Doctor Whos popularity across the pond is growing rapidly. So rapidly in fact that its a surprise that one of the big American networks hasnt snapped up the rights and tried to remake it. Then again, given the embarrassing debacle of the Fox co-produced TV film of 1996, perhaps the Americans have learnt that
Doctor Who actually has eerie powers and that anybody who tries to remake it will end up embarrassing themselves and failing to make any serious money off it. Of course thats not to say nobody out there wants to remake it but thankfully, it seems that Auntie Beeb has taken special measures to stop some coked-up American TV executive getting his grubby mitts on our favourite Time Lord. But if an American network did decide to have another crack at and the BBC inexplicably gave them free reign over it, heres why I think it wouldnt work...
1. The Inevitable Product Placement
The US TV industry runs almost solely on advertising revenue. From sponsorship, commercial breaks, and most irritatingly of all: product placement. Whether its having a bottle of Coca Cola prominently in shot, mentioning products in dialogue, or even having them be part of the storyline, American producers love product placement, even going to far as to digitally insert contemporary adverts into years old repeats of
How I Met Your Mother.
Heroes was one of the worst offenders with product placement for mobile phone company Sprint being splashed across the screen left, right, and centre, and even forcing its way into the dialogue, which led to the line No service! I should have gone with Sprint being said by a desert-dwelling recluse. Admittedly, since Doctor Who is set across the whole of time and space, the opportunities for product placement would be pretty limited but it would still be present to an extent. Which would be pretty jarring given that the programme is about space and time travel. It wouldnt be get as bad as something like the Daleks having a Windows logo stamped beneath their eyestalk but I wouldnt put it past the producers of an American
Doctor Who to have the Doctor casually chugging down a bottle of 7Up while milling round the Tardis, or discussing how best to stop the Master while at a branch of Pizza Hut.