Indeed the vast majority of critics love the series.

I was thinking about this and I came to the conclusion that the only other TV series to have gathered this much interest to the point of being a national obsession is Dallas.

Thats is the only other show I can think of that has so captured the nations attention.

In many ways the series arrived in similar circumstances. New Who arrived to a schedule devoid of populist family drama and filled with by the numbers police shows.

Oh the irony....

I agree, we come on here to share our love of Doctor Who, and well you're kinda killing it!

"Do good vierwer ratings and popularity automatically make it a GOOD show?"

No. See Eastenders.

Dervish, i think you need to take up golf or something. This venom you have towards new who is strange and unhealthy. Look u may not enjoy it but millions do who keep coming back for more, and yes they must enjoy and think is has good qualities otherwise why would they keep coming back. Of course some eps are not going to be good as others but thats the same with EVERY show, its fun, entertaining and dosn't take it self to seriously, which is what makes DW what it is. If u hate it so much then go and watch Battlestar what ever which has all those serious dark themes. Or keep watching it for the moments where u do like it (such as moffat eps) and just let the bits u don't like slip to the back of your head, instead of shooting your venom at it. Of course you can express your views but do it in way like everyone else does, say that u didn't rate it high because blah blah but in a civil way, these constunt threads you make are incrediably stupid and are just a place for u to spit hate, which i think many have grown sick of.

Don't worry - Dervish promised to stop watching Doctor Who after the Christmas Day episode so hopefully there will be fewer and fewer posts as well.

well i've just watched the CIN, Monsters & Music special and for me as an older fan it fills me with joy to see so many young children both boys and girls sitting in the audiance thoroughly enjoying them selves.

it's about time Dervish, realised that had RTD made the new series in the same way and style as the old series Doctor Who would of been dead and buried after just a few episodes.

Fans like Dervish, resent it because Doctor Who is no longer cult programm or the property of a small band of geeky fans. Instead RTD who knows what is important in making modern day tv has turned Doctor Who, from a programm that had become an embarrassment into popular family entertainment watched by all ages.

Also the fact that Doctor Who, now has a whole new generation of young children as fans is a testiment to RTD and the huge success and popularirty of new Who./

Was Doctor Who ever really a cult program? From the little I've seen, it had quite respectable ratings during the original series.

Of course during the years it was off the air it was obviously a cult thing. Few fans of any cancelled show are going to listen to radio plays, read novels, etc.

As for Dervish, well I certainly have better things to do with my time than spend it on forums for shows I don't like. RTD isn't the one with an agenda - Dervish is. And it's not an admirable one.

Wrong.

This forum is to DISCUSS the progarmme NOT to just laud it.

zzzzzzzz This kind of topic's getting boring now.

Do good thread viewing figures and high postings automatically make dervish a GOOD poster?

God, no!

er yes one of the biggest in the world.

G

For once, I agree with something Dervish has written. ONCE.

Although, in discussion you can't just slate it either of course...

OK, I normally let stupid remarks pass me by, but not this.

Your post actually started off, in my view, as setting up a good and valid debate. You may be right in that a popular program doesn't mean it's a good program. Then you blow your argument apart by that statement (highlighted in bold).

How dare you call anyone non-intellectual ! Do you know me ? Have we ever met ?

I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, that's my perogative. I note that many didn't - that's their perogative. Who am I to argue they are wrong ? Who is anyone else to say that I'm wrong ?

You know, I don't post here often but I 'lurk' reading the posts every now and then. There have been some nasty posts about you over the past few months - some have been particularly distasteful and unfair. That still doesn't give you the right to say myself, and a few other million, are 'thick' just because we enjoyed a TV program - doesn't matter what that program was.

Therefore, I respectfully request an apology from yourself.

Here's hoping .....

I apologise if I have offended anyone.

Apology accepted. Many thanks.

And I, along it seems with everyone else, would say that there are 9 million people that you don't know the first bloody thing about and to broadly label them as non-intellectual shows that you are so egotistical that you hold the opinion that anyone who dares disagree with you must be an idiot.

I enjoyed it. I have a degree, I teach at a university, I enjoy foreign films (with subtitles and everything) and have many in my DVD collection, I read extensively, I cook meals with several courses and don't exist on frozen ready meals, when I go abroad I embrace the local culture and don't eat egg and chips in a British Bar, I am not easily entertained and I can't stand the tripe that is Celebrity Love Island / X-Factor / Find me the new Joseph (or whatever the hell it's called), I don't read the Sun (or even see the point for it's existance), but I enjoyed the special. It may not have been the new Chekov or Wilde, A Christmas Carol doesn't need to be concerned that it will be usurped as the finest Christmas story but as a piece of Christmas entertainment it worked for me.

It didn't work for you. Fine. Fair enough. For God's Sake get over it Dervish and move on.

People won't fall to their knees and worship you, agreeing with everything you say, so what? Grow up (I don't care how old you really are, the fact that nearly everyone thinks you are a teenager is a good reflection of how you are acting).

Modern TV can't live up to classic Who? Then why don't you just switch off the television set and go and do something less boring instead (as several small children once said).

Did you enjoy VOTD, Dervish?

Here Here! You said exactly what I was going to say!

Dr Who attracts a variety of people, unlike some programmes. 'non-intellectual' people, as dervish suggests, may watch the show, but it does not make the programme bad!

Some of dervish's (and some others) arguments are very contradictory and I'm wondering whether you fall into that 'non-intellectual' category, but I can't say you are because I've never met you, but based on what your arguments are it seems that way to me. This is because you just babble and don't think about what you're typing.

I think you has a valid point about ratings not making it a good programme, but just because you personally don't like something, it does not make it a bad programme to a lot of other people.

DR Who : the series have been great, I've loved almost every episode

DR Who: the xmas specials are a bit hit and miss

this year I couldn't decide if I was watching Dr Who or The Poseidon Adventure - even the sets were identical

and to answer the thread, no, viewing figures mean nothing, nobody knows if it's going to be good or not till it's over

and that is why they have the AI ratings of course

Yes - big ratings show that the show has mainstream appeal. That may not appeal to the self-identifying gods of fandom (MY SHOW! MY SHOW!) but as someone who has enjoyed Dr Who, spin offs, the old virgin and newer BBC books, I have nothing to complain about.

I do think that it was a triumph that Who received that many viewers, and that the show will continue to interest me as an older viewer, and the newer viewers as well. Already other sci-fi shows are beginning to pop up in mainstream (similar to what happened with the X Files) so it's having a knock on effect that's making me quite pleased!

Good god Dervish.

I've said this so many times.

WHY are you wasting your life getting so worked up about something you can't change?

You quite obviously don't like the show, so don't bloody watch it and shut up for once. Do something constructive with your life instead of posting day in and day out about ruddy Doctor Who.

You're like that person who makes everyone groan when they turn up at a party.

Accept the show has changed, move on and live a little.

so true,
I hate Hollyoaks, Sex in the city, Friends etc etc, but I would never watch them and then come on here and moan about.

I used to LOVE Dr Who - I was not just a casual viewer - I was a REAL FAN!!!

There are at least 7 stories from the rehash that I htink are excellent.

This is why I get so cross that the show veers from Superb to Pathetic week to week. Consistency is needed.

Why can't it be so good every week, or even most weeks,?


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Answers:


1) RTD

2) Scheduling

3) Modern, pathetic, celebrity-obsessed, low-attention-span, unintelligent society!