THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - Fri, 16 Jul 1999

By Benjamin F. Elliott

The One Year Anniversary!!!

It's a little hard for me to believe it, but it has been a full year since the original "This Week" column. On July 13, 1998 I sent out a test version of the column to rec.arts.drwho , with an update on July 14th. On Friday, July 17, 1998 the Doctor Who Alliance sent out its first newsletter, including, to my surprise, the update. And, to make a long story short, the column is still around a year later. Big thank-yous to Siobahn Morgan, Shaun Lyon, Jefferson Eng, The 12thDoctor, Shannon Patrick Sullivan, Ken Patterson, Andrew Toth, T J Lubinski, Mark Phippen, Dan McGrath, Daniel Frankham, David Brunt, Jason Fraser, and many others for their help, encouragement, Patience!, suggestions, and more. This Week In Doctor Who is what it is today thanks to the help of all of you.

BBC Choice in the UK decided to start airing Doctor Who without telling anyone. Episode 1 of Genesis of the Daleks aired on Saturday, July 10th, at 7:30PM. It appears they will go through at least this story at 1 episode a week. They will rerun 'The Take On Doctor Who', their special week of Who programming from November, next week.

KRWG 22 Las Cruces, NM made a schedule switch a few weeks back. They realized that they were airing the Tom Baker stories out of order, and tried to fix it. On Saturday, June 26th, they switched the story scheduled from Revenge of the Cybermen to Genesis of the Daleks. In the confusion, they forgot how long Genesis was, and cut it off 90 minutes into the story. The rest of Genesis Of The Daleks aired on July 3rd, followed by Revenge. KRWG has things under control now, and will henceforth air the series in the broadcast order.

In the last week, three PBS stations have revealed that they were selling lists of their donors to political organizations. WGBH 2 Boston and WETA 26 Washington, DC (the station I grew up watching the Doctor on) have been giving their donor lists to the Democratic National Committee, and possibly other groups. WNET 13 New York City claims that they have given their lists to both Democratic and Republic groups. And more stations are being looked into. Thanks a lot, jerks! PBS is not exactly an entitlement. PBS' tendency to make shows that air for one side of the U.S. political spectrum while alienating the other has already endangered their funding once, surviving only through political duplicity a few years back. Now that funding is endangered again. The three stations listed above are very successful, and could probably restructure their finances to continue if Congress gave them and PBS in general a well deserved dumping from the public payroll. But many smaller PBS stations, who probably have nothing to do with this developing fiasco, would have a hard time surviving at all. Certainly, the first thing they would do in a funding cut is eliminate less immediately profitable shows in a desperate attempt to avert bankruptcy. Doctor Who and other imports would seem likely targets of such cost-cutting. For the first time in years, Doctor Who is making progress on PBS stations, proving in most cases that it is still viable for US TV. We didn't need this. In case any readers can't find those stations addresses and phone numbers to complain personally, I'll print them next week. If I had another hour before the column needed to go out, I would find that information and print it today.

There is still no concrete information on the "phantom station" that broadcast Doctor Who at Virginia Tech earlier this year. One reader has suggested that it might be Maryland Public Television. They were airing black & white stories fairly recently and it is possible that the late night signal might have found its way to Blacksburg one night. It's a long shot, but no one has been able to come up with a better theory yet. If anyone knows anything about a station in South Western Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, North Western North Carolina, or North Eastern Tennessee that may have aired the Doctor within the last 6 months, either PBS or commercial, either broadcast or local cable (not BBC America), please contact me.

Since this is an anniversary issue, I'm slightly changing the format of the listings (this week only). Instead of giving the broadcast times followed by the descriptions, the column will attempt a 'then and now' look. First, it will say when the station aired Doctor Who back in July 1998 and what format it aired in. Then, it will give this week's time and episode. I've tried to include every station and network that has aired Doctor Who at any time within the past year. It's interesting to see how much things have changed.

Corrections and updates are always welcome at bfelliott@jnpcs.com . And now, the listings:

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The UK:

(Different areas of the UK have different variations of BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC Choice. Unless a region is specified, the Doctor Who broadcast aired (to my knowledge) on all versions of the specified station.)

BBC One http://www.bbc.co.uk/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Not airing series
(Doctor Who - The Curse Of The Fatal Death, a comedy special, aired on March 12th)

BBC Choice http://www.bbc.co.uk/
July 1998: Station not yet on air
Now: Sat 7:30PM BST Genesis of the Daleks episode 2 of 6
(The Take On Doctor Who, a special week of features and selected episodes, aired in November 1998 - and will rerun next week!)

