Doctor Who USAU - Part 2: The ABC Years (1971-1974, 1975-1979, 1981)
DISCLAIMER:
The following is part two of a multipart alternate history series about the history of Doctor Who if it was an American-made production rather than a British production. It's purely speculative and a work of fiction, although some real-world elements were included and presented for realistic situations and scenarios. Neither this series nor its author are connected to nor reflect the views and opinions of BBC Studios (the owner of the Doctor Who franchise) or any entity or persons mentioned and does not mean to infringe on the copyrights and trademarks of those parties. - JH
“There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are. This is not one of them, this is an opportunity. Whatever happens here will create its own timeline, its own reality, a temporal tipping point. The future revolves around you, here, now, so do good!” - The Doctor
Lots of changes happened to Doctor Who during its ABC run. For starters, ABC added encores of earlier episodes of the series to its Saturday morning lineup in September 1971 in a cozy slot between Jonny Quest and American Bandstand.
Doctor Who also hired a new showrunner and producer, veteran writer Gene Roddenberry, who created the short-lived but very popular sci-fi series Star Trek. He also cast a new lead for the series as Leonard Nimoy became the Third Doctor.
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| Leonard Nimoy as the Third Doctor (1971 - 1975) |
Nimoy was Rod Serling's first choice to become the Second Doctor after initially working with the actor in an episode of The Twilight Zone, "A Quality of Mercy," but Nimoy was still committed to Star Trek and joined Mission: Impossible when Star Trek ended and stayed on for two seasons before leaving after the 1970-71 season.
Because Nimoy was still contractually on Mission: Impossible when the final episode of Doctor Who on CBS aired, he wasn't revealed as the Third Doctor in the initial broadcast, leaving viewers to wonder who the new face of The Doctor would be. The regeneration scene in the first episode of the ABC run would be the first time audiences would see Nimoy as the Third Doctor.
Under Roddenberry’s stint, Doctor Who began to tackle more social justice storylines (which were introduced during the Second Doctor’s run with Serling’s tales) to match the mercurial, stoic Doctor. The adventures of The Doctor would also be more serious in tone and more adventurous while taking on more Earth-based threats instead of the usual cosmic threats.
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| A promotional image of Doctor Who from the 1971-72 ABC Fall Preview Special |
One notable addition to the mythos of the series was the introduction of The Master, another Time Lord who would become an equal and constant rival of The Doctor. The first serial to feature The Master, "Terror of the Autons," was written by Robert Holmes and Terrance Dicks. English actor Jon Pertwee would be cast as The Master in 1971 and would stay in the role until 1974's “The Three Doctors,” a multipart serial that featured his first regeneration (English actor Tom Baker took over the role of The Master until 1981) as well as the return of Ray Walston and Dick Van Dyke to the series joining Nimoy’s Doctor. The serial became a fan-favorite event and a ratings winner.
“The Three Doctors” would eventually serve as Nimoy and Roddenberry’s swan songs from the series. Roddenberry, who co-wrote the script prior to the 1973 Writers Guild East strike, left the series as a showrunner before the end of the 1972-73 season after getting the green light for an animated revival of Star Trek in March 1973 but remained a producer for one more season. Nimoy, who was also part of the Star Trek revival, stayed on for one more season and didn't want to stay longer than three seasons in the role of The Doctor. Plus, after directing an episode of Night Gallery in 1973, "Death on a Barge," Nimoy wanted to pursue a directing career full time.
After the episode aired, ABC put Doctor Who on pause, not officially canceling it but putting it on a season-long hiatus to undergo a new direction.
While reruns of Doctor Who remained on the Saturday morning lineup on ABC where it still had pretty strong ratings when they added Third Doctor episodes to the rotation, the series was not on the primetime lineup for the first time in over a decade.
Fred Silverman, the new head of ABC Entertainment, had been a fan of Doctor Who ever since he worked at CBS, and while he was largely responsible for the series leaving the network in the first place, he admired the writing and characters and wanted to bring the series back.
When ABC announced the 1975-76 television season, they made it a priority to highlight Doctor Who’s return to primetime with expanded series (each episode would now be an hour) and a new Doctor in the lead.
