Eugene W. Kosarovich wrote:
> Doctor Who's short season this year I thought was because David wanted to do
> live stage acting, so I think that was kinda planned on the production side
> versus the broadcast side.
>

I would seriously doubt that could be true. It's too huge a show to let
the lead pull something like that. I imagine that the deal is either a
shrewd way to get extra press when the show comes back (also to prevent
the public from tiring of the show), or it could also be a budget
cutting move as they are moving to HD production starting with the last ep.


> Of course, the way the revived Doctor Who franchise spawned two spin offs
> just in the few years its been back is pretty amazing really.

It's even more than that. Every episode of Who (and Torchwood) is
followed by an hour long "making of" show. Torchwood was already in the
producer's head as the BBC had asked him to develop a sexy sci-fi sort
of thing along the lines of the X-files. When demand for material
increased after the success of Who, the producer was able to blow the
dust off of his old idea.

The Sarah Jane show was kind of thought out in the 80's during the
original attempt at a spin-off. There is also an Australian kids
program in production now starring an all new K-9. In the UK the
authors actually retain the rights to characters they create for shows,
so the original creators of the robot dog in the 70's were able to sell
their character to this new production.


--
Bohus Blahut
(BOH-hoosh BLAH-hoot)

modern filmmaker