Example of Britain's Infiltration of American Culture...

Of course I know that this is a Torchwood Blog, but as Torchwood news is light this week, it gives us a chance to consider just how far Doctor Who and BBC programming generally has really become embraced by Americans in the last 20 years... In 1988, The majority of Americans might have been able to identify Tom Baker as "Doctor Who," but unless they were fans of "Public Television" they would be more likely to identify Benny Hill or Monty Python's Flying Circus than our favorite Time Lord...

In these 20 years, many British programs have made their way over the pond... Some remade such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire, The Office, Whose Line is it Anyway? and soon... Life on Mars. Somehow mostly spared was the good Doctor and the adventures of his friends. With the Sci-Fi channel showing Doctor Who and HD-Net showing Torchwood, Americans are embracing the Doctor's world... (And yes, I know that Rupert Murdoch had that Doctor Who movie made for the Fox network, but he's Australian... So that doesn't count, Americans generally didn't like it anyways!)

Doctor Who in fact has become so well known in America that the good Doctor materialised this week onto a American liberal political cartoon that pokes fun at this week's news headlines. (For those of you on the east of the pond, think Labour Party...) His inclusion is actually designed to represent a time traveller, and most Americans got the joke exactly! To see Tom Tommorrow's This Modern World click on the picture below to see the whole cartoon. (Click on June 10th.)

So, what will it take for Americans to embrace Torchwood as strongly? Here's to finding out.



Thanks to Outpost Gallifrey for the cropped image!