Weekend scattershooting – Torchwood, Downton Abbey 2, etc…


Torchwood: Miracle Day UK premiere set

Russell T. Davies’ follow-up to his Torchwood: Children of Earth mini-series is quite aptly named. Mainly because it’s a world where nobody dies. All across the world, nobody dies. And then the next day, and the next, and the next, people keep aging – they get hurt and sick, but they never die. The result: a population boom, overnight. Enter Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and the rest of the Torchwood gang.

That’s not the news here, however. As we reported earlier, the U.S. premiere on the Starz network is set for July 8. The UK premiere on BBC One has just been announced for 14 July. Looking at all the blog comments across the net, you’d think that having to wait six days after the U.S. premiere to see the show in the UK was the most unspeakable act known to man.

I know this won’t be the popular sentiment and I risk incurring the wrath of the UK, but it’s six days folks. Imagine the years and years in which U.S. audiences had to wait anywhere from six months to a year for a series to be broadcast in the U.S. following the UK premiere. Just so you don’t feel alone, U.S. viewers live in an instant gratification world also. Probably more so. The biggest issue will be that, in today’s world, true fans are going to have to figure out how to cut themselves off from the rest of the world for six days and avoid all avenues of spoilers circling the net until the UK premiere. Be strong. I promise not to say anything here until the UK premiere.

It’s astounding how many American viewers are put out at the thought of having to wait a year to see Downton Abbey 2 given the huge success of the original ITV series. Many even take to task both the BBC and PBS for “making viewers wait that long” and “why can’t you just run both seasons back-to-back”. Go figure. FYI, Downton Abbey 2 is still set for a January 8, 2012 premiere on PBS’ Masterpiece series, with a Fall 2011 premiere in the UK.

While I’m ranting….hey, Starz…Torchwood isn’t a Starz original series. Quit billing it as such. Unfortunately, not sure I’m looking forward to this as much as if it was a total BBC production, but one can always hope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVktcOQD1zA


In: Action/Drama,Actors/Actresses,Drama

  • I know it’s just my impatient American ways, but it does seem like it would be awfully nice if Downton Abbey lasted a little longer, or if I could get my fix a little sooner. It’s like waiting for my birthday, but the payoff is better because I don’t get any older!

    • @Jessica: Congrats on being the 1000 comment on Tellyspotting. Thanks for hanging in since the beginning. Guess I’ll have to come up with something to send you. Totally understand about wanting more DA or Up/Down or Sherlock. The comments that floored me were the ones accusing PBS of holding on to the completed shows and making people wait a year before airing. Trust me, the minute they are available in the U.S., they are scheduled. Only downside is that increases the time before the next season is available since there are so few episodes. But, I’ll take the downside in order to continue to have the upside.