Howling:Fox commissions 'new' Torchwood

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http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/01/fox-readying-us-version-of-torchwood-.html

We'll have to wait and see if this is the end of the Cardiff team or not. I hope we get both.

It will be interesting to see if this US version will still be a Torchwood dedicated to the British Empire. Or whether it moves to being a global interest - I know the blurb says "U.S. version will contain a global story line" but that doesn't [preclude it being from an 'Empire' perspective. Chiroptera Rex 17:32, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

Does anyone pick up on the references to the Fox network in The Simpsons? If so, they make it seem like Fox is so bad. Maybe Torchwood will turn out as bad as they say... :P The evil dude. 18:19, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

Eh, there goes the continuity out of the window. The moment I heard "reboot" on Doctor Who and Torchwood, I got annoyed. Instead of "rebooting£ stories, they should just continue the story in its respective continuity. *sigh* Delton Menace 20:46, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

Fox have no input on Dr Who. I think the use of 'reboot' in this instance is merely that BBC Worldwide will push Dr Who more in the US with Season 5. The US version of Torchwood wilol be made by BBC, not Fox - though as it will be made for Fox there is likely going to be some input from them. This is why I hope that Torchwood (Cardiff) continues. Chiroptera Rex 21:27, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

There was an april fools joke a few years ago that they were making an American version of Doctor Who http://www.who-philes.com/2009/04/01/an-american-who/. I think that it could be done, but it might be crap. The TV movie doesnt count really in my eyes as DW was not as popular as it is now (my opinon, agree or disagree) and the movie was to see if DW could be americanized if memory serves. Torchwood on the other hand has RTD and JG and an american version could have promise. Then again, it could blow up in their face. Geffe71 01:28, January 20, 2010 (UTC)

Depends what you mean by "not as popular". There was certainly a huge fanbase for DW in 1996, both in England and the US. That being said, the programme had been off the air for several years. Fox and the BBC made the movie to see if there was a market for a resurrection at that time. Although the movie was reasonably well-received, Fox wasn't confident enough to go ahead and commission a full series. Spreee 17:46, January 25, 2010 (UTC)Spreee

I hope they do not ruin it, that would be horrible. --Catkind121 12:42, January 20, 2010 (UTC)

Here's my hope that the "lost" Torchwood 4 tracked something to the States and found something so interesting that they had to stay... and stay hidden even from the rest of Torchwood. Having RTD and Julie Gardner serve as producers leads me to think they won't simply "American-ize"\bastardize the concept and they'll make it a good show.

What worries me is that they're in talks with Fox which has a rep for creating interesting Sci-Fi shows and then getting nervous and pulling the plug (Firefly, Terminator:SCC, Dollhouse, etc.). Fox seems to be continually looking for the next X-Files, but they seem to have forgotten that the ratings for the X-Files were horrible for the first two seasons until the show really caught on.

The second point of concern I would have is season length and number. Who and Torchwood both have 13/14 episode seasons, where in the U.S. a full season is 22 episodes. Also there is the idea in BBC programming that each season is basically self-contained, whereas in the States networks are fairly quick to pull the plug on a show if there are concerns that it will not run for at least 5 seasons (100 episodes being the magic number for eventually selling the show into syndication, something that significantly offsets the upfront costs of producing scripted television).

My last concern is content driven. Torchwood is very specifically an adult show. There is no real analog in the U.S. to the British concept of pre/post-threshold programming. For all intents and purposes everything on U.S. network television would be considered pre-threshold... and I'm not sure how Torchwood would work in that environment.

Honestly, I would much rather see the show produced for Showtime (known for it's initial nurturing of the Stargate SG-1 series, and a cable network which would allow for the more adult themes that Torchwood is used to presenting) or even SyFy (current American home of Doctor Who and the Stargate franchise). Having it on a cable network and not on Fox (or another broadcast network) would give me hope that the show would be given the chance to find it's footing and not be canceled early. --Raukodraug 07:56, January 21, 2010 (UTC)

Your concerns are valid and i share a few of them. FX is a suitable network that is owned by Fox, so it could go there. I think SCC was mishandled and it was supposed to end after Salvation, and Dollhouse and Firefly had lackluster ratings and became cult afterwards. Also a correction, SyFy lost the rights to air DW, it is exclusively on BBC America for now. Geffe71 18:12, January 21, 2010 (UTC)