discover that the first stories ever shown over there were a few of the Pertwee's, c.1972 or thereabouts. I seem to recall reading that it was a very limited run, however.

 

[Hypaspist]

The first one I remember well was "Planet of the Daleks." It blew my mind the part where they were all having that conference inside of that cave and the way they appeared so menacing in such numbers. I think it was thunder storming outside so the parts where they were lost in the jungle seemed all that more harrowing to me.
Maybe that sounds like a wuss talking but I was 5 years old and it was really awesome at the time.

I think the other one of the first ones I saw was the one where (I don't know the names, alright?) these weird aliens with clown colored clothes and antennae were experimenting with the Dr and people's emotions inside of a little exhibit. There were some kind of long necked Chinese looking dragons in there as well.

Also there was one with the giant vicious maggots and mushrooms which tasted like wonderful steak.

For the record, I was getting this from PBS broadcast out of Shreveport, Louisiana.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

The last one is "The Green Death", which is one of the best Pertwees IMO. It's also the last story to feature companion Jo Grant (They reunited though in the "Sarah Jane Adventures" story, "Death of the Doctor").

 

[publiusr]

I remember watching Airwolf and then Doctor Who (Tom Baker's) on Channel 10 WBIQ (Alabama Public Television).

Pertwee even visited Birmingham during a tornado outbreak, as I recall.
There was a nice trailer with a mini console in it.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I remember seeing it staying with my Dad for the summer in like 84/85 or so and being really excited because it was not available where I lived. Got teased mercilessly by my Dad and cousin when some badly rendered creature was pulled with a string across the floor. Actually they didn't tease me so much as the show itself to the point that it was hard for me to try to watch more episodes without getting flak.

Later, for a short period our local PBS got Who and very coolly showed all the Doctors (at least Pertwee on, can't remember if they showed Troughton or not). These were the omnibus or whatever episodes where you got the whole story in one go and would air on the weekend. However after one glorious run they never showed it again.

We could also get the Detroit PBS which showed Red Dwarf for what seemed like forever which was really cool. It was kind of fun because unlike Who there was like no information around about it (that I ever saw at that time) which made it like a weird little secret show like Monty Python that they also aired at that time.

I remember during the fundraising drives there was always this goofy young guy who had a big Tom Baker scarf.

However for years now our PBS shows NOTHING that is genre.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

WUNC-TV in Chapel Hill (but viewed in Durham) played mostly Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy in the late 80's and early 90's while I was growing up. I have fond memories of The Ark in Space (even as a kid, I thought the bubble-wrapped aliens were silly!), Genesis of the Daleks (silhouetted Daleks moving overhead a bunker!), The Planet of Evil (the psychic aliens perusing Sarah Jane), The Deadly Assassin (The grotesqueness of The Master), The Face of Evil (giant rock face of Tom Baker!), Horror of Fang Rock (glowing green blob in a lighthouse!), The Invisible Enemy (K-9 and especially the growing Nucleus, which is probably why I rate the story higher than most people these days), The Invasion of Time (the endless brick walls of the TARDIS interior! My confusion about The Doctor grinning about the box under the console), The Ribos Operation (my continued confusion why K-9 was still with The Doctor), The Pirate Planet (Mr Fibuli! The Pirate Captain! The Robot Parrot! The Linear Induction Corridor!), The Creature from the Pit (The Doctor in stocks), Meglos (my childhood memories blended Meglos doppleganger of The Doctor into the first episode of The Invisible Enemy), Warrior's Gate (the Tharil running through the white emptiness of E-Space), Paradise Towers (the robotic crab in the pool!), Dragonfire (The Doctor's literal cliffhanger!), Remembrance of the Daleks (the creepy little girl!), and Survival (cheetah people!).

I'm sure there were many others I saw and remembered, but those are the ones that stick out the most to this day as childhood memories.

 

[diankra]

A little piece from a Tavern regular in the current issue of The New Statesman about Who in the States...
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/09/why-does-iowa-doctor-who-so-much

 

[DWF]

My first ep. was part one of Robot on Ch.34 WOSU back in 1979, we got the show five days a week at 6PM. Then later on they'd show an entire story on Sunday morning.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

WTTW Chicago had it on Sunday nights, 11pm if I remember (at least for the most part).

Right after such greats as Monty Python's Flying Circus, Dave Allen At Large & The Two Ronnies, depending on the year.

 

[arch101]

WOR channel 9 from NYC showed it on cable on Saturday afternoons in 1977. Then it moved to PBS and that's where I watched it from then until 1989. (gosh, I'm old)

 

[Sindatur]

KTEH CH54 San Jose Had it daily at 5pm for an Episode, and Weekly for the whole Omnibus on Saturday or Sunday nights, along with an Episode of Blake's 7 or UFO + a Britcom or two.

They did Tom Baker First, then worked forward, as they became available. In addition, they obtained Pertwee while waiting for new Stories to become available, and then Finally Hartnell and Troughton that still existed

Also Ch6 or Ch9 (KVIE) showed a weekly Tom Baker Episode

 

[Lance]

A little piece from a Tavern regular in the current issue of The New Statesman about Who in the States...
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/09/why-does-iowa-doctor-who-so-much

That's fascinating reading, isn't it? In some ways it's just like the licence fee, with the public paying for the programmes, but in other ways it's VERY different. The main difference being that the pledge drives create an active involvement between the audience who actually watch the programmes, and the broadcaster who screens them. The reason Doctor Who is being shown there is because people are actively voting with their wallets to keep it on the air . That's a great vibe. Very democratic.

 

[Klaus]

...in the waning days of the broadcasts on Hartford's PBS station, the guy asking for money was straight-up telling us that the show was expensive and unless a lot more people pledged it wasn't going to be on for long, and it wasn't.

 

[Lance]

I think what appeals to me about the 'pledge model' is this notion of how democractic it all is, of it being a much more "on the pulse" gauge of the passion of the audience. It says a lot for how much someone likes a show, that they would be willing to voluntarily put their hand in their pocket and splash the cash to continue seeing their favourite shows being broadcast. I just love the vibe of that. The contrast to the licence fee is stark: basically, the licence fee is a compulsory payment that has to be paid by every citizen with a TV set, regardless of whether they actually watch the BBC or not. It's basically a TV Tax.

 

[Klaus]

There's no doubt that it's a fairer system, but its economic viability is the real question I guess.

Maybe it'll morph into in-app purchases and everything'll be fine.

 

[marillion]

My first exposure to Doctor Who was an article my brother wrote about it for the campus newspaper at the University of Wyoming (where he was attending, going for his Masters). It must have been 1983 or so. He sent me a copy of it and one of the novelizations (can't remember which) and urged me to see if our PBS in Albuquerque was carrying it. Luckily for me, KNME was right in the middle of running the 4th Doctor. I think they played one episode a week, but demand grew and not long after, they were playing them every night.

Good times... It wasn't long before we had ourselves a fan club brewing (thanks in large part to one of the small theaters in town hosting a special viewing of the Cushing movies).. Our little club then started supporting the PBS station, volunteering for the phone banks during pledge drives and such..

 

[Mr Awe]

I watched all of Classic Who (Hartnell to McCoy) on PBS from about 1979 until the early 90s. I caught them on KRMA in Denver. Started with Tom Baker but they eventually showed all of them.

Great memories of watching it on PBS. When I first started, they had the DaSilva (sp?) continuity announcements which, for whatever reason, cracked me up. I think they dropped those early on though.

Because it was before the internet, information about the upcoming season was largerly unknown. Often I'd learn about developments during the pledge drive where they'd drop tidbits to keep you tuned in!

Mr Awe