BBC Considers Splitting Fifth 'Doctor Who' Season

[Sci]

no calling the World Cup the Superbowl of Football is not just wrong to people outside the US, its also wrong to anyone in America, facts dont change simply because someone is an American.

Dude, calm down. I misunderstood the relationship there -- fine. But the point of it was to compare them in terms of being the highest areas of achievement in a given sport in the popular understanding of those sports.

Winning the Superbowl makes you the ultimate American football team. Winning the World Series makes you the ultimate baseball team. Winning the World Cup makes you the ultimate football/soccer team.

Yes, in terms of actual organization, they're not comparable. But they are comparable in terms of winning them making you the best in the minds of most people.

It's all good.

 

[wamdue]

this is what I dont get about the US

Winning the Superbowl makes you the ultimate American football team. Winning the World Series makes you the ultimate baseball team. Winning the World Cup makes you the ultimate football/soccer team.

there is a difference between club teams and national teams.

For example when the winner of the World Series, Superbowl or the Premiership is found, you have simply found out which group of over paid guys with no real bond other than the team they play for, was the best, which manager made the best signings etc

things like the World Cup are about national pride, its about finding out which country plays the best football, IMO that kind of set up is a much more pure form of any sport than club sports.

A young British kid can identify with an England player, and grow up wanting to be one, where as lets say a young Manchester kid all he ever sees is foreign players play for Manchester United, before they go on to play for Chelsa or even another European, you can not identify as much as you can the England team.

But they are comparable in terms of winning them making you the best in the minds of most people.

so if Team USA won the World Baseball Classic would the US just say, that they dont really care, and go off to cheer there local baseball team of with only 2 or 3 US born player in it? Is there no national pride in US sports?

 

[Sci]

this is what I dont get about the US

Winning the Superbowl makes you the ultimate American football team. Winning the World Series makes you the ultimate baseball team. Winning the World Cup makes you the ultimate football/soccer team.

there is a difference between club teams and national teams.

For example when the winner of the World Series, Superbowl or the Premiership is found, you have simply found out which group of over paid guys with no real bond other than the team they play for, was the best, which manager made the best signings etc

things like the World Cup are about national pride, its about finding out which country plays the best football, IMO that kind of set up is a much more pure form of any sport than club sports.

A young British kid can identify with an England player, and grow up wanting to be one, where as lets say a young Manchester kid all he ever sees is foreign players play for Manchester United, before they go on to play for Chelsa or even another European, you can not identify as much as you can the England team.

But they are comparable in terms of winning them making you the best in the minds of most people.

so if Team USA won the World Baseball Classic would the US just say, that they dont really care, and go off to cheer there local baseball team of with only 2 or 3 US born player in it? Is there no national pride in US sports?

Actually, if anything, we have too much national pride. We don't give a shit about international competitions because they involve teams from outside America. We only care about American teams -- to the American popular psyche, non-American baseball or American football teams might as well not exist. The unarticulated assumption is probably just that all non-American teams are automatically assumed to be inferior to American teams.

But the point stands: To the American mind, winning the Superbowl or World Series makes you the best. Just like winning the World Cup makes you the best in the minds of most folks around the world.

 

[Snick27]

Ok that all is very interesting. Though i thougth teams like Manchester United were part of this Cup. Guess that is a different league then right?

So every 4years these teams break up and go back to the country of orgin and have a playoff of sorts to see whom has the best team of said country.

Still to this american, the games are so low scoring and borderline boring. How does everyone deal with that? Why is it so popular over there when its such a slow game?

 

[Sci]

Still to this american, the games are so low scoring and borderline boring. How does everyone deal with that? Why is it so popular over there when its such a slow game?

I've heard plenty of people complaining about American football being too slow. My mother, in particular, finds it too slow to bother with. "They play for maybe thirty seconds, and then they have a time out and they wander around the field and get into position, and then they play for another thirty seconds, and then another two-minute break..." Obviously speed is in the eye of the beholder.

As for me, I don't see why accruing many points or only a few points even matters.

 

[Snick27]

Still to this american, the games are so low scoring and borderline boring. How does everyone deal with that? Why is it so popular over there when its such a slow game?

I've heard plenty of people complaining about American football being too slow. My mother, in particular, finds it too slow to bother with. "They play for maybe thirty seconds, and then they have a time out and they wander around the field and get into position, and then they play for another thirty seconds, and then another two-minute break..." Obviously speed is in the eye of the beholder.

As for me, I don't see why accruing many points or only a few points even matters.

Good points about Football. Though i feel Baseball is very slow too.

 

[captcalhoun]

there's several competitions in football.

Man United won the World Club Cup - a competition played between sides from many nations world wide.

then there's the World Cup played for by national sides from around the world.

then there's the Champions League which is played in Europe between the top sides from different leagues in Europe.

then there's the 'Europa League' formerly the UEFA Cup which is played for by various teams who aren't good enough for the Champions League.

then there's the European Championship, more commonly known as 'Euro XX' referring to the year it's held in, which is like the World Cup but just for European national sides. similar events are played for in north and south America, Africa and Asia.

and why the fuck am i even bothering..?

