From: guth@unixg.ubc.ca (A lonely wanderer from the 15th century)
Subject: Re: Americans and Who
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 08:14:33 GMT

In article <26AUG92.10248343.0044@UNBVM1.CSD.UNB.CA> Boyd <BOYD@UNB.CA> writes:
>>-> DN|  Perhaps an American producer should take it over and do it
>>-> now... 8)
>>
>>-> JS| I think I'd rather have it stay dead.
>>
>> Me, too. I get ill thinking about it. I hope NBC doesn't get wind of
>>this. :-/
>
>   Well, the three of you seem to be in agreement here (not the smiley
>in the first post).  Personally, I find your attitude rather elitist,
>verging on racist: to think that because a person is born and/or raised
>in a certain country makes them incapable of producing a certain style
>of television is a gross and insulting generalisation.

This attitude, which I happen to share, does not come from an "elitist"
or "racist" sentiment.  It has arisen from years of watching shows made
in the U. S., especially by the major networks.  The problem, it seems
to me, is not that there aren't any good American producers/directors/
writers/etc.  It's just that the vast majority of the American public
is not interested in the kind of entertainment Dr. Who represents.  (I'm
talking about the kind of people that ridicule the show because of it's
lack of stunning special effects).  I believe that if the show were
produced in the U.S., for an American audiance, the quality of the
scriptwriting would suffer.  

>   Furthermore, you seem to be assuming that nobody who produced an
>"American version" of <Doctor Who> would be uninterested in preserving
>the flavour of the original.  Who in America but a <Who> fan would be
>interested in producing the show at all? I think it is very likely that
>a competent producer/director could be found to create something closely
>resembling that to which we have all become happily accustomed.

As I said above, the show, if it were made in the U.S. would be tailered
to attract the maximum number of American viewers possible.  Even if
the producer were such a Who fan, the show would be changed to reflect the
differences in taste between the British viewing audience and the American
one.

>   Dale: if you're still really bothered about an American-made <Doctor
>Who>, what would you think about getting it done in Canada (or one of
>the other less-rebellious colonies)? Canada has sold a number of good
>shows internationally.  Now that I think of it, that doesn't seem to be
>such a bad idea ....

I'm not sure this approach would work.  Canada is heavily influenced by
American TV.  Look at the kind of shows put out by the CBC and CTV
networks now...they are much closer to being American than British.

The only network I might remotely trust to carry on the series would be
one that is carrying DW right now.  In the U.S. that would mostly be the
PBS stations.  In Canada, only YTV carries it coast to coast (in fact,
I don't think any other Canadian station carries the good Doctor....)
Perhaps a collaboration between a PBS station or stations and the BBC
could bring it back.  Such things have been done in the past.

>=+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+=
>|  ____                        |  The more necessary anything appears  |
>|   /  /_   _ _ _ _   __  ,    |  to my  mind  the  more  certain  it  |
>|  /  /  )_(_) / ) )_(_/_/)__  |  is that I only assert a limitation.  |
>|        (boyd@unb.ca)         |                  -- Aleister Crowley  |
>=+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+=

Geoff.

-- 

|Geoff Guth                          |Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni |
|Richard Britnell de Salisbury (sca) |     in rebus latinis alacribus et      |
|guth@unixg.ubc.ca                   |        fructuosis potiri potes!        |
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