There Is No Cat

Doctor In The Tardis

Has it really been fourteen years since Doctor Who disappeared from our TV screens? Time flies when you’re a time lord. And now, out of nowhere, comes the news that the BBC is going to be producing a new six-episode series of the classic program.

<mumble> years ago, when I first started working in the studio of the PBS affiliate associated with my university, one of the first things I worked on was a series of (really clever) promos to introduce our viewing public to Doctor Who, which the station was going to start airing that autumn. The mucky-mucks at the station had no interest in buying the program, feeling that it was inappropriate for their largely rural audience. But one of my friends who worked in the studio with me was a huge fan and pestered them mercilessly. He even contacted the program’s distributors in the US to get information on how much it would cost. As I recall, the program director finally agreed to air the program when the distributor contacted him and asked when they wanted to start airing the program, as they had the boxes for the videotapes already addressed. Or something like that; I may be missing some of the details. In any case, the managers were too embarrassed to say no, so they acquiesced and the station aired the program. They even let my friend write and produce those promos I mentioned earlier, since he was the only person at the station who knew anything about the program. Turned out to be one of the biggest hits the station ever had, bringing in a lot of money, and the station’s managers went out of their way to take credit for their brilliant programming move and stellar insight into their audiences during the twice-a-year fundraisers. Although I have to say, they did do something unusual; they asked my friend to appear on camera and pitch when the fundraising was being done around Doctor Who. I don’t think I ever saw another instance of a crew member being asked to be on the other side of the camera in my time there.

Posted at 10:48 PM