Doctor Who returns to PBS ... in Tacoma

[23skidoo]

This one definitely slipped under the radar: KBTC, the PBS affiliate in Tacoma, Washington, is launching a new set of broadcasts of classic-era Who tonight (Dec. 3), with the first 2 episodes of Spearhead from Space. A look on their website kbtc.org indicates they'll be moving on to The Silurians later in the month.

This is significant as this is the first time since about 2007 (or possibly longer) that a PBS station has aired classic-era Doctor Who, as in recent years they've focused on airing post-2005 episodes.

I did a google search and it appears at the moment that KBTC is the only place showing classic Who, but for those who've missed seeing the original series on PBS, this probably gives you a good excuse to call up your local PBS station and see if they're planning to follow suit.

Alex

 

[Mr Light]

Your PBS has been airing the new series?!

 

[23skidoo]

Your PBS has been airing the new series?!

Not mine specifically (I'm in Canada) but since 2007 many PBS affiliates have bought the new series and shown it as well as Doctor Who Confidential (though I'm unclear whether these are the full versions or the Cutdowns). I don't know if the Smith episodes have aired yet, but they were definitely showing up to at least the 2009 specials.

The original version of the This Week in Doctor Who broadcast blog used to index the PBS stations airing nuWho. One of the final "original" versions of this blog was posted back in January 2011, and at that point about 20 PBS stations from New York to Alaska were airing the show.

I do have to stand corrected - looking at the last regular posting, KBTC Tacoma was airing original-series Doctor Who at the start of this year, so in some sense this thread has been rendered moot by this. Still, it's worth noting that the show is still airing out there:

http://gallifreyanembassy.org/vortex/node/2021

Alex

 

[Allyn Gibson]

This is significant as this is the first time since about 2007 (or possibly longer) that a PBS station has aired classic-era Doctor Who, as in recent years they've focused on airing post-2005 episodes.

You say that like PBS stations had a choice in the matter. BBC Worldwide withdrew the classic Who from syndication in 2007, so even if they wanted to show it they couldn't.

I also doubt that Worldwide is syndicating the full Doctor Who Confidentials because of music clearances.

 

[Samurai8472]

After episodes of the new series we get the cut down Doctor Who Confidentials.

Your PBS has been airing the new series?!

Iowa PBS is also airing the new series.

I think Series 5 has been repeated twice now and going into a third soon.


A few years ago Iowa Public Television dropped airing the classic Doctor Who because it became too costly


We're having the PBS donations drive all week so they'll need to raise money to air Series 6 like in the past with all the other series.

We even got all the Tennant Specials after series 4 concluded.

 

[23skidoo]

You say that like PBS stations had a choice in the matter. BBC Worldwide withdrew the classic Who from syndication in 2007, so even if they wanted to show it they couldn't.

I have to disagree with you.

After posting the above I found an online archive of Benjamin Elliot's This Week in Doctor Who. KBTC Tacoma has been apparently playing classic Who without interruption for the last couple years at least (in 2010 they were running Colin Baker's era), and as recently as February or March of 2010 another station, WHRO, Norfolk, Va. was also airing them having recently broadcast Brain of Morbius.

According to Elliot, in a posting archived here:

http://gallifreyembassy.org/vortex/node/1357

WHRO and KBTC, for whatever reason, were unable to obtain the rights to air the new series but were able to continue airing the classic episodes.

If the BBC had withdrawn classic Who from syndication in 2007 they wouldn't be able to show it. Whether they're showing the classic out of choice (there's at least one Tom Baker-related pledge drive special recorded by Elliot around this time) or they couldn't afford/weren't offered the new series, you'll have to ask them. By the start of 2011, KBTC was identified by Elliot as the only PBS station still airing classic who.

I was under the impression as you were that the BBC had withdrawn classic Who too (I thought 2006 myself, not 2007) - but clearly we're mistaken. Unless KBTC and WHRO had some weird grandfather clause in their agreement.

Alex

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I have to disagree with you.

That's fine. I'm just repeating what Maryland Public Television told me when I asked them why they took classic Who off the air a few years ago and replaced it with new Who. I told them I'd be willing to support them during a pledge drive if they brought back classic Who, but they said that the BBC wasn't making it available for purchase any longer, so I told them I couldn't donate. It's possible that the person I spoke to wasn't informed properly.

It's good to know classic Who is back out there. That means there's hope again for Saturday afternoon Who.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Chicago PBS runs the "nu" series, though at least a year behind.

 

[auntiehill]

^It's the same in Houston. The local PBS station been running the new series, but they are at least a year behind.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It's probably a money thing, letting the BBC get their profits out of the broadcast, then the DVD/BD sales, then letting PBS buy the rights.

 

[Samurai8472]

That's my situation. Our PBS said it was too costly to air old WHO.

New Who is easier. They just need make pledge telethons to keep airing the newer series.

 

[triplela]

Does anyone know why BBCAmerica doesn't show some Classic Who? At least in between seasons of the current series? I remember they used to show it, but this was years ago, before the new series debuted and it was a limited amount of Tom Baker stories. I would think they could capitalize on the success of the new series on BBCAmerica and show Classic Who.

 

[Mr Light]

I would love if BBCA showed Classic Who! They certainly fill up their scheduling with a lot of repeats of things. I find it amusing that Star Trek TNG and Nu BSG are on it all the time because they have 1 or 2 British actors...

 

[CaptainMatt]

PBS is where I originally saw the classic Dr Who repeats with Tom Baker all the ay through Sylvester McCoy, from 1982-1991 in my local hometown. PBS much lmuch later picked up the Christopher Eccleston and first series David Tennant Doctors in the late 2000s but now the series is broadcast exclusively via BBC America for the new episodes. That's my little history with watching Dr Who on PBS!

 

[triplela]

PBS is where I originally watched Dr. Who as well. First episode I ever watched was "The Android Invasion." My PBS channel showed the Tom Baker and then Peter Davison episodes. Then after a little while, they started showing the Jon Pertwee episodes. Good times. My PBS station here in New Orleans dropped Dr. Who sometime in the early 90s, I think, and haven't played them since. Thank goodness for BBCAmerica, DVD releases, and Netflix.

 

[CaptainMatt]

The first episode I can remember seeing was 'Robot' and 'The Android Invasion' was the first tie-in novelisation that I read not very long after.


I don't know why BBC America does not air classic Who. Maybe they do not have the rights or the main network in Britain only wants to showcase the modern material who can tell?

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Hey, thats MY PBS station! =D

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't know why BBC America does not air classic Who. Maybe they do not have the rights or the main network in Britain only wants to showcase the modern material who can tell?

They did show it ever so briefly when the channel was young (I think before nuWho though I can't explicitly remember). It would come on weekend mornings and only showed the fourth Doctor while it ran.

I don't know if it's by mandate or what I think is more likely that it just didn't do that well ratings-wise.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Doctor Who was really big on my local PBS station (KETC) until the mid '90s. They made it a point to air every episode available at the time, so I got to see every Doctor.

As far as the lack of classic Doctor Who on BBCA, I think that's due to a number of reasons, including a tendency not to show too much classic anything anymore as well as them having plenty of episodes featuring the Ninth, Tenth, and now Eleventh Doctors to run instead...

 

[CaptainMatt]

Excellent point, the primary focus does appear to be on the new series Doctors rather than the old and what came before.