With the premiere of Torchwood: Children of Earth closing in at BBC America, John Barrowman is picking an unusual time to kick BBC executives in the pants.The leading man and variety host told the British papers that he feels like the BBC is punishing him and Torchwood by cutting the show down to a week-long, five-episode mini-series run.
Barrowman's timing is odd, as there were no reports of dissatisfaction before, during or after filming on the short run. Meanwhile, there's plenty of positive publicity buzzing around the new season, and there was no desperate need to get people interested via a complaint.
Unfortunately for Barrowman, it's hard to argue with the success of the Beeb's business move. The network only had to pay for five episodes and use a little creative "event scheduling" to transform "Children of Earth " into an international TV happening.
Just as a year of only sporadic Doctor Who will make that show's return to full-time TV in 2010 a mega-story, the buzz around this spin-off miniseries should guarantee a fourth season for Torchwood. Maybe Barrowman should think of that and the related pay checks before griping.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-01-2009 @ 10:46AM
reb said...
After seeing Barrowman as a judge on Any Dream Will Do, all I can say is I'm not surprised. He seems like pretty much a total butt a whole lot of the time.
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7-01-2009 @ 12:28PM
Leroy said...
Yes, but such a beautiful butt.
7-01-2009 @ 1:29PM
mj said...
Agree with the beautiful butt!! On the other hand, I think John is awesome. He IS Captain Jack, and Torchwood, which has a higher viewership than the Doctor, (ok, I'm kind of surprised, too,) deserves more than just the mini series.
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7-01-2009 @ 7:26PM
RobynM said...
Bad timing or no, he does have a valid point. If the ratings are good enough to get the programme moved to BBC1, why reduce it to a miniseries format, particularly in a year when Doctor Who isn't running a normal season either?
Yes, it's going to be huge, and I'm not going to miss a minute of it. That doesn't stop me from wishing it lasted longer.
From the tone of this post, I can't quite tell whether you dislike John Barroman, think he's an ungrateful git, or a combination of the two.
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7-05-2009 @ 12:44PM
Cathy said...
I don't think he was "blasting" the BBC. More likely, the papers are exaggerating (as they often do). He's just unhappy about having a truncated season, as are the current fans. I love Torchwood, have been waiting for ages for Season 3, and only getting 5 episodes, no matter how wonderful they may be, is a bit disappointing.
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7-10-2009 @ 5:24PM
Tina said...
I have just watched episode 5 of series 3. I am gutted that it's finished. Come on BBC give us more, after all what are we paying you for!!!! Hurry up with Series 4 and please make it longer than 5 episodes.
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7-10-2009 @ 5:45PM
martyn notman said...
having just watched the last in that series i doubt the Beeb have any plans to bring back, this was an assasination. Plus the happy hetero ending (with all the gays safely dead or unhappy) was particularly galling, rip jack and ianto- the only none stereotypical gay relationship on the BBC. - what no squealing or bitching, cant have that, lets get rid of them and replace it with some more tripe about cooking celebrities..
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7-11-2009 @ 6:20AM
cymrugirl said...
firstly I think he probably just said he was disappointed with a mini series but it has been blown out of proportion.
Secondly I think the BBC have done the same as normal, try to destroy a great program by killing off all the best characters in a short space of time and deduct screen time when the likes of Jonathan "I like the sound of my own voice" Ross gets whatever he likes. Cut their shows and make more of what we want, afterall we pay a licence for this.
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