Bring Doctor Who To The United States On The Sci Fi Channel

This is an open letter to the Sci Fi Channel. On March 26, 2005, a new era began with the premiere of a new Doctor Who series on the BBC. With a higher budget than previous incarnations of the series, the new Doctor Who gave viewers a Doctor Who that, while true to the classic series, is a Doctor for the new millenium. The show is truly brilliant with outstanding stories, acting, and special effects. The show has garnered the BBC ratings records, with the premiere episode gaining 10.5 million viewers in the U.K. The ratings continue to be high, so good that the BBC has already ordered two new seasons. The show is airing in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Italy, Denmark, and even Korea. Yet no one in the United States has deigned to pick up the series.

The obvious market for Doctor Who is the Sci Fi Channel. Yet, the Sci Fi Channel has already passed on the series. This is a channel that is happy with ratings of 2 million viewers, on average, for it's "big" Sci Fi Friday shows, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica. These are the highest rated shows on Sci Fi, the jewels in it's crown. Yet, those shows are getting ratings that average about 1/3 of Doctor Who. How could Sci Fi Channel turn down a series that averages triple those numbers in England alone, not to mention worldwide numbers? Imagine the ratings that the population base in the United States could garner! Realizing that original programming is expensive, we ask you to look at the fact that Doctor Who is not a series the Sci Fi Channel would have to pay to produce as it does with it's Sci Fi Friday lineup. With higher ratings, more sponsors will sign up and the Sci Fi Channel's bottom line becomes more profitable.

It is obvious that Sci Fi Channel has lost touch with it's fanbase and needs to be reminded of what we want. The ratings Sci Fi Channel has show that quite clearly. The purpose of this petition is to tell the Sci Fi Channel to give us the new Doctor Who series instead of cheesey B-Movies and 30 year old re-runs of TV series that lasted one or two seasons. We want quality and originality in our viewing. We want a series that has several generations of fans over it's 27 season run, so far, and will continue to gain new fans in the future due to original new storylines and fresh characterizations as further seasons go forward.

So, to the Sci Fi Channel, we ask that you revisit Doctor Who and take a fresh look at a new series that could give you better ratings numbers and a higher revenue. Science Fiction fans do NOT just sit back and watch everything you put on, no matter how low the quality. We are tired of bad movies and repeats. Give us new, give us quality, and give us better etertainment than you are currently giving us or viewers will turn away for a better product elsewhere.