If only I could do a poll...

[shadowkat]

1. Okay, I can't do a poll, because no paid account, but I'm curious...how many people who watch Doctor Who see it as a kid's show? And do your kids, assuming you have any, watch it? I'm particularly interested in the non-Brits. Because it's apparently marketed as a kid's show in Great Britain. But it isn't here. (It's shown at 9 pm here on Saturday nights. Not exactly what I think of as the prime kid-viewing hour.)

2. What is everyone watching? Anything interesting?

3.Sense8 got cancelled. Is it worth watching now that it is cancelled? Or will it irritate me because it ended on a cliff-hanger? What else on Netflix, Amazon Prime is worth checking out?

So far Bosch, Sense8, and Iron Fist have been mentioned. Anyone seen the Woody Allen/Elaine Page series?

4. Has American Gods finished yet? I'm waiting to binge watch as a 7 day trial on Starz.

Comments

[cjlasky7]

I think the American experience of Doctor Who is slightly different from the UK's.

Remember, U.S. audiences didn't see anything of Doctor Who until the Tom Baker era, so the original, more kid-friendly material had already faded into the background. The Fourth Doctor episodes were broadcast on U.S. public television (yes, the home of Sesame Street); but as a kid, I never got the impression that it was a kids' show. It was just that "weird British show on PBS."

American TV didn't broadcast Doctors Five through Seven, so we never saw Ace (who would have been big with American kids) or Adric (we dodged a bullet). The next Who on American screens was the 1996 movie, which wasn't kid stuff. (I think Eric Roberts' scenery-chewing would have permanently scarred a young child...)

When Russell T. Davies reimagined DW in 2005, he used Buffy as a template, and it really wasn't your father's Doctor Who anymore.

But the original kid-friendly DW occasionally peeks through. Moffat seems to be a big fan of fairy tales, and eps like "The Snowmen" and "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" are perfect family fare. And I think even RTD got nostalgic for the family-friendly show from his childhood; the Sarah Jane Adventures hit the same sweet spot. That show--and its heroine--are greatly missed.

[shadowkat]

I think the American experience of Doctor Who is slightly different from the UK's.

I think you are right, since all the Americans and non-Brits that responded don't see it as a kids show, and only the Brits who responded do.

The Fourth Doctor episodes were broadcast on U.S. public television (yes, the home of Sesame Street); but as a kid, I never got the impression that it was a kids' show. It was just that "weird British show on PBS."

Yeah, that was the one that I saw as a kid, and it seemed a lot like well, Dark Shadows, Outer Limits, and other shows that seemed more adult. As opposed to the Saturday morning sci-fi shows we had. I think we had more kid-centric series than the Brits had due to the Children's Television Act.