Classic Who on BBC America

[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!

 

[Saga]

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

agreed.

 

[marillion]

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

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]

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]

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]

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 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.

 

[Peacemaker]

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 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.

Same in NC. I was a huge, big honking deal when we got William Hartnell. Wow, we worked hard to get those episodes too, and we were proud here to have the full run of Doctors.

 

[Mr Awe]

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.

I saw Hartnell and Troughton on KRMA in Denver back in the 80s. So, some stations showed them.

I also disagree that you can't enjoy the latter Doctors without seeing the earlier Doctors. Sure you can! It's not like it's required viewing! I happen to love all the Doctors. But surely people can enjoy the new ones without seeing the old. In fact, if I were to introduce someone to DW, I would specifically start with the new. If they like it, I'd suggest that they might also like the classics series. But, I certainly wouldn't start there.

Mr Awe

 

[Alidar Jarok]

BTW, does next Sunday mean Super Bowl Sunday?

 

[DWF]

BTW, does next Sunday mean Super Bowl Sunday?

No, Super Bowl Sunday is Feb. 3 this'll be on this Sunday the 27th.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

OK, "next" is often ambiguous so I wanted to check.

 

[diankra]

I saw Hartnell and Troughton on KRMA in Denver back in the 80s. So, some stations showed them.

Just to clear the history up, BBC Enterprises offered a package of Hartnell and Troughton stories to the American PBS stations in 1985/6, because the cancellation/postponement of season 23 meant they didn't have any new episodes to release, and they needed something fresh to keep sales ticking over.

 

[Sindatur]

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 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.

Yea, San Jose CA PBS station, after obtaining all the available later Doctors, went back and did all the available Hartnell and Troughton.

 

[Nick Ryder]

I'm kind of glad to see BBCA trying to at least show some of the history of Dr Who - athough it would be nice if some of the "classic" stories would also tie into some of the stuff they're doing with the current "Series" - like maybe show the episode with the Great Intelligence, or something with the early Daleks and Cybermen - stuff that would show newer fans of the show that these did have roots as far back as the 60s. I mean I only really got into Dr. Who shortly after Thanksgiving of this past year and now I'm already a big fan after watching all of 9th, 10th and a good part of 11's run so far - I'm kind of spacing myself out with 11 since it'll be a while before any "new" Dr. Who shows up and I don't want to feel like "aww... that's it?" since I don't want to get too much "classic" Who in just yet - since I know after this next Series ends, who knows how long it'll be before there's anything else and I want something to watch after that LOL

 

[Klaus]

I saw Hartnell and Troughton and Pertwee on WGBH out of Boston in the mid-late 80s when I became a fan... GBH is a flagship station and they had the cash. The local one in Hartford did Baker as well.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Just checked my channel guide on my cablebox - gonna be like a three hour thing - so that should be interesting.