UPDATE: Further developments. Moffat has tweeted for fans to not jump to any conclusions just yet. There’s also news that the BBC is shifting Doctor Who from a spring start to a fall start for 2012. We’d get a split season starting in the fall, a holiday special next year and the final half of the season in the spring of 2013. Then a new series would start in the fall of 2013, in time to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary.
Fans who rejoiced when the BBC ordered 14 more episodes of Doctor Who earlier this year may feel like our next story is a dash of cold water.
BBC Controller Danny Cohen said this week that we won’t get a full season of stories in 2012. Cohen said the 14 episodes picked up would only air a few of the new season year and then save the rest for 2013. For those of you keeping track at home, that means we won’t get a full season of the greatest genre series ever made as it celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2013.
The delay is not due to producer Steven Moffat’s ties to a new series of Sherlock, however. Cohen initially joked about this, but the BBC has since confirmed this is not the case.
This is not necessarily correct. Earlier today Steven Moffat tweeted “Dr Who: misquotes and misunderstandings. But I’m not being bounced into announcing the cool stuff before we’re ready. Hush, and patience.”
So sounds like there is more to it.
It also sounds like the BBC is run by a bunch of dunderheads.
“We’ve got a phenomenally popular worldwide property here… so let’s mess up the schedule until the viewers lose interest!”
You do have to question the people running the BBC. They are selling Who all over the place now more than ever and must be racking in plenty of money. Then they go and hamper the production team by forcing budget cuts! Surely it makes sense to put some of the money they are making back into the show!
Now that sounds just plain wrong.
Then again, I read Moffat’s Tweet about “misquotes” this morning and now I think I get what he’s referring to…
I’ll hold until I hear from The Captain.
I guess we haven’t heard everything about why DW is doing what they are doing for 2012/13. This is sort of like what happened at first before we knew everything about the specials that ended David Tennant’s run. People panicked before they knew all the details. So let’s wait and see what happens.
We’re not hearing much right now because everyone there is trying to figure out how to spin this in their favor.
The facts are this. While 14 episodes have been commissioned by the BBC, we are not going to get them all next year. Sherlock is an ENORMOUS hit in the UK and can enormously lucrative for them.
In spite of the various nods to US fans by the cast and crew, the truth is the BBC really doesn’t acknowledge us Americans as a viable enough fan base, and it really looks like they would rather have Moff work on Sherlock than on Who.
Everything that is coming out now is the biggest case of backpedaling I’ve ever seen! As for me, I’m quite curious to see how Moffatt is going to BS the fans regarding the upcoming Who season.