Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!ima!ISM780!patrick From: patrick@ISM780.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Orphaned Response Message-ID: <145@ISM780.UUCP> Date: Tue, 5-Mar-85 01:59:01 EST Article-I.D.: ISM780.145 Posted: Tue Mar 5 01:59:01 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 7-Mar-85 05:41:19 EST Lines: 32 Nf-ID: #R:topaz:-82300:ISM780:32900005:177600:1618 Nf-From: ISM780!patrick Mar 4 01:51:00 1985 I can't say I'll miss Dr. Who much as I always considered it tacky and silly in the extreme after I passed the age of 12 (outraged flames by personal mail, please), but I thought I'd add some speculation and some historical background: As someone recently pointed out, Dr. Who is a BBC (non-commercial) as opposed to ITV (commercial) production. Many of us Brits still can't abide to watch TV that has advertisements in it. Anyway, one of the leading businessmen behind commercial TV in England is Lew Grade (now Sir Lew Grade). I forget who said it, but when Parliament was first debating the introduction of commercial TV, one MP objected that to grant a commercial TV license was to grant a 'license to print money'. Sure enough, Lew Grade and a handful of others became multi-millionaires, and just as inevitably, were granted "Honours" by the Queen (in reality, by the Prime Minister of the day). This despite the critism from middle- class intellectuals that they were producing shoddy rubbish which pandered to the lowest in public taste. In consequence of his ITV programming Lew Grade acquired the nickname "Low Greed". I suspect that Anthony is a member of the family. God help the BBC if these guys are now in charge. I suppose this really belongs in net.politics, but to get back to the point, can commercial television (or even the BBC) ever produce *good* science fiction (as opposed to tacky stuff we accept because it's all we can get)? Let's leave Star Trek and Dr. Who out of the discussion. What else is there? Patrick Curran Interactive Systems Corp. ...ihnp4!ima!ism780!patrick