10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Modern Doctor Who
1. Doctor Who CONQUERED America
One of the first things people say about the Steven Moffat/Matt Smith era of the show is that this was the moment Doctor Who became a juggernaut in America.
It was referenced in shows like Agents of Shield and Family Guy and had a major series premiere set in the States. During the SuperWhoLock Tumblr boom of the early 2010s it felt like Doctor Who was a cultural phenomenon around the world – the cast and crew attended SDCC regularly, and in general the show's connection with that part of the world had only increased in strength.
But if you look at the cold hard figures then Doctor Who barely ever made more than half a footprint on American TV. Even during what has come to be viewed as the dizzying highs of the show's Stateside success with the Eleventh Doctor, Doctor Who only pulled in around a million viewers on BBC America.
Granted, these were record numbers for BBC America at the time, which is perhaps where the distortion has occured. It was only a record number because the bar was so low. The audience may have grown, but it was still a niche audience – your average mainstream American drama was pulling in ten times the number of eyeballs that our silly little phone box show was.
This isn't to downplay Doctor Who's growth over the last 20 years, or to say that its global audience is nonexistent. Far from it! It is, however, important to not get too carried away and think that Doctor Who was ever close to being the next Star Wars, or something like that.
Hell, maybe Disney could've used this pep-talk before their quite clearly unrealistic expectations for the show's success crumbled before their eyes...