joy magnetism: 3 Octopuses & An Otter World Tour - #makeithappen

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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

3 Octopuses & An Otter World Tour - #makeithappen

Magnet #999 - Fezzes are cool

(I promise. This is the last Doctor Who magnet, at least until the Christmas Special.)

Here's the thing. I love the BBC. I even love BBC-America (even though I haven't a clue what's going on with their programing right now).

And lord knows, I love me some Doctor Who.

But, I've been puzzled over why the big U.S. push. Why now? Why not when David Tennant was being hailed one of Britain's national treasures?

There's a part of me that thinks that the BBC underestimated the American Doctor Who audiences until they brought David Tennant and John Barrowman together at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. And by then, it was too late to do anything more with DT.

I figure, post-SDCC, they all got together in a big room and said, dudes, there's a new team in place, we have a little money in the budget because we have new talent, so let's go raise that U.S. awareness even more, shall we?

Which is how we ended up with a huge push for Series 5 with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan - I'm talking actual advertising dollars, including outdoor advertising all over the place (at least here in NYC), they closed the gap between UK/U.S. airings, and they did a whole PA tour around the U.S.

The only gap in this media blitz plan is why the lull at both SD/NY Comic-Cons this year. Would have thought they'd have made it over, or fielded a panel or two. Perhaps they were saving up for the big U.S. shoot, just around the release of the DVDs?

Brilliant plan, I suppose. Because the shoot and the DVDs give young Matt Smith something to talk about - in his big profile piece in USA Today, his podcast with (the suddenly oh so cute, when the hell did that happen?) @nerdist, and now a whole Doctor Who-themed Craig Ferguson show today.

I wish I had the link for the whole show, but it just aired like an hour ago, so I don't have it, but I'm sure someone will upload it asap. It was freakin' awesome. From Craig's (real or fake, who knows) outrage at not getting Doctor Who themesong legal clearances, to the sonics to the male/female Dalek, to Chris Hardwick's audition for Twelve, to Matt Smith's stay at the Playboy penthouse and meeting a girl in Vegas, and his incredibly cute socks, and his secret ability to play the harmonica for the Three Octopuses & An Otter band. Great episode.

Truth be told, I'm well aware that it just seems like we're getting bombarded here, but it's totally nothing like the ubiquitous PR blitz on the cover of every magazine, every talk show, reality show, quiz show in the UK.

Not that I'm not complaining, folks. Really, it's more like professional awe for all the hits that the PR team's managed to get for the show and for Matt Smith. Way to go, BBC kids! (I kinda just mourn for all the might have been's with my boy David Tennant, had he had the same sort of media support. Sigh. What? Ya'll know, David's my Doctor.)

Anyway. Yes. I'm spending way too much time on Cafepress. Why do you ask?

Besides, fezzes are cool.

Heh. I just realized, it prolly should be octopi. Still. Cute. And I would totally go see them, if it meant Craig, Matt and Chris on stage together dancing.

And so, my friends, behold, the lovely Matt Smith/Craig Ferguson interview.

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vp said...

They can do all the blitzing they like, he will never be as great as DT. It is a shame they didn't push him even half this much, cause we might now be seeing him a lot more. Although, if he keeps doing stuff as good as Single Father, I'm not going to mind that he left DW.

nel said...

the PR push this season has almost everything to do with the fact that BBCAmerica, for the first time, has the full rights to the airing of a full season of Who, which is actually giving them something to promote. i think they got the rights back in 2009, in time for the Specials, but before that they idiotically passed on the 2005 re-boot (a move former BBCA head admitted was a mistake)and the new Who originally aired on Syfy in the US. i say almost everything because i think you're right that the popularity of Who in the US, *despite* the fact it still wasn't that easy to get, was far behind the UK airings and was mostly being accessed by viewers illegally on-line, didn't really hit them until the CC love-fest and Tennant's finale giving them their highest ratings ever in their history until Smith's debut ep.(which got a boost from all the BBCA PR leading up to it. Tennant got them the ratings w/o a similar campaign).

Smith's great but, rational or not, i've been really annoyed at the PR over Who in the US now. it's not that i think Smith doesn't deserve it, this isn't meant to be Smith-bashing, it's just that i feel DT deserved it as well and it's a damn damn shame he didn't get this kind of support. and maybe he deserves it a bit more, because frankly, if DT hadn't shepherded the show to ratings heights and US popularity in the first place, there wouldn't be a lot for Smith or BBCA to be promoting.