To be a devil's advocate here... this may be a step to move the show entirely to autumn for S7? I'd think there'd be more casual viewers around in the fall compared to spring. And the split did work for the 2009 Specials. Granted, there were only PotD and WoM, and they were stand-alone episodes, but still, the overnight/total numbers for them were good, 8.6/9.5 and 9.4/10.3 million respectively.
[Moffat] wants to put in a massive "game-changing" cliffhanger.
I have a pretty good idea of what the cliffhanger will be. Who wants to bet? *g*
I remember reading something a while ago in which the numbers of casual viewers vs. fans was actually rather surprising. If anyone's got any info on that
That would be interesting, but I don't know where those numbers would be. I did a comparison of general audience vs fannish audience appreciation, but that's not the same.
But my Spidey PR-bullshit sense is also tingling, because I can't help wondering if what Moffat's saying is really putting a brave face on the fact that he's been told that he has to do this for some reason.
My guess is possibly the ratings? The average for S5 was the same as previous seasons, but the trend was steadily downwards compared to V-shape curves in S2-S4. (The graphs are really interesting. Why yes, I've made them. *g*) Bumping the show to autumn would definitely boost ratings, , OTOH there was less than 1 million difference in viewers for the Specials.
Or, it could be this Doctor Who Live Tour I keep hearing so much about, maybe they want time for the actors to appear?
splitting the season could save money in post-production as there will be more time to work on some things.
I don't know about this. My impression from The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter was that RTD was constantly looking for ways to cut back on post-production hours.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-08-29 04:51 pm (UTC)[Moffat] wants to put in a massive "game-changing" cliffhanger.
I have a pretty good idea of what the cliffhanger will be. Who wants to bet? *g*
I remember reading something a while ago in which the numbers of casual viewers vs. fans was actually rather surprising. If anyone's got any info on that
That would be interesting, but I don't know where those numbers would be. I did a comparison of general audience vs fannish audience appreciation, but that's not the same.
But my
SpideyPR-bullshit sense is also tingling, because I can't help wondering if what Moffat's saying is really putting a brave face on the fact that he's been told that he has to do this for some reason.My guess is possibly the ratings? The average for S5 was the same as previous seasons, but the trend was steadily downwards compared to V-shape curves in S2-S4. (The graphs are really interesting. Why yes, I've made them. *g*) Bumping the show to autumn would definitely boost ratings, , OTOH there was less than 1 million difference in viewers for the Specials.
Or, it could be this Doctor Who Live Tour I keep hearing so much about, maybe they want time for the actors to appear?
splitting the season could save money in post-production as there will be more time to work on some things.
I don't know about this. My impression from The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter was that RTD was constantly looking for ways to cut back on post-production hours.