On Sep 30, 1:08 pm, M-D November <[email protected]> wrote: > The issue with Doctor Who is that the BBC didn't think the series had > any long term viability, so their SOP at the time was to wipe the > tapes for reuse after the show aired. In many cases, the only reason > we still have copies of the early episodes is thanks to copies sent > overseas for air. So it's not that we have them & we're just hoarding > them - in many cases, the episodes just physically don't exist > anywhere anymore.
Add that this was when public broadcasting--excuse me, "educational broadcasting"--was arguably at its most highbrow. There was no way in hell that NET or any non-commercial station was going to pick up a kiddie sci-fi show. I do recall from perusing trades from the mid-60s that the BBC had attempted to sell "Doctor Who" in the U.S. back then, but for many reasons (the most prominent, I suspect being that it was a black-and- white show when stations, particularly the new UHF independents, wanted color programming), they were unable to sell the series in the U.S. If there was no demand elsewhere overseas, I then suspect the order was given to erase the tapes and maybe there would be a kinescope (or "telerecordings," as they called them in the UK) hanging around somewhere. Meanwhile, knowing that color would be coming and that the PAL system had been selected in the UK, Lord Grade converted his ATV Elstree studios to color, made a bunch of cheapjack variety shows with American headliners, sold them to CBS as summer replacement fare and then syndicated them to ready and willing buyers. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
