Why Disney ditched ‘Doctor Who’

I was a big fan for a number of years, but I'm Canadian, which I think is maybe a little more British than American. But I'm from Alberta, so maybe that pulls me back to America a bit too.

Anyway, the show had a real resurgence with the revival in 2005. The 10th Doctor (David Tennant) arcs were incredible and pulled in a lot of fans, who I think have been slowly drifting away. I personally stopped watching after the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) whose run ended in 2017, which means 12 years of viewership which is pretty good, all things considered! Sometimes though, you just outgrow a show or game or what have you.

I like Dr Who. I started watching the 2005 reboot episodes. I've seen most of the ones with Eccleston and Tennant, and a lot with Matt Smith and Capaldi, and only a few of the ones newer than that. The older ones used to come on TV when I was a kid but they seemed impenetrable to me.
There is something very noticeable about Dr Who: It panders a lot to the British people. A lot of time is spent in London, and when they travel to the past it's usually to some British or at least European place. More than once, I've heard the Dr say something like "The British people are the bravest people ever", or something like that, maybe while he's standing in 1940s London as German Heinkels are flying over and bombs are exploding nearby. I'm sure that American shows constantly pander to Americans, but as an American I'm probably somewhat blind to that. It's obvious why a British show would have British themes and be constructed for British people and use European locations. For some people in other countries, maybe that's the best part. But maybe some people are a bit alienated like you say.

Also, I have to say, Dr Who is the most uneven show that I've ever seen. One episode will be an absolute classic that has an amazing plot and has something important to say about the condition of man. The next will be just garbage where the plot is essentially "we're running away from people in bad rubber monster costumes". Most shows have some bad episodes. There were always a few bad Twilight Zone or Star Trek. But Dr Who has a very high percentage of junk. Also, sometimes there seems to be long arcs that go nowhere. There have been long youtube videos complaining about that. So if someone wants to get into watching it, make sure you use an episode guide so you can skip the stinkers.

How many of them have stayed Doctor Who fans throughout the years, I cannot say, but I will say that Doctor Who was extremely popular where I was in the US circa 2012-2020. My friends in high school all watched the show and made references to it and had dr who merch. Once I went to college it was overwhelming. To the point where I refused to watch the show for a while from how sick I was of hearing the show brought up in any and every media conversation. Everyone on campus had a dr who shirt, or hat, or scarf, or stickers on their laptop/water bottle. I'd see at least 4-5 dr who inspired halloween costumes every year. People were graffiti-ing dr who references all over campus. Like I said, I have no idea if it is still as wildly popular now as it was then, but I was not at all surprised when Disney picked up the distribution of it.

Me and my friend were decent fans of the show coming back when we were in college, but that was (checks notes) 12+ years ago (oh god, what is time?).

Neither of us have watched it in years and just don't really care anymore, I think we just got bored of it and outgrew it.

My entire friend circle got into and loved Dr Who from eccleston to capaldi.

It wasn't always great, but it was fun, and it could be great (Heaven Sent is a favorite of one friend).

We all fell off after that, and maybe more importantly, so did a co worker who was born in the UK and had been watching since he was a kid.

His comment put into words how I think we all felt, which was that they're not letting the Dr be the doctor. I don't think there were any problems with the actors, but the writing felt like it just went off a cliff. It doesn't always have to be about the doctor, but at the end of the day that's part of why you're watching the show, and it just wasn't about that anymore.

I think there were other issues in over focusing on social problems, but in a way that was inelegant. Dr Who has obviously always talked about such things, but the better episodes manage to get there cleanly (or maybe campy), while these almost felt like after school specials with about as much quality as "Thanks GI joe! Now I won't do the drugs!"

I think they could easily get it back to being a hit show, and they don't just have to do what moffet did, but it absolutely felt like they were just riding on its laurels/name recognition rather than being creative and trying to write something good.

American fan here! There are dozens of us!

I've lived in two different rural areas in the middle of the country, and one has a Doctor Who fan club store nearby, while the other has a tardis inside a local grocery store. Sample size of two, but it seems there is indeed a fandom in the US.

My friend introduced me in college and I got pretty into it, but the very rabid and vocal side of the fandom pushed me away and I didn't want anything to do with it after that. I have been curious to go back and watch the arcs I liked in college again, but I probably won't.

Most of the American Dr Who fans are people who spent a lot of time on tumblr in the late 00s early 10s. The fanbase came from people stanning David Tennant and Matt Smith. Obviously there’s “true” nerds that stanned it and the original series but most Americans I’ve met into Who came into it from that perspective.

I just gave it a chance one day and really liked it but lost interest during Comer’s run and abandoned the show shortly after.