Well, yeah, people have to pay for Starz. But they had to pay extra for BBC America, too, since it's usually in an upper tier of cable channels. So, I don't see much of a difference there. (I've seen just as many people on the Internet say they won't pay for Starz just for Torchwood as I've seen say they will pick up Starz when Torchwood comes out.) Plus, if it's handled like other Starz programming, Torchwood will be available through Netflix; that would probably factor into renewal as well.
Yes, Starz canceled a few extremely underperforming shows (unfortunately, Party Down being one of them), but if Torchwood does as well as Spartacus or better (which pulls in 1+ million viewers as opposed to thousands like with the canceled shows), then they have nothing to worry about. You may not watch in summertime, but cable channels like USA and AMC get millions of viewers for their summer series. Fall/winter provides too much competition, IMO (all of network television and some cable channels).
Again, it's just my opinion, but Torchwood has a strong following in America, it has the media's attention, it has enough talent in front of the cameras as well as behind to maybe actually turn into something decent...and, quite frankly, the bar is low enough that it would be easy to claim "SUCCESS!". Unless the budget is crazy excessive (like with Carnivale) or the Starz viewers just don't warm to "sci-fi" and the critics pan it, they could probably easily justify renewing it--at least for one season. We'll see. I know they have a bigger budget than they're used to, but I don't know if it's all that unruly by American TV standards.
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Date: 2011-02-10 11:40 pm (UTC)Yes, Starz canceled a few extremely underperforming shows (unfortunately, Party Down being one of them), but if Torchwood does as well as Spartacus or better (which pulls in 1+ million viewers as opposed to thousands like with the canceled shows), then they have nothing to worry about. You may not watch in summertime, but cable channels like USA and AMC get millions of viewers for their summer series. Fall/winter provides too much competition, IMO (all of network television and some cable channels).
Again, it's just my opinion, but Torchwood has a strong following in America, it has the media's attention, it has enough talent in front of the cameras as well as behind to maybe actually turn into something decent...and, quite frankly, the bar is low enough that it would be easy to claim "SUCCESS!". Unless the budget is crazy excessive (like with Carnivale) or the Starz viewers just don't warm to "sci-fi" and the critics pan it, they could probably easily justify renewing it--at least for one season. We'll see. I know they have a bigger budget than they're used to, but I don't know if it's all that unruly by American TV standards.