The saving grace for the series is the money it makes for them but the BBC can't let things continue like this.
I'd hope that Moffat went first but while it's totally unfair on him if things don't impove Capaldi will be given the boot and they'll be looking for Tennant Mark II.
If one wants to be cynical, setting
Doctor Who up for low ratings would be a way for the BBC to get rid of Moffat without a lot of blowback. I'm just saying...
Let's game this out. If the BBC felt a shakeup needed to be made, Moffat would probably be the first to go because he's been there the longest, he's been the voice of the series, and he's overseen the decline. The BBC would argue that Moffat has stayed too long, his ideas are tired, and he doesn't have anything new to bring to the table.
If the show continued to muddle or decline, the BBC would then replace Capaldi, and I rather suspect "Tennant Mark II" would be an actress rather than an actor as a very visible way to shake the series up and get eyeballs back on it.
The one funny thing is after years of people saying that the series should be shown later in the year and later in the day, the exact opposite is now being said.
From an American point of view, a 7:30-ish start time in late September makes perfect sense (and 8:30-ish next week would be even better); that's the heart of our prime time (and earlier than BBC America shows it), plus this is when shows launch their new seasons. I see people screaming for a six o'clock start time on Gallifrey Base in the ratings threads, and my immediate reaction is, American cultural perspective and all that, "Why? That's
way the frell early. That's dinner time, and people are eating." I realize that, to the people screaming for six o'clock, that makes sense to them within their culture, but still, after thirty years of being an American
Who fan and recognizing how very different the cultures are, it seems weird.
