"Torchwood" - season 4

[Geekyfanboy]

With Torchwood: Miracle Day a little less than a month away, Starz is amping up the promotions. Now they've released five spoiler-free "first-person clips" of Miracle Day's main characters.

In each clip, the characters introduce themselves and hammer home the fact that Miracle Day is less of a miracle and more of a harbinger of terrible things to come.

In these clips, we get to meet Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins), CIA agent Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) and the villainous Jilly Kitzinger (Lauren Ambrose). And then there's what's left of the Cardiff branch of Torchwood. These clips are heavy on mood. And after seeing Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) completely unraveled, the mood is disturbing as hell.

The video can't be added here.. so following the link for all the videos.

http://blastr.com/2011/06/5-spoiler-free-clips-intr.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[X]

search for Oswald Danes to get a very creepy one!

[Geekyfanboy]

search for Oswald Danes to get a very creepy one!

Found it here..

Torchwood - Miracle Day - Oswald Danes

[Rico]

This starts today folks!  July 8th!!

Torchwood - Miracle Day Launch Trailer

[Geekyfanboy]

Wish I had Starz!!

[X]

There is live Starz streaming on Netflix if you have netflix

[Rico]

There is live Starz streaming on Netflix if you have netflix

Cool!  I had no idea.  Looks like it only supports viewing on a Windows based PC, using IE.

http://www.netflix.com/StarzLive

[Feathers]

I'm staggered (and somewhat upset) that this starts on the BBC next Thursday. You're even getting BBC shows before us now :(

[Rico]

I'm staggered (and somewhat upset) that this starts on the BBC next Thursday. You're even getting BBC shows before us now :(

Is it still a BBC show?  Thought Starz is paying for it now?

[X]

I'm staggered (and somewhat upset) that this starts on the BBC next Thursday. You're even getting BBC shows before us now :(

Is it still a BBC show?  Thought Starz is paying for it now?

It's both, but Starz paid serious money for first airing rights because it's pay television. BBC could air it next day, but decided to go with the week later approach. What's in the time slot there now that they wanted to let have another week?

[Feathers]

Nothing on the Thursday they needed to keep for a week but I don't know whether they wanted to keep it off of Saturday schedules for a reason.

For this I think Doctor Who can go back to week later showing in the US ;)

[X]

Torchwood: Miracle Day and why it's running behind US transmission
Simon Brew

The near-week delay between the US and UK premieres of Torchwood: Miracle Day has been causing some consternation. We consider the key reasons and questions...

Published on Jun 29, 2011

Our Twitter feed has not been short of comments over the past week from people who aren't happy, or fail to see the logic of, the BBC's decision to transmit Torchwood: Miracle Day in the UK after it's screened in the US. The delay isn't massive. There's six days in it, with Miracle Day going out in the UK on the 14th July, as opposed to the 8th of July in America. But it's enough to get people angry.

I'm not trying to dissuade people from that. I just figured that it might be worth laying out the reasons why this is happening, for you to argue with or otherwise.

Why is the Starz network in the US getting the show first?

Because the Starz network is paying the bulk of the bill for it. And because, without the Starz network, the likelihood is that Miracle Day wouldn't be happening at all.

Lest we forget, the BBC and Fox both had the chance to make the show, but both, for differing reasons, didn't. In stepped Starz and put up what's reported as twice the budget that the BBC gave the show. Hence, Miracle Day is happening.

Also, Starz is a subscription network in the States. It relies on people paying to access its content. As such, it needs to get as many viewers to justify its expenditure, and if people could have caught one of its shows elsewhere without having to cough up, then the model simply wouldn't work.

Why is it being screened in Canada before the UK?

Couldn't tell you. That one is a bit odd. Torchwood: Miracle Day is a UK/US co-production, and it's disappointing that a nation not involved in the financing of it (from what I can tell) can get its hands on the show before one that does.

Why do we have to wait six days? Why can't Miracle Day be screened sooner in the UK?

Assuming that Starz insisted on first transmission of Miracle Day, that knocks Friday night out as an option for the BBC.

Saturdays, then? Well, how many hard sci-fi shows go out on a Saturday night? None. There's a reason for that, too. Plus, don't forget that John Barrowman will, by the end of Torchwood's run, have another show going out on Saturday nights, Tonight's The Night. Two shows with the same person in prime time on one night? It's not going to happen.

