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I think it needs a change in tone to refresh itself. Basically a reinvention of what the show is. Even when they change Doctors it always has that kind of goofiness going on that has been run into the ground at this point.
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Re: Doctor Who
Well I finally got to see last weeks special (was busy last weekend).
It was nice to see a lot of old faces, both doctor and companions (Ace was one of my favourites, as was Jo Grant). I also liked Graham, it was a shame he left.
Overall, I didnt think it was too bad as an episode, good to see Daleks being evil again, as well as Cybermen (who finally ditched that weird gold problem) and the Master being properly evil again. The best part, of course, was the departure of Jodie. She has been a complete disaster IMO, and clearly the makers seem to think so, they have resorted to pulling in Tennant to try and revive its fortunes - before the black guy takes over in 2024 (or possibly in an Xmas Special at the end of 2023).
I still think he was chosen purely as yet another "inclusive" token (a trend thats infecting and killing all shows) - but that said, I will see how it goes, he may turn out to be great. He cant be any worse than the last one.
Season 14 (in 2024) will consist of 8 episodes (plus there will be 4 specials before it, for the 60th anniversary in late 2023).
There will be a yearly Christmas special again.
The Disney deal may turn out to be the best thing that’s happened to Doctor Who since the 2005 relaunch. The show’s original run was always at the mercy of capricious executives at the BBC who didn’t feel any sense of ownership of, or obligation towards, something whose success was entirely not their own doing. It suffered interference throughout the mid-late 80s, leading to inconsistent scheduling and reduced production quality, with the inevitable loss of ratings that are then used as a pretext to fully cancel any popular old show that just won’t go away.
There have been too many early signs of similar happening to Who over the past 3-5 years for my liking. Series have got shorter, it’s moved around the schedules, the Christmas special was moved to new year, a position in the season schedules from which it is far easier to drop something entirely (as has now happened), and stunt-casting (Bradley Walsh paid off, more or less, but I don’t think John Bishop did. Great comedian, but as he himself said, ‘middle aged scouse comic’ is the limit of his range).
With Disney paying what’s rumoured to be an absolute king’s ransom for the RotW distribution rights, come certain obligations. The mouse will expect to see a substantial chunk of that money going on increased production values (which, to be fair, are still pretty high on this series), but most of all to satisfy their own streaming drop schedules they will have insisted on the very consistent scheduling that RTD is now promising. There has been an alignment of the stars here - I have no doubt Davies will have wanted predictable, ongoing scheduling (and a Christmas special), but Disney’s backing will have made it non-negotiable.
I have yet to understand what the heck it is they currently do that makes a gap year a necessity, when they can churn out crap like Casualty on a weekly basis and American studios can produce popular sci fi like the Stargate franchise at a rate of 20+ episodes per year (often many more once the spin-offs began) for 14 years.
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