‘Doctor Who’ breaks ratings records in the U.S.But it’s not quite how it sounds. The Mirror: The first episode of the new Dr Who series was watched by 1.2 million viewers at the weekend. This is the biggest draw BBC America has ever had. And it’s pretty good for a basic cable channel that doesn’t even reach huge chunks of the American audience -- including enormous swaths of the New York Metropolitan Area. But it’s not better than the ratings the show was getting on the Sci Fi Channel (now Syfy): the season four finale had 1.264 million viewers. (Though Matt Smith’s numbers are better on a comparative basis, because fewer people overall are able to watch BBC America.) Still... With 300 million people in the U.S., under 2 million means Doctor Who is still relegated to cult status. (A hit show like American Idol will get 20 to 30 million viewers for a finale; a show like the excellent FlashForward is likely to be cancelled because it can’t garner more than 6 million viewers per episode.) By contrast: With only 30 million people in Canada, Matt Smith’s debut still drew 1 million viewers on the network Space, according to The Toronto Star. And with only 60 million people in the U.K., 8 million people there watched Matt Smith’s debut a few weeks ago. Guess it’s a good thing I’m used to funny looks when I talk about Doctor Who in mixed company. support
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Thu Apr 22 10, 4:12PM categories: tv buzz permalink 7 pre-Disqus comments Disqus comments tip jarshare
read morerelated· ungodly numbers of people watched the ‘Doctor Who’ premiere last weekend · bias update: March 29 · John Barrowman serenades the Doctor, an Icelandic blockbuster, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ a disaster?, more: leftover links · save Paul Rudd; movie apathy; everybody loves 'Mad Men'; more: leftover links · watch it: ‘Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy: Webisode 1’ · question of the day: Is ‘American Idol’ sexist and racist? · female gazing at: Jack Davenport · my reads: ‘WWW: Wake’ and ‘WWW: Watch’ by Robert J. Sawyer · “amusing ourselves to death”: why many won’t care about the loss of Net neutrality... but why we must · female gazing at: Michael Ealy bloggyprevious post: oh thank the gods: Fox says no to American ‘Torchwood’ next post: watch it: 1980s Apple ad (with Kevin Costner!) |
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posted by Bill Mason (Thu Apr 22 10, 4:49PM)
If we're going to compare to SyFy's ratings, another news story (lost the link) noted that BBC America's ratings for this episode were better than any Doctor Who season premiere from those 4 seasons they ran the show.
FWIW.
posted by Kathy A (Thu Apr 22 10, 5:22PM)
Guess it’s a good thing I’m used to funny looks when I talk about Doctor Who in mixed company.
I'm thrilled if I hear the show name-checked on another tv series. When NCIS mentioned it (of course, it was McGee the geek who compared a storage container to the TARDIS), I was quite shocked; probably the first time most of its viewers had ever heard of Doctor Who.
posted by Monica (Thu Apr 22 10, 6:08PM)
I believe the EP of NCIS is an Aussie, that may be why the TARDIS namecheck.
That was a cool scene though! Thought I had misheard McGeek at first, but I also loved clueless DiNozzo, with the typical American response.
posted by Lisa (Thu Apr 22 10, 9:46PM)
you LIKE Flashforward? oh MaryAnn!
posted by MaryAnn (Thu Apr 22 10, 11:30PM)
*FlashForward* is made of awesome. It's even better than the book (by Robert Sawyer) it's based on.
posted by Mo (Fri Apr 23 10, 12:14AM)
Two things to remember about those Canadian numbers, though:
The New Doctor Who was well promoted on the CBC at the start and got a lot of new viewers that way, who were willing to follow it when the CBC got bored with it.
The Space channel is owned by CTV, the biggest broadcaster in the country, and they were promoting the premiere big time on CTV itself. More than that, they were doing it smartly- I think I mainly noticed the ads during shows like Lost, V, and Flash Forward if I remember right. (And it was a really good ad.)
Since most people who have cable here get Space, BBC America numbers aren't exactly the fairest comparison. Glad to hear it is still doing well here, though.
posted by Anne-Kari (Mon Apr 26 10, 3:40PM)
You know what makes up for the puzzled looks I get when I mention Doctor Who in mixed company?
The times I mention Doctor Who in mixed company and I'm shocked by that one person in the group whose eyes light up and who says "OMYGOD YOU WATCH DOCTOR WHO!?!".
And me and this new friend usually weird out the rest of the group by jabbering geekily away about the Doctor.
Sadly, this is a rare occurrence. But it's freaking GOLD when it happens.