'Ahsoka' And 'Loki' Primetime Moves May Allow Similar Flexibility For 'Doctor Who' On Disney+
If they're smart. After all, why would everywhere else get it before it airs domestically?
With less than two months until Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, the British sci-fi series’s arrival on Disney+ around the world except for its UK and Ireland home is fast approaching. The release of the full trailer for the specials came with confirmation of November releases for all three. While we still don’t know exactly what days those episodes are going to be released, that’s not quite the issue at hand since Disney+ will have the show for the long term. But something about a traditional streaming release, and a recent strategy shift may indicate that it could be addressed.
On August 18, after a Disney Parks fan event premiere, the brand and streamer announced that the upcoming Star Wars Ahsoka series would not be premiering on Wednesday August 23 at the regular 3 AM Eastern typical content traffic time for Disney+, but Tuesdays at 9 PM Eastern. As of writing 6 of the 8 episodes have aired. Just last week, the streamer revealed that their next Marvel series, season 2 of Loki, would make a similar move. Instead of a normal Friday release, episodes would premiere Thursdays in the same 9PM Eastern timeslot. If they’re so committed to this strategy for their biggest originals, Disney+ has the opportunity to deploy something similarly with Doctor Who: global simulcast.
See, Doctor Who is a British sci-fi series, where it remains on its home network the BBC. However, Disney+ is the new exclusive home of the series everywhere else. So if they were to deploy same-day premieres without moving its release time, those episodes would be releasing some 12 or 13 hours before it airs in its home country, assuming an 8 PM timeslot, which just wouldn’t be right. If the 5 hours between the British and American airings in the BBC America era was enough to let spoilers run rampant, 13 will probably let the torrents proliferate too. Besides, I don’t think the UK fans would be happy being the absolute last to see the episodes, considering again, that’s where the show is from. Sure, it wouldn’t be primetime releases in America, but it would for Britain’s neighboring European countries. For those who don’t know, episodes of presumably any BBC show go up on iPlayer 15 minutes after said episode airs, so it’s more convenient than American streamers but not a competitor in early postings.
Global simulcasts have been a rare occurrence thus far, but in a changing airing scenario it seems to be necessary. There are two previous instances: the 50th anniversary special, 2013’s “The Day of the Doctor” and the series 11 premiere “The Woman Who Fell to Earth” in 2018, the first episode featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and the companions she makes over the course of the episode. Although, the latter did still have BBC America’s ads running so it became out of sync rather quickly. So far, Disney+ has only gone live for award nomination specials, sports, concerts, and Dancing with the Stars, so if they go a step further and straight up livestream, it would be a first for scripted series, but at the very least it should release at the time the new episode airs in the UK. It should be reiterated that nothing of the sort has been announced, but this feels something being built to even in the silence. Frankly nothing else makes sense.
Strangely, Disney+ thus far has yet to directly promote the three 60th anniversary specials, which star Tenth Doctor David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor in a story that revisits the condition he left his companion Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate in 15 years ago with erased memories of their time together in order to suppress the Time Lord mind within her. The specials will also bring Beep the Meep from the comics to the screen, voiced by Miriam Margolyes, Neil Patrick Harris as the Celestial Toymaker, a character returning that only appeared previously in a single 1966 First Doctor story, as well as the usually-reliable UNIT, led by Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. Every tweet about the show since the announcement has been about Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor and his companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. After Tennant’s Fourteen regenerates at the end of the third special, Fifteen’s first adventure will be the Christmas special, the series’s first since the Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi’s final episode in 2017. At least there’s one episode directly acknowledges when it put “coming in 2023”. Even then, the show hasn’t been tweeted about since May. An eight-episode 14th series is still set for spring 2024, and several spinoffs are in development, led by a Kate Stewart and UNIT-centric one. Series 14 will feature guest appearances from Jinkx Monsoon, Jonathan Groff and Lenny Rush, with returns from Stewart and UNIT, as well as classic companion Mel Bush, played by Bonnie Langford. It’s very possible that the spinoffs would get this proposed treatment as well
While the release schedule for the 60th anniversary specials hasn’t been confirmed, my guesses have narrowed down to three options: Consecutive Thursdays (November 9, 16, and 23), or the Saturdays (11, 18, 23) or Sundays (12, 19, 23) of the initial two weeks, depending on whether Doctor Who returns to the traditional Saturdays or the Sundays the Chris Chibnall-showrun Thirteenth Doctor era aired in.