BBC Choice Scotland http://www.sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
July 1998: Station not yet on air
Now: See BBC Choice
(Regional variant of BBC Choice that also aired a 3 part version of Terror of the Zygons twice in the last year.)

UK Gold http://www.radiotimes.beeb.com/
July 1998: Sat approx 10AM - movie format, Sun approx 10AM - movie format
Now: Late Fri 12:25 to 2:55AM The Sensorites movie version
Sun 9:30 to 11:20AM The Stones of Blood movie version

UK Gold Classics http://www.sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
July 1998: Station not yet on air
Now: Sun 6 to 8:20PM The Stones of Blood movie version

EUROPE / AFRICA:

BBC Prime http://www.bbcprime.com/
July 1998: Late Fri 1:05AM (not Africa) and Sat 10AM - same episode; Sat 5:30PM - next episode
Now: Late Fri 1AM CET (not Africa) The Androids of Tara episode 1 of 4
Sat 9:35AM and 6PM CET The Androids of Tara episode 2 of 4

RTL 9 http://www.rtl9.com/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Not airing series
(aired the TVM in French a few months back)

Also, a station in Switzerland reportedly aired the TVM a few months back.

» this is almost certainly the same broadcast made by RTL 9, referenced above.

AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND:

ABC Australia
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Not airing series
(reran the TVM Wednesday, November 25 at 11:05PM)

FOXTEL's UKTV http://www.foxtel.com.au/ and
http://www.varos.com/drwho/uktv/
July 1998: Sat 1PM, Sun 2 and 8AM - 1 or 2 complete stories in episode form; Mon through Fri 11:30PM - 1 episode a night
Now: Sat 1PM, Sun 2 and 7AM An Unearthly Child all 4 episodes (An Unearthly Child, The Cave Of Skulls, The Forest Of Fear, The Firemaker)
Sat 3PM, Sun 4 and 9AM Spearhead From Space all 4 episodes
Mon through Thu 11:30PM Robot episodes 1 through 4 of 4
Fri 11:30PM Castrovalva episode 1 of 4
(series not on air from mid-August to early October 1998 - may leave air again temporarily in August 1999)

TV2 New Zealand http://www.tv2.co.nz/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Not airing series
(reran TVM on July 3rd at 9PM)

CANADA / UNITED STATES:

SPACE: The Imagination Station http://www.spacecast.com/ and
http://www.hwcn.org/~an933/spacedw.htm
July 1998: Sun 8AM EDT (3:30AM rerun) - 1 episode; Mon through Fri 7:30AM, 1:30PM, and 3:30AM EDT - 1 episode a day, 3 broadcasts
Now: Sat 7:30AM EDT The Aztecs: The Day of Darkness episode 4 of 4
Sun through Fri 7:30AM EDT The Sensorites episodes 1 through 6 of 6 (Strangers In Space, The Unwilling Warriors, Hidden Danger, A Race Against Death, Kidnap, A Desparate Venture)

MPBC Maine 10, 10, 12, 13, 26 http://www.mpbc.org/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Sat 11:30PM EDT The Face of Evil episode 1 of 4

NHPTV New Hampshire 11, 49, 52 http://nhptv.org/
July 1998: Fri 10PM EDT - 2 episodes
Now: Sun 3PM EDT The Time Monster episodes 2 and 3 of 6

WQED / WQEX 13, 16 Pittsburgh, PA http://www.wqed.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 15201
SCI-FI SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER - in 3 weeks!!!
Toll pledge line 1-900-990-1313
Other pledge lines 1-800-232-8813 and 412-621-5808
July 1998: Sat 10:30PM EDT - 1 episode
Now: Sat 11PM EDT The Seeds of Doom episode 1 of 6
Immediately Afterwards - Doctor Who And The Silurians episode 5 of 7

WYBE 35 Philadelphia, PA http://www.wybe.org/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Sat 11PM EDT The Seeds of Doom episodes 1 and 2 of 6

MPT Maryland 22, 28, 31, 36, 62, 67 http://www.mpt.org/
July 1998: Sat 11:30PM EDT - 1 episode
Now: Late Fri Midnight, Late Sat 12:30AM EDT The Green Death movie version

WUFT 5 Gainesville, FL http://www.wuft.org/
On hiatus. E-mails to express support or pledge to bring the Doctor back can go to info@wuft.org and IMelvin@wuft.org
July 1998: Sat 5PM EDT - movie version
Now: Not airing series!!!

