Doctor Who and the Shoes that Fit Perfectly (Library No. 171)

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Doctor Who and the Shoes that Fit Perfectly (Library No. 171)

Narsham: Jun 5, 2008

"it�ll be a joint decision between BBC Studios and the top decision-makers at the BBC"

Is my window open? I just felt a chill.

Edit: Not the worst page snipe I've seen, but not great. See original post:

Timby posted:

From Radio Times:

quote:
Writing in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Chibnall said: �The big change that happened during our tenure has been Doctor Who being produced through BBC Studios, rather than the BBC�s in-house Drama Department.

�It�s a difference which won�t really have affected how you view the show, but it affects the process by which the programme is made, managed and planned strategically.

�The appointment of a new showrunner is a commercially sensitive decision (way above the pay grade of an incumbent showrunner) so it�ll be a joint decision between BBC Studios and the top decision-makers at the BBC.�

# ? Aug 31, 2021 20:18

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 04:44

Unkempt: May 24, 2003; ...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...

Narsham posted:

"it’ll be a joint decision between BBC Studios and the top decision-makers at the BBC"

Is my window open? I just felt a chill.

I hear Mike Richards is available.

# ? Aug 31, 2021 23:21

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?

If they're the reason we only get like 3 episodes followed by an 18 month hiatus followed by one episode followed by a 15 month hiatus then it very much DOES affect the way I watch the program :argh:

MrL_JaKiri posted:

The animated recon is pretty good even if you miss out a lot of Troughton's physical acting. The dalek factory sequence is amazing.

It is!

But dammit you weren't supposed to read under that tag, now our chances of finding the original broadcast are lost FOREVER! :gonk:

# ? Aug 31, 2021 23:23

Sydney Bottocks: Oct 15, 2004; Can't post for 30 days!

The_Doctor posted:

That reads like they want a Name running it?

The BBC is determined to emulate the US "showrunner" model of doing things, even if it kills the shows they're supposed to be running :v:

# ? Aug 31, 2021 23:30

Big Mean Jerk: Jan 27, 2009; Well, of course I know him.
He's me.

Dumb filthy American speaking here, but if a US-style showrunner model means we actually get 10-13 episodes each year instead of *waves hands at the last decade of Who release schedules* then I�m all for it.

# ? Sep 1, 2021 06:50

Open Source Idiom: Jan 4, 2013

I'm not really sure how a showrunner approach is that different to what Andrew Cartmel, Hinchliffe/Holmes, RTD, Moffat, etc. did.

# ? Sep 1, 2021 06:56

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?

Big Mean Jerk posted:

but if <X> means we actually get 10-13 episodes each year instead of *waves hands at the last decade of Who release schedules* then I�m all for it.

Given people were positive that it was Moffat's handling of the show that caused this weird release schedule, only for it to continue under Chibnall, I can only assume the problem/cause is somewhere higher up in the BBC itself.

Also we already had a US-style showrunner, his name was RTD. He consciously chose to follow the Whedon-style approach to Buffy, and Moffat and Chibnall continued in that tradition. Classic Doctor Who was a joint operation between the Executive Producer and the Script Editor as the two major forces running the show, and sometimes that worked out REALLY well (Hinchcliffe and Holmes) and sometimes it really didn't (JNT and Eric Saward). When RTD got the go-ahead to make Who, though he had an Executive Producer who obviously played a very large part in the running of the show, it was very much understood that he was the guy ultimately in charge.

# ? Sep 1, 2021 07:07

The_Doctor: Mar 29, 2007; "The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."

Classic Who had the Producer and Script Editor model. The producer is typically the organisational one, dealing with the top down view of TV production managing budget, casting, making sure the sets are built, etc. That was people like Verity Lambert, Barry Letts, Philip Hinchcliffe, John Nathan-Turner, etc. They were effectively The Boss. But fundamentally they weren�t involved much in the actual writing other than �I�ve read Terrance Dicks� latest script, tell me to tone down the green a bit.�

That�s the sort of direction he�d give to the Script Editor, who was more or less in charge of the writing and writers. The script editor would commission writers, go over the stories, suggest changes, fix this bit up, etc. Sometimes they�d even write for the show as Robert Holmes often did, but a BBC rule says they can�t write for the same show they�re currently script editor for.

NuWho has taken all this and amalgamated all of this into the showrunner model where the producer is now Exec Producer, in charge of the running as before, but they�re also Head Writer, churning out their own scripts, shaping the season arcs, tightening other writers� work, etc. The script editor these days doesn�t commission anyone, and just seems to be a perfunctory role, rather than a creative one.

# ? Sep 1, 2021 07:25

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?

Yeah I don't know why I said Executive Producer for the Classic series, as opposed to Producer :doh:

# ? Sep 1, 2021 09:05

CobiWann: Oct 21, 2009; Have fun!

Jerusalem posted:

Yeah I don't know why I said Executive Producer for the Classic series, as opposed to Producer

Are you feeling OK? Perhaps you should sit down. I have a nice black leather chair right over here...

# ? Sep 1, 2021 13:06

OldMemes: Sep 5, 2011; I have to go now. My planet needs me.

Comedy option: Give it to Nick Briggs. Every story becomes [Noun] of the Daleks, series 3 of Charley Pollard is delayed even further.

# ? Sep 1, 2021 14:38

Narsham: Jun 5, 2008

Letts co-wrote episodes during his time as producer, so he was closer to the current showrunner model.

And the current model is, or at least has been, more complex than presented. RTD was executive producer and showrunner on nuWho, but Julie Gardner was also executive producer and head of Drama for BBC Wales. So at �best,� the showrunner model gives authority to the head writer (along with an expectation the showrunner writes for the show, where someone like Robert Holmes had difficulties writing for Who while script editor), but the financial person is still there.

And I have no idea the practical effects of having RTD as showrunner when Gardner was head of drama for BBC Wales. In show terms, exec prod Davies outranked Gardner, but he was working for BBC Wales drama and that made Gardner his boss. Most likely they were closer to partners and operated as a unit. Moffat had issues with his financial exec producers and went thru a number of them; Chibnall hasn�t. Whether any of this is driving the production issues or whether they�re occurring because of broader BBC problems I�m in no position to say, but Gardner definitely deserves some credit for early nuWho.

# ? Sep 1, 2021 15:13

MrL_JaKiri: Sep 23, 2003; A bracing glass of carrot juice!

The Beeb is run by people who think the Beeb shouldn't exist

An Ounce of Gold posted:

and it was clearly NOT a production mistake and a LOT of people were getting mad when we pointed it out.

It could easily have been though, given that "is the doctor wearing a coat or not" was a production mistake that they'd already done that season

MrL_JaKiri fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Sep 1, 2021

# ? Sep 1, 2021 16:55

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?