RTD is not to blame for it all.
Viewership was declining & the BBC were looking for a streamer before RTD came into the picture. RTD took some risks to combat the challenges and they didn’t pay off.
Those risks contributed, but are not the CAUSE of the show’s downward spiral.
@rizer94@WilliamWho27 Even as someone who has grown up with the show and loves it, it is ultimately still just a TV show facing the same material challenges to get made as any other drama. How beloved it is doesn’t change the financial/practical/PR obstacles in front of it. That is just reality sadly
@rizer94@WilliamWho27 Yeah I do wonder what they were expecting to materialise but didn’t to cause this cancellation. Eg Have they tried shopping it to other US streamers already but failed. I guess again I feel less ‘dragged along’ more ‘we tried to do it and failed, sorry’
@rizer94@WilliamWho27 PR always plays its part with this stuff which is why I’ve found the backlash on that baffling. Ncuti left because of the production delays: it’s taken over a year to confirm the start of a process that might see something filmed in 18 months’ time, can’t exactly blame him 😂😭
@rizer94@WilliamWho27 My assumption was even in a perfect world he was planning to leave alongside Ncuti after 3 series and hand over to someone else (McTighe?) once the production machine was in gear. So we arrived at that point now just not in the desired way and slightly prematurely I guess
@WilliamWho27@rizer94 Yeah it also wouldn’t surprise me if all parties just lost interest in doing it. RTD going off and doing Tip Toe potentially realising what else he could be doing, the BBC not being entirely happy with what was possible at xmas. Curious how long they’ve been sat on the decision
It’s an emotive time, but as a fan, try not to take it too personally and feel that we’ve been ‘lied’ to.
PR happens everywhere and it’s right that corporations should be able to take risks. Sadly this one didn’t pay off but that doesn’t mean they were intentionally deceitful.
@SianThymes This sums up my experience of it perfectly tbh. On an episode by episode basis it was really great, it falls over when you try and piece it all together. But that is… sort of my view of the show in general tbh, the vast majority of the all-timer eps aren’t finales
I'm probably in the minority, but I can enjoy RTD2 for its parts if not its whole. Both finales left a poor impression sadly, but this era gave me episodes that become new faves that I'll continue to revisit with my old faves. So I'm still glad it happened.
@WilliamWho27@NotAgnor I’m not an expert at all but the general idea that a tender process has to be fair and open is likely a Charter thing due to being a public service broadcaster. But does a tender have to be an IP not in active use? Would be odd, and why I think the cancellation is something else
@WilliamWho27@NotAgnor Yeah I was wondering earlier how this process is different to the BBC/Bad Wolf/Disney arrangement. Obviously production and financing are different but BW didn’t win a tender process (that we know of). I’m still baffled why they couldn’t tender AND do xmas. Charter rules?
@NotAgnor I honestly think the production drama has just made it impossible for most people to appraise the era on its own merits. Not saying it’ll suddenly be seen as a masterpiece because it isn’t, but that outside noise has affected things and no other era has had to wrestle with that
I'm not about to run defence for Russell, but everything that happened in the last 4 years was literally because the show was getting cancelled when Chibnall left.
Article number 2 in ‘fans being an absolute hinderance for the future of the show because people who could be showrunner are gonna look at stuff like this and wonder why it would be worth the hassle’…
Christ Alive.
Nah let’s not rewrite this Jodie’s regen was gonna fade to black with no guarantee of anything after, the only reason it didn’t was cause of the RTD Tennant stuff. You can acknowledge the faults of this era without pretending the show was left in a great spot prior to it.
Doctor Who fans have no tact. I specifically tell people not to doompost around me and my replies end up filled with “woohoo russell’s gone!” and “it won’t be back until 2029” SHUT UP. just because you’re so disconnected that you’re able to “be free” doesn’t mean we all are.