TVNZ And The Torchwood Saga
UPDATE 6 November 2008
TV2 ran series 1 of Torchwood and immediately followed it with series 2. They showed four episodes finishing with "Meat". At the end of this episode they showed the teaser for "Next Week". Only problem - there was no "Next Week". TV2 replaced Torchwood with repeats of Lost. They have given no explanation.
I tried to contact TV2 to find out what was going on. It is no good using their website to contact them. All you get is an anonymous email which tells me
So off to the TNVZ website I went. Typed in Torchwood as a keyword and was presented with the Torchwood webpage. All that told me was
My next step was to ring them. There I was meet with a distinctly unfriendly, unhelpful receptionist. Apparently they do not put calls through to anyone who really knows the answer to your question. Instead you have to ask Ms Snooty-On-The-Phone who desperately wants to end the conversation. The repetitive answer to all my probing questions about why Torchwood was replaced by Lost, and why it was done after only four episodes of series 2, was that it will be coming back in 2009, but no date has been announced.
TV2 - why the hell start series 2 if you were going to stop it after only 4 episodes?
Below is my previous contact with TV2 about why Torchwood took so long to come to TV screens in New Zealand:
Fed up waiting for TVNZ to show "Torchwood" here in New Zealand, I wrote them an email using their contact web page.
The reply came back:
"We currently have both series under license but they have not been
placed in the schedule at this time.
Best Regards,
Rebecca Several
TVNZ bought "Torchwood", according to G2, at the end of 2006/start of 2007.
"The BBC have today announced a major content deal between BBC Worldwide Australasia and TVNZ, which sees the state-owned Kiwi broadcaster pick up more than 40 hours of hot BBC content, including the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, the six-part series Primeval and the spectacular natural history series Galapagos.
See this New Zealand Herald page for more information.
Why is it taking them so long to show it?
If you are a fan of Dr. Who and want to see "Torchwood" in New Zealand, I suggest that you use the TVNZ contact web page and ask them why they are not going to show it.
UPDATE
TV2 started showing the first series of "Torchwood" in July 2008. Only took them two years, but we finally got to see it. So I guess we should say thank you to TVNZ.