Torchwood is a spin-off of the hit show Doctor Who
As a follow-up to my recent post ranting about the absurdity of the potential US reboot of Torchwood, I stumbled upon this article today. At first I was elated that the two networks had realized the stupidity of their idea. But then I read past the first paragraph and discovered this:
“…the BBC said discussions with other networks were continuing and plans to get the show made for US audiences were still in the pipeline.”
Excuse me? Were the BBC executives not paying attention? FOX said no to them. FOX. And yet they still think that another network wants to make a deal with them to remake a show that does not need remaking? But it gets better. Just as I was reassuring myself that no network would possibly agree to this nonsense, I read even further to find this:
“[Torchwood] proved so popular [in the UK] that it was moved to BBC Two – and attracted another ratings boost when a third series was shown on BBC One last year. However, the last move resulted in the series being cut from 13 episodes to five…[John] Barrowman criticized the decision, saying he felt like the show was ‘being punished’.”
Hold the phone, let me get this straight. The BBC is pushing US-based networks to pick up a remake of their show, while they don’t even have a good handle on the future of the show in its original format in the UK? This whole situation just started making even LESS sense. First they state that the show’s doing well and push it to their higher-rated networks, but they have to change the format to do it. And the lead actor whose character the show is based around gets annoyed. Listen BBC, you should probably figure out what to do with the original version of this show, before you go and try to push a second-rate remake on US audiences.
DISCUSS: Do you agree with the BBC’s decision to continue pushing for a US remake? Are they spreading themselves too thin?