He does occasionally have a habit of misreading the nature of fans' reception of his characters (naming no names, of course *looks shifty*), and I wonder if there isn't some of that at work here.
Hmm, which characters? In Doctor Who, at least, most of his characters have passionate fans - and passionate haters too, but pretty much all the Who leads are somebody's favorite. With Torchwood, RTD didn't actually write any TW except CoE, so I don't know if that's as fair an example.
With RTD, I get the feeling that he is a genuine fan himself, and writes stuff that appeals to him, and fans who share his tastes - though it really turns off fans who don't. He writes like a BNF; he's good at hitting the buttons of a lot of people, but in the doing squicks or annoys others. And in true BNF style he doesn't really give a damn about those others.
...as compared to the SG people, who hit a lot of buttons but seem to do so entirely by accident, judging by the way they talk. Oh, Brad Wright...why must you open your mouth in public? I almost feel guilty for liking his episodes, these days...!
Must admit, I'm curious, if there's a TW s4, what kind of ratings it will get. A lot of people have said they're swearing off the show - but a lot of people really did like CoE. At least on my flist I had more who liked it than those who didn't, but I don't have that many OTPers... I also heard that it's been well-received by critics...related to what you said about media, if something turns off a lot of fans, but is popular with the wider audience, then it's still successful TV.
That being said, I can't think of any TV show that has done something unpopular with the majority of fans but still did well with the general public - fans are more vocal and emotional than the average viewer, but we tend to be a decent bellweather for how a show is received.
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Date: 2009-07-30 09:42 am (UTC)Hmm, which characters? In Doctor Who, at least, most of his characters have passionate fans - and passionate haters too, but pretty much all the Who leads are somebody's favorite. With Torchwood, RTD didn't actually write any TW except CoE, so I don't know if that's as fair an example.
With RTD, I get the feeling that he is a genuine fan himself, and writes stuff that appeals to him, and fans who share his tastes - though it really turns off fans who don't. He writes like a BNF; he's good at hitting the buttons of a lot of people, but in the doing squicks or annoys others. And in true BNF style he doesn't really give a damn about those others.
...as compared to the SG people, who hit a lot of buttons but seem to do so entirely by accident, judging by the way they talk. Oh, Brad Wright...why must you open your mouth in public? I almost feel guilty for liking his episodes, these days...!
Must admit, I'm curious, if there's a TW s4, what kind of ratings it will get. A lot of people have said they're swearing off the show - but a lot of people really did like CoE. At least on my flist I had more who liked it than those who didn't, but I don't have that many OTPers... I also heard that it's been well-received by critics...related to what you said about media, if something turns off a lot of fans, but is popular with the wider audience, then it's still successful TV.
That being said, I can't think of any TV show that has done something unpopular with the majority of fans but still did well with the general public - fans are more vocal and emotional than the average viewer, but we tend to be a decent bellweather for how a show is received.