Could Doctor Who season 11 operate using season-long arc?
Speaking in a new Television interview, Chibnall makes it clear that he was asked by the network to create something that was “big and bold” — as a result of that, he is not opposed to the idea of following along a single arc for an entire season as opposed to making the show episodic in the way that it usually is.
Personally with this show, the idea of a super-serialized narrative isn’t something that we’re all about. After all, this is not the sort of thing that we watch Doctor Who for. We instead live and thrive more because of the adventure and the variety that exists on a show like this, and there is a lot of charm that comes from the show delivering different things on an almost-weekly basis. If it continues to bring these sort of elements to the show, there’s a reasonable good chance that we’re going to be happy since there’ll be a few episodes that go down in show history.
The first disadvantage with undergoing some sort of major format change at this time is that it puts the show in a precarious position where if the arc stinks for whatever reason, the ratings are going to fall and it is hard to get many of those people back. It’s a little in opposition to the story-of-the-week format, where if one episode is terrible for whatever reason, the network can air something different the next week and mix things up.
Another issue is simply that airing reruns for the show is far more difficult, since you can’t just check out one episode in the event that you’ve missed some others. That also means that it’s going to be hard for anyone to come through the show midway through.
There are very few episodes that we feel are really better utilizing more of the episodic format, but Doctor Who is right up there with a Psych or a Supernatural. Tell a great story, but then circle back and give another down the road.
Do you think that Doctor Who would be best served by telling a story using a season-long arc? Be sure to share in the comments below!
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