Hmm, maybe i overeacted. (although that is an understatment ). And i apologize to the Fry and his posse of fans for insulting them. But i am a Doctor who fan posse member and i am, quite practically, a whovian extremist. Thats right. I'll blow you up if you insult who or don't worship it. But didn't fry know who fans are quite snippy


No insult to who fans there. I am quite snippy about Doctor who doesn't mean you all are.

I should just stop talking now.

No - don't merge that thread that didn't start here in! Don't want the daily mail any-excuse-to-bitch-at-Fry brigade in the mix.

Yes i've actually been quite impressed that the majority have been quite balanced about this. Even some of the lunatic fringe"

I hope some tabloid hack borrows my "balanced cultural diet" phrase. I was quite proud of that.

It wasn't and it isn't.

Remember this was a 'real life' interview where, as we do in 'real life', Stephen Fry didn't feel it necessary to hedge every statement he makes with IMHO - it's more or less taken as a given that it is just his opinion, humble or not, which is perfectly fine, unless you think someone having an opinion equates to them thinking everyone else should hold the same opinion - which it doesn't. (Though I wonder if the Pope ever uses IMHO in his postings?).

I last watched Dr WHO? when Tom Baker was in the role.

I would never dream of watching it now, as I would not expect it to be relevant to me as an adult.

IMO WHO? has always been for kids and should remain so.

If some adults enjoy it I don't suppose it's doing any harm.

No we really need three threads on this?

This ^^

The BBC plug and plug and plug both those shows (DW on the front of RT again this week), as if they are the only shows on TV. Why do they not promote other shows? Or spend a bit of their massive budget making decent adult drama? (But please, no more detective/cop drama - enough already!). No-one says it has to be LOST-esque - and let's face it, nothing ever could be - but ram something other than a kids' TV show down our throats once in a while.

I do hate it when people have a go at others for not prefixing their opinions with "IMO" or something. A fact or opinion can be gathered by simply reading the statement the person made. If it's not a fact, it's an opinion. It's pretty simple.

Family programme or Childrens programme enjoyed by adults, does it really matter? Its only a matter of semantics after all. As long as you enjoy it who cares.

Well my opinion is that it most certainly is. I remember it first time round and it was on at tea-time - for kids - just like now.

The BBC is far less adventurous with its drama output than it used to be. Well done Mr Fry for highlighting that. Ratings driven, lowest-common-denominator, with few exceptions. "18th century bonnet" series have swamped the telly, because "they're popular". Since DW, there has been a shuntload of generic rip-off programmes (Robin Hood, Merlin). Few moulds get broken, these days. Our Friends In The North wouldn't be made now. Alan Bleasdale gave up on a project a couple of years ago because the BBC nibbled it to pieces.

Still, I spose the BBC is better than ITV.

A perfectly decent drama series such as Casualty gets soapified and turned into a franchise, losing what made it unique to start with. (ITV did the same with the Bill, and look what happened there). Something spectacular like Small Island really stands out because it is so different. (And it was an adaptation rather than a totally new idea). Wallander has gone down a storm, but that's nicked from somewhere else. Some ingenuity wouldn't go astray, Auntie Beeb!

Totally agree with Mr Fry in that regard.

Yes, the general quality of discourse round here is ok I think.

And good old dalekaddison has clearly had some soothing camomile tea and adjusted his position.


Yes, that's a goody. I'm just off for some balanced diet myself. Egg sandwich.

Yes, this is an odd quirk of internet "debate".

The other day some chap in the music forum had a massive go at me because I said a muse album was "awful" as this was "my oppinion" not fact. He had no such concerns saying in a previous post that it was one fo the best of last year without the old "IMO" prefix.

There is a simple rule for interent "debates" if someone agrees with what you say it is objective scientific fact if they do not it is "just your oppinion, you can't say thats fact, OMG LOLZ etc".

Yes, so do I. The time slot changed repeatedly over the course of 26 years, from around 5.15 on a Saturday to around 7.30 on a Monday, but it was always basically aimed as family teatime viewing and was always produced by the drama department, not by the childrens department.

I agree with you that it has elements both for children and adults, I'm sure some of the themes would go over children's heads.

I also don't think Fry is quite as clever as his PR says he is.....but that's just my own opinion, I've never met him, so can't really tell.

However, what he said in the article was :-

Doctor who is excellent, but is basically written for younger viewers. The BBC should commision equally excellent drama for adults.

I would love to see more quality drama on the telly, so I agree with him.

I don't at all think that adults should not watch and enjoy well written children's stuff. Watch what you like, you pay the licence fee! I love the sci-fi/fantasy stuff and feel sorry for people who miss out on it because they think its just for kids.


They wouldn't shout at you if you just stated your opinion without being unnecessarily rude. Or maybe they would


And he should know.

Look, not arguing with you. I don't care if Father Christmas makes it, it's a kids' show. It's on at tea-time ffs. If it was adult drama it would be on after 9pm.

Well said!

I think I was more than a bit snotty in my response to another poster earlier, but this is one of those issues (does it qualify as an internet meme? never been too sure about that word) which pushes my buttons.

I recall one discussion

Poster1 declared they liked X.
Poster2 responded with "so you think I'm wrong for liking Y, who are you to tell people what they should like.
Poster1 "No I just said that I liked X"
Poster2 "But if you like X that must mean you don't like Y and think other people should like X - fascist"

I know communication is supposed to be a wonderful thing but you can have too much of a good thing.

We now return you to your scheduled postering.

Let's make a stand here, on this forum! no more imo or imho's! It's rubbish! I know it's your opinion, because you're writing it!

Whilst we're about it, can we put a stop to the obverse as well: "You can't disagree with me because I'm just stating my opinion" - er, if your opinion is rubbish then I'm going to disagree with you. For instance, in your honest/humble opinion, 2 + 2 = 5, I'm definitely going to pull you up onit!


Who's with me!

Shouldn't that be 'disgust'?

Interviewer: We've been debating on our site endlessly: Is Doctor Who a kids' program?

Moffat: Yes. Debate over. It's good to fix those things quickly.

http://io9.com/5028464/exclusive-int...-steven-moffat

It's a science-fiction drama that's suitable for kids.
It's not a "kids' show"!
If it were it would have been produced by the BBC Children's Department. It wasn't and isn't.

Found the quote:

Interviewer: We've been debating on our site endlessly: Is Doctor Who a kids' program?

Moffat: Yes. Debate over. It's good to fix those things quickly.

http://io9.com/5028464/exclusive-int...-steven-moffat

The guy in charge of making it doesn't agree with you.