Options
how the 1963-89 series could have been better scheduled on BBC1
adam_fransella
Posts: 1,660 Forum Member
✭✭✭
While it would be wrong to have the transmission date of Part 1 of "An Unearthly Child" moved forward a month of two, or back two months (so as to start in January 1964), for the sake of anniversary celebrations...IMHO, no season should have begun in July or August (when people could be on holiday, instead of watching TV) or December (when people are still celebrating Christmas).
If the BBC scheduled a season to start when people were back at school or work, it would make so much more sense with regaring to viewing figures.
So, starting a season any time between January and June or September and November, would have made more sense.
If this is how the BBC had always gone about scheduling new seasons (or even the introduction of new Time Lords), then this is how certain seasons (as opposed to all of them) should have first appeared:
* Seasons 1-5 - as in real life
* Season 6 - September 1968 to July 1969 (not August '68 to June '69)
* Seasons 7-9 - as in real life
Season 10 - January-July 1973 (not December '72 to June '73 - after all, it is only fair that "The Three Doctors" should debut in a slot that befits the label '1963-73', instead of just after the programme's hardly noteworthy 9th anniversary)
* Season 11 - January-July 1974 (not December '73 to June '74)
* Season 12 - 4th January to 17th May 1975 (not 28th December '74 to 10th May '75)
* Season 13 - 6th September 1975 to 13th March 1976 (not 30th August '75 to 6th March '76)
* Seasons 14-17 - as in real life
* Season 18 - 6th September 1980 to 28th March 1981 (not 30th August '80 to 21st March '81)
* Seasons 19-22 - as in real life (PLUS, "The Twin Dilemma" would not close Season 21, but instead open Season 22, which would be made up of 25-minute episodes (as before), and not 45-minute episodes)
* Season 23 - January-April 1986 (as originally intended!)
* Season 24-26 - as in real life (delay in 1987 created by time allocated to find new Time Lord, hire new writers, etc.)
On a semi-relevant note, "The Curse Of Fatal Death" should have been broadcast during Children In Need 1998 (as opposed to Comic Relief 1999), so as to coincide with the programme's 35th Anniversary.
If the BBC scheduled a season to start when people were back at school or work, it would make so much more sense with regaring to viewing figures.
So, starting a season any time between January and June or September and November, would have made more sense.
If this is how the BBC had always gone about scheduling new seasons (or even the introduction of new Time Lords), then this is how certain seasons (as opposed to all of them) should have first appeared:
* Seasons 1-5 - as in real life
* Season 6 - September 1968 to July 1969 (not August '68 to June '69)
* Seasons 7-9 - as in real life
Season 10 - January-July 1973 (not December '72 to June '73 - after all, it is only fair that "The Three Doctors" should debut in a slot that befits the label '1963-73', instead of just after the programme's hardly noteworthy 9th anniversary)
* Season 11 - January-July 1974 (not December '73 to June '74)
* Season 12 - 4th January to 17th May 1975 (not 28th December '74 to 10th May '75)
* Season 13 - 6th September 1975 to 13th March 1976 (not 30th August '75 to 6th March '76)
* Seasons 14-17 - as in real life
* Season 18 - 6th September 1980 to 28th March 1981 (not 30th August '80 to 21st March '81)
* Seasons 19-22 - as in real life (PLUS, "The Twin Dilemma" would not close Season 21, but instead open Season 22, which would be made up of 25-minute episodes (as before), and not 45-minute episodes)
* Season 23 - January-April 1986 (as originally intended!)
* Season 24-26 - as in real life (delay in 1987 created by time allocated to find new Time Lord, hire new writers, etc.)
On a semi-relevant note, "The Curse Of Fatal Death" should have been broadcast during Children In Need 1998 (as opposed to Comic Relief 1999), so as to coincide with the programme's 35th Anniversary.
0
Comments
But while having "Doctor Who" screened twice a week (instead of weekly) during the Davison era, made each story unravel too quickly...this, coupled with moving it to a weekday slot, increased ratings for a while - correct?
It is worth noting that while "The Trial Of A Time Lord" was mostly a disappointment to fans, the stories originally pencilled in for said season (notably "The Nightmare Fair", "Mission To Magnus" and "The Ultimate Evil") were no better - in fact, judging by the novelisations and radio adaptations of the first two, they were far worse.
PLUS: one of the Dalek stories with Pertwee should have been subsituted by a Cybermen story - that Pertwee never fought this silver villain (apart from "The Five Doctors", of course) is a real shame.