 

[wamdue]

thanks for clearing some stuff up captcalhoun

 

[StCoop]

At the risk of bringing this back on topic...

Every year a story about the series being split crops up and every year it turns out to be false.

And last time episodes were shown while the World Cup was on they benefited from it with some of the highest ratings the series has had since it returned.

 

[Jax]

I can understand the logic here, if England do well in "World Cup soccer" al

It's football, not soccer, FOOTBALL

No football is NFL, that is Soccer!

1. We created football long before NFL

2. In oursport we actually kick the ball

DOC WHO cannot go up against X Factor it will lose badly because the young audience will go.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

DOC WHO cannot go up against X Factor it will lose badly because the young audience will go.

I don't understand this UK aversion to putting series head-to-head. US networks do it all the time. One will take a strong series and target an equally strong series with similar demographics on a competing network to take them down.

Does Doctor Who really need to be coddled in the ratings war?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I don't understand this UK aversion to putting series head-to-head. US networks do it all the time. One will take a strong series and target an equally strong series with similar demographics on a competing network to take them down.

Does Doctor Who really need to be coddled in the ratings war?

It is much more expensive to make than X Factor, is aimed at the same target audience, and is not as popular. If it goes toe to toe with X Factor, it will lose.

 

[Chaos Descending]

It's football, not soccer, FOOTBALL

No football is NFL, that is Soccer!

1. We created football long before NFL

2. In oursport we actually kick the ball

DOC WHO cannot go up against X Factor it will lose badly because the young audience will go.

1. The British (not Americans) also invented the name "Soccer".

2. In American football, we also kick the ball.
2.a. Association Football (i.e. Soccer) is NOT called "football" because it is played with the feet, it's called football because it is played on the feet, as opposed to on a horse (like Polo).

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It is much more expensive to make than X Factor, is aimed at the same target audience, and is not as popular. If it goes toe to toe with X Factor, it will lose.

First, I am assuming that X Factor is not an adaptation of the Marvel comic book. (Though I am assuming that the producers of said show are paying Marvel for the right to use the name "X Factor.")

Second, I'm not convinced that Doctor Who would lose in a head-to-head. Worst case, both shows would take a ratings hit; neither would ascend to the same heights as before.

Third, Doctor Who has ancillary revenue streams that X Factor presumably does not.

I realize that viewing habits are massively different in the UK than they are in the US, due in no small part to the license fee. (I get the impression that multiple televisions are far from the norm that they are here.) But the truth is, unless you force the audience to make a choice, you don't know why they're watching.

Doctor Who can put a hit out on a show. The question is, do the programmers have the brass balls to do it?

 

[wamdue]

It is much more expensive to make than X Factor, is aimed at the same target audience, and is not as popular. If it goes toe to toe with X Factor, it will lose.

First, I am assuming that X Factor is not an adaptation of the Marvel comic book. (Though I am assuming that the producers of said show are paying Marvel for the right to use the name "X Factor.")

I bet it isnt.

anyways since you dont know, here is a "fair & balanced" view of "The X-Factor"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5LS5arkuaE

 

[tomalak301]

Well, at least there is something worth watching in place of Doctor Who. Always love the World Cup. It would suck splitting the season, but unlike Scifi did with BSG, this would be understandable, and have a shorter wait between Season and Christmas Special is good too.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

(Though I am assuming that the producers of said show are paying Marvel for the right to use the name "X Factor.")

I bet it isnt.[/quote]
So, it's basically American Idol. How stupid.

And Marvel probably should be receiving a payment for the use of the "X-Factor" name. It's their trademark. And it's causing confusion in the marketplace.

 

[wamdue]

(Though I am assuming that the producers of said show are paying Marvel for the right to use the name "X Factor.")

I bet it isnt.

So, it's basically American Idol. How stupid.

And Marvel probably should be receiving a payment for the use of the "X-Factor" name. It's their trademark. And it's causing confusion in the marketplace.[/QUOTE] only if you have never seen a promo for the X Factor, or are unaware that it involves Simon Cowell, meanwhile the show has format has been localised around the world, and that has yet to be a problem.

sure it had some legal issues with Pop Idol creator, Simon Fuller, which you can read about here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4482216.stm

but I have yet to hear anything about Marvel getting involved.

and there are some key diffrneces between Idol and X Factor.

Idol is for solo singers, X Factor allows groups to compete as well, and splits them into 3 groups, group act, younger acts, slightly older acts, at this stage one of the judges mentor's their group, its really just an excuse for the show to be more about the judges egos than the contestants.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Part of the reason for the worry about going up against The X Factor is that the last time a Doctor Who episode went up against a Simon Cowell reality show ("Silence in the Library" against the finale of Britain's Got Talent), it wasn't the highest rated show in its timeslot for the first time since the show came back. That's concrete evidence that, when the chips are down, it's Doctor Who that will lose when you put it up against live, event television. And that's without the added question mark of how Doctor Who would do in an autumn timeslot.

 

[wamdue]

Doctor Who is probaly lucky not to have have faced the Britains Got Talent this year, its been massive, much more so than ever before.