Sundays? Again, it's a not a traditional sci-fi slot. This is, remember, where the BBC (wrongly) shunted Outcasts earlier in the year, knowing the audience wouldn't be as strong.

As for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? Well, that's harder to answer. Existing runs account for some schedule blockage, but one of these three days would, clearly, have been preferable for the impatient amongst us.

Thursday at 9pm isn't a bad slot, mind. It's just the waiting and the delay that's annoying. It seems to me that half of the delay is easily explained, the other half less so.

Does all this matter?

Ready for the blunt answer? No, not really.

It matters to you and me, perhaps, who just want to see a show early. But we're not the mass market audience that the BBC is looking for. We're a small proportion of the audience, albeit the loudest subset of it. We're the ones who tell everyone else to go and watch it.

But, the long and short of it is that Torchwood: Miracle Day's ratings won't be massively hurt by the delay.

But they'll still be hurt a bit?

Yes, probably. But, then, here's the conundrum. I'm not daft. I know we live in a world where people can get hold of programmes from the other side of the channel quite easily. But if people in the UK choose to acquire Miracle Day, and don't watch it on the telly, then it hardly helps the long term future of the show.

The BBC's money is still important to Torchwood, and the blunt truth is that the best way to support the programme is to watch it legally via one of the platforms the BBC offers. It might be that every 100,000 viewers counts when it comes to another series.

Won't the US and UK versions be different anyway?

Yes, apparently so. It's not like Britain will get a different ending, though, but there are reports that the BBC version will be slightly longer. That also takes into accounts any cuts made for swearing and sex, which the BBC is likely to require.

So, what should I do?

Honestly? Support the BBC transmission. It may feel like Britain is getting a bit shafted here, but there's more to it than any kind of mission to annoy the residents of the UK. This is the way of the modern day television world, and this is how big shows like Torchwood can still get made.

Personally, I'd far rather have Torchwood: Miracle Day on a Thursday night than not at all, and I hope the show gets the support it needs and deserves.

What's the official BBC line?

"BBC One is likely to TX within days of the America TX. UK schedules are very different to those in the America who can confirm months in advance. BBC One wants to give it the best slot possible for viewers and fans and this is what is most important to the scheduling of Torchwood".

[Rico]

Just watched this first episode and enjoyed it.  Great seeing Jack and Gwen back in action.  I like the new characters too.  Looks like they are setting things up for the season.  I'm not going to say too much until everyone has had a chance to see.  Glad Torchwood is back!

[Meds]

Australia had it first as well I think. This will hit UK audience figures as those who want to see it will download it and frankly i pay for the BBC to deliver its goods to my doorstep regardless if its a joint venture. If it has BBC on its credit then my money has paid for it. I'm a bit put out and honestly i have seen stuff now on twitter, facebook i had a friend in Oz tell me about it because he thought we had seen it so its kind of killed any excitement of seeing it.
Will still watch it though, maybe ;)

[X]

Australia had it first as well I think. This will hit UK audience figures as those who want to see it will download it and frankly i pay for the BBC to deliver its goods to my doorstep regardless if its a joint venture. If it has BBC on its credit then my money has paid for it. I'm a bit put out and honestly i have seen stuff now on twitter, facebook i had a friend in Oz tell me about it because he thought we had seen it so its kind of killed any excitement of seeing it.
Will still watch it though, maybe ;)

I could almost agree with you, but there are two major factors. Stars paid for most of the show and really stepped up the budget for it. Even though the show started in the UK, Starz is the driving force behind the current series. The second factor is the UK schedule. I don't know what's going on there, but they never seemed to really respect Torchwood and it seemed to me like it has always been a fight to get in on at all.

Now, I would be all for same day showing or even next day showings, but I think that Starz has more faith in the programme than the BBC does. I'd be a little upset too, but I'd blame it on the politics and not the people behind the show.

I have Starz, so I too am paying for the show. I also pay for BBC America with my cable bill. Given that we are both paying for both shows, I think that we should have some parity in viewing time. I think that you should be getting it on a Sat night slot which would be something like a 20 hour delay, but considering that you are sleeping during half that time, it wouldn't be much of a wait.

What has the BBC said about it? Are they afraid to run it on Sat?