WUSF 16 Tampa, FL http://www.wusftv.usf.edu/
July 1998: Sat 11PM EDT - movie version
Now: Sat 11:30PM EDT The Five Doctors 4 episode version, part 3

WXEL 42 West Palm Beach, FL http://www.wxel.org/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Not airing series
(Aired 2 Pertwee recolored stories November 29 at 2PM in a pledge drive - pledge levels insufficient to pick up the show)

WCET 48 Cincinnati, OH http://www.wcet.org/
July 1998: Sat 11PM EDT - movie version
Now: Sat 11:30PM EDT The Sea Devils episodes 3 and 4 of 6

WFWA 39 Fort Wayne, IN
July 1998: Late Sat Midnight - movie version
Now: Not airing series!!!

WTBU 69 Indianapolis, IN
http://www.butler.edu/www/telecom/wtbu.html
July 1998: Sun 6PM - movie version
Now: Not airing series!!!

WYIN 56 Gary, IN (Chicago, IL) http://www.wyin.org/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Sat 10PM CDT Revenge of the Cybermen episode 1 of 4 (actually Part Two)

WILL 12 Champaign, IL http://www.will.uicc.edu/WILL/tvc12.html
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Not airing series
(Aired the color version of The Dæmons on October 31, 1998)

LPB Louisiana 13, 18, 24, 24, 25, 27 http://www.lpb.org/
July 1998: Sat 10PM CDT - 2 episodes
Now: Not airing series!!!

KTCA 2 St. Paul, MN http://www.ktca.org/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Sat 11:30PM CDT Genesis of the Daleks episode 1 of 6

IPTV Iowa 11, 12, 21, 24, 27, 32, 32, 36 http://www.iptv.org/
and http://www.sffn.com/
July 1998: Fri 11:05PM CDT - 2 episodes
Now: Fri 11:05PM CDT The Mutants episodes 4 and 5 of 6

PPTV North Dakota 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 19 http://www.pptv.org/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Fri 10:30PM CDT The Brain of Morbius episode 2 of 4

KBDI / K32EO 12, 32 Denver / Colorado Springs, CO
http://www.kbdi.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 80205
July 1998: Fri 11PM MDT - 2 episodes; Sat 10PM MDT - 2 episodes
Now: Fri 11PM MDT The Sontaran Experiment both episodes
Sat 10PM MDT Genesis of the Daleks episodes 1 and 2 of 6

KNME 5 Albuquerque, NM http://www.knmetv.org/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Sat 11PM MDT The Masque of Mandragora movie version

KRWG 22 Las Cruces, NM (El Paso, TX)
http://www.nmsu.edu/~krwgtv/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: Sat 10:30PM MDT Planet of Evil movie version

KSPS 7 Spokane, WA http://www.ksps.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 99223
July 1998: Sat 10:30PM PDT - movie version
Now: Sat 10:30PM PDT Time-Flight movie version

KBTC / KCKA 28, 15 Tacoma / Centralia, WA
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 98405
July 1998: Sat 7PM and 12:30AM, Mon 7:30PM and 12:30AM PDT - 2 episodes, 4 airings of each episode
Now: Sat 7PM PDT Colony In Space episodes 1 and 2 of 6

KTEH 54 San Jose, CA http://www.kteh.org/
July 1998: Sun 11PM PDT - complete story episodic
Now: Sun 11PM PDT Image of the Fendahl all 4 episodes

» this wasn't shown in the end as there was a transmitter failure, it was instead shown the following week.

KRCB 22 Rohnert Park, CA http://www.krcb.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 9
July 1998: Sat 11PM PDT - 1 episode
Now: Not airing series!!!

BBC America http://www.bbcamerica.com/
July 1998: (Not every week) Sun ~10PM and ~4AM EDT - variable format
Now: Sat 5PM, Sun 8AM EDT Genesis of the Daleks movie version, part 2 of 3

CENTRAL / SOUTH AMERICA:

HBO-OLE http://www.hbo-ole.com/
July 1998: Not airing series
Now: ESTE FEED - Sat 7:15AM Argentina (5:15AM Mexico), Tue 5AM Argentina (3AM Mexico)
OESTE FEED - Sat 9:15AM Argentina (7:15AM Mexico), Tue 7AM Argentina (5AM Mexico)
(HBO-OLE and HBO-OLE 2 have sporadically aired the 1996 TVM since February)

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Thanks for reading. Until next week, take care.