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