May 13, 2025 08:14 PM
(This post was last modified: May 14, 2025 04:14 AM by C C.)
From what I read years ago in a Reddit forum, the progressives there were giving the Jodie Whittaker era lower points because the quality of writing dropped significantly. Maybe similar as to why they're abandoning the Gatwa phase, or perhaps DW really is becoming unrecognizable due to all the changes or additions to traditional canon (suddenly slash unrealistically modified after many decades). Personally, I stopped watching the show way back in the middle of the 12th-Doctor's typical three seasons run (Peter Capaldi).
Should they resurrect DW again after _X_ number of years, maybe best to simply reboot the franchise and introduce other Time Lords that are female, Black, LGBT+, Asian, Otherkin, etc. If a few become popular characters, then they might receive their own shows.
This current approach (intermittently across the entertainment industry) of placing diversity atop the shoulders of an established white-man icon -- because you privately believe that diversity could not survive on its own without the white-man assist and makeover -- is actually insulting and degrading to diversity. Bass Reeves can make it on his own, you don't need to humiliatingly graft him on and rebrand him as Marshall Matt Dillon (who is also wholly fictional).
All the way around, it results in eventually alienating everybody in the end, for different reasons (including any preoccupation with preaching and public service messaging become more important than good storytelling).
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Dave Cullen Show
https://youtu.be/9bmrWWj4140
EXCERPTS: After shedding the vast majority of its longtime audience, its most dedicated fans who loved Doctor Who -- and its peculiar quirky British quality that always just seemed to work -- Doctor Who has arrived at its end point in terms of ratings. At least, with even lower ratings than the Sylvester McCoy era back in the late 80s, which were low enough for the show to be cancelled and on hiatus for 16 years.
Doctor Who [...] has gone full progressive, stunning and brave. And what did it cost? Everything. Well, not quite everything.
There's clearly still a little over 1.5 million people each week who tune into the show, plus all the i-player folks who couldn't be bothered watching it live like they used to. So they catch up with it later at some point, cuz it's not exactly appointment viewing anymore.
With the Capaldi era, they made the Doctor a doormat for Clara to walk all over, which just got worse under his next companion. So much so in fact that there was an episode where the Doctor was terrified that his first incarnation (played by David Bradley in that episode) was going to say something politically incorrect or sexist in front of his new diverse lesbian girl boss companion Billy Potts.
Then they made the Doctor a woman, and they really cranked up the political messaging beyond all reason at that stage.
The ratings tanked over the next few years as huge swathes of the fan base no longer recognized the show. I mean, we told them this was going to happen, but some people just stuck with it a little longer than I would have expected. But they figured it out now, that's for sure, cuz they don't watch anymore.
But the viewership drop wasn't quite enough to cancel the show at that point, and the promise of a financial injection from a Disney Plus deal meant the show could afford to continue for a little longer.
[...] The damage had been done to the Doctor Who brand at that point, as fans had been turned off by the preachy identity politics messaging. And of course it didn't help that the Doctor was lectured in those episodes about correct pronoun usage, and he was talked down to because he's a male presenting time lord.
The Gatwa era looks like it won't last beyond this season, with Davies expected to move on, and Gatwa rumored to have filmed his regeneration scene for the character already. We shall see. Either way, these past two seasons have been characterized by having the lowest rated episodes in the entire 60-year history of the Doctor Who franchise...
Oh Boy! Doctor Who: It’s Come To This ... https://youtu.be/9bmrWWj4140
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/9bmrWWj4140
Should they resurrect DW again after _X_ number of years, maybe best to simply reboot the franchise and introduce other Time Lords that are female, Black, LGBT+, Asian, Otherkin, etc. If a few become popular characters, then they might receive their own shows.
This current approach (intermittently across the entertainment industry) of placing diversity atop the shoulders of an established white-man icon -- because you privately believe that diversity could not survive on its own without the white-man assist and makeover -- is actually insulting and degrading to diversity. Bass Reeves can make it on his own, you don't need to humiliatingly graft him on and rebrand him as Marshall Matt Dillon (who is also wholly fictional).
All the way around, it results in eventually alienating everybody in the end, for different reasons (including any preoccupation with preaching and public service messaging become more important than good storytelling).
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Dave Cullen Show
https://youtu.be/9bmrWWj4140
EXCERPTS: After shedding the vast majority of its longtime audience, its most dedicated fans who loved Doctor Who -- and its peculiar quirky British quality that always just seemed to work -- Doctor Who has arrived at its end point in terms of ratings. At least, with even lower ratings than the Sylvester McCoy era back in the late 80s, which were low enough for the show to be cancelled and on hiatus for 16 years.
Doctor Who [...] has gone full progressive, stunning and brave. And what did it cost? Everything. Well, not quite everything.
There's clearly still a little over 1.5 million people each week who tune into the show, plus all the i-player folks who couldn't be bothered watching it live like they used to. So they catch up with it later at some point, cuz it's not exactly appointment viewing anymore.
With the Capaldi era, they made the Doctor a doormat for Clara to walk all over, which just got worse under his next companion. So much so in fact that there was an episode where the Doctor was terrified that his first incarnation (played by David Bradley in that episode) was going to say something politically incorrect or sexist in front of his new diverse lesbian girl boss companion Billy Potts.
Then they made the Doctor a woman, and they really cranked up the political messaging beyond all reason at that stage.
The ratings tanked over the next few years as huge swathes of the fan base no longer recognized the show. I mean, we told them this was going to happen, but some people just stuck with it a little longer than I would have expected. But they figured it out now, that's for sure, cuz they don't watch anymore.
But the viewership drop wasn't quite enough to cancel the show at that point, and the promise of a financial injection from a Disney Plus deal meant the show could afford to continue for a little longer.
[...] The damage had been done to the Doctor Who brand at that point, as fans had been turned off by the preachy identity politics messaging. And of course it didn't help that the Doctor was lectured in those episodes about correct pronoun usage, and he was talked down to because he's a male presenting time lord.
The Gatwa era looks like it won't last beyond this season, with Davies expected to move on, and Gatwa rumored to have filmed his regeneration scene for the character already. We shall see. Either way, these past two seasons have been characterized by having the lowest rated episodes in the entire 60-year history of the Doctor Who franchise...
Oh Boy! Doctor Who: It’s Come To This ... https://youtu.be/9bmrWWj4140