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| Robin Williams as the Fourth Doctor (1975 - 1978) |
ABC and Universal searched for a new Doctor, and they cast Robin Williams, a relatively unknown actor and comedian who made an impression on legendary actor and Juilliard drama professor John Houseman, who convinced casting directors to cast the promising young actor as the Fourth Doctor.
Williams brought a youthful spirit that had been missing from the series. He was also a fan of the original run and became a consultant of sorts in the writing room.
The Fourth Doctor was a bit unusual, a bit off, and definitely more manic and comedic than his other incarnations yet he was just as brave, wild, serious, and stoic when he’s in the heat of battle.
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| A screenshot from the 1975-1978 intro of Doctor Who |
Williams became a breakout star and a fan favorite to this day standing out with his charm, wit, and chaotic persona with the ability to be comedic and dramatic as The Doctor, which earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, the first and only Doctor to earn that nod.
When Williams surprisingly left the popular role in spring 1978 and got cast in a new sitcom on ABC, Mork and Mindy, he helped cast his replacement not only because he was leaving it largely because of network interference (Silverman was behind Williams’ guest stint on Happy Days introducing Mork that aired during February sweeps in February 1978) but also because he wanted to ensure the series remains strong in his absence as a fan of the series.
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| Michael Keaton as the Fifth Doctor (1978 - 1983) |
Actor and comedian Michael Keaton stepped into the role of the Fifth Doctor at the end of a special two-hour which marked Williams' last adventure as The Doctor in December 1978 and remained as The Doctor throughout the remainder of the ABC run, though at this point, ABC's interest in the series began to wane.
It wasn't due to Keaton, whose Fifth Doctor was more of a trickster figure with a bit of a jovial yet dark side to him, though he was still heroic, if not a bit more chaotic than his previous incarnations.
Doctor Who reruns left the Saturday morning lineup in the 1977-1978 season, replaced with a new anthology series, the ABC Weekend Specials. The reason behind the cancelation wasn't because of the ratings, which were still admirable but stagnant, but rather they were abandoning black-and-white programs from the lineup, and the current series was an hour long and couldn't fit the Saturday morning format.
While Doctor Who's ratings were the best they've ever been in the late 1970s, interest in the show on the network side began to dissipate after Fred Silverman, the show's biggest cheerleader, left the network for NBC in 1978. Doctor Who had been on television for nearly two decades, and ABC wanted to move forward as a network with its edgier programming like Charlie's Angels, Three's Company, Barney Miller, Soap, The Love Boat, and Taxi.
A pair of Hollywood strikes in 1980 and 1981 unfortunately interrupted Keaton’s run on the series and ABC scrapped the latter half of the 1979-80 season and most of 1980-81 season. By this time, Keaton had already attracted the attention of Hollywood and started building up a film career during the hiatus.
Unbeknownst to Universal, ABC had already begun plans to replace Doctor Who with another series.
The network wanted a more traditional superhero in the vein of Superman who would solve more real-life problems through superheroics rather than a mysterious space traveler like The Doctor.
Stephen J. Cannell, a prolific television writer and producer who worked on various Universal Television crime series like Columbo, Adam-12, and Ironside and created The Rockford Files, Baretta, and Baa-Baa Black Sheep, developed a show upon ABC's request through his new independent production company Stephen J. Cannell. When given the option of bringing in the new show or renewing an aging show like Doctor Who, the network decided to add the new series to the lineup during the 1980-81 season.
And on March 18, 1981, ABC debuted that new series: The Greatest American Hero.
Universal still had a contract to produce one more season of Doctor Who, which resumed production in late fall 1980. ABC brought it back as a mid-season replacement during the summer of 1981 with a short eight-episode run after officially canceling it earlier in the spring. The eight episodes were a half-hour in length as opposed to an hour and only told one serialized story, "The Final Exodus," officially ending Doctor Who’s series run after an impressive nine seasons on ABC.
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| The First Five Doctors (1963-1981) |
With the 20th anniversary in sight, the Doctor's future was uncertain, but he had one more reincarnation trick left in him, and it would be the series' final voyage on broadcast television.
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