Back in December I noted that for the first time in thirteen years, there would be no annual Doctor Who Christmas Special. The reason for this? According to the BBC, their brand new crack production team was "out of ideas," and couldn't come up with an Xmas theme.
Later on it began to look like they canceled it due to their newly implemented draconian diversity policy, which has no room for such Christian rituals like Xmas. This theory was bolstered by the fact that the BBC announced that for the first time ever, there'd be a Doctor Who New Year's Day Special.
I pointed out that this was a very bad idea. The Christmas Specials routinely generate the show's highest ratings, and why not? The presents are opened, the dinner's eaten, the guests have all departed and all the stores are closed. There's nothing else for the family to do but gather round the telly and watch the Doctor.
Compare that to New Year's Day, when the stores are open, lots of people have to work and even more are in bed nursing a hangover. Because of this, I predicted a New Year's Special would be a ratings disaster.
The New Year's Special, titled (appropriately enough) Resolution, was seen by just 5.15 million viewers. That's the lowest rating of any holiday special since they began back in 2005. It's also actress new Doctor actress Jodie Whittaker's second lowest rated episode of the season!
For comparison, the first Christmas Special, starring David Tennant, scored 9.4 million viewers. And Matt Smith's first Special drew in a whopping 10.3 million!
Jesus Christ! It doesn't take a Nostradamus to figure out that more people are gonna be home watching TV on Xmas than on New Year's Day. It's simple logic. I hate to say I told 'em so, but...
I have mixed feelings about this whole situation. I said from the beginning that casting Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor was a stupid idea, and her presence would end up destroying the show and getting it canceled. So it's somewhat gratifying to see everything I predicted come true.
On the other hand, seeing a show that I once loved flush itself straight down the crapper makes me very sad, and I hate to see Doctor Who implode like this.
I don't see any way to salvage the show at this point, even if the BBC fires Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall. They're gonna end up cancelling it, and bringing it back again in five to ten years.
I doubt it's going to get cancelled. From what I've read (on a couple of different sites), Whitaker's season enjoyed high ratings, reversing several years of decline and showing especially strong growth among millennials, women, and American viewers. (Some sites claim the new series had the highest ratings since the revival. Some of that is due to changing the broadcast from Saturday to Sunday.) The New Year's slump is going to be written off to the date, not the show.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching the show for 36 years, and I am, as usually, behind schedule -- I've seen only two episodes of the new series. It's clearly the same character, with a different face -- same transition to a new actor I've seen half a dozen times or more. It always takes a while to get used to a new Doctor (and frankly Whittaker settled in almost immediately, a huge contrast to Capaldi who took almost an entire season.) But since the Doctor never showed his penis in the previous 36 years I watched, the fact that the Doctor doesn't have a penis now frankly doesn't bother me. I'll keep watching. It's one of the things my daughter and I do together, and I don't see us stopping any time soon.
I could point to a dozen or more sites that refute your ratings claims, but that'd get us nowhere, so we'll have to agree to disagree on that.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you and your daughter still enjoy watching the show together— truly I am. As for myself, I'm done with it. It's gone from a show about a crazy alien who uses his time machine to have fun adventures, to a blatant, PC lecture series.
It's obvious that the show's no longer for me, and it's time for me to move on.