I made a point of not saying the departing person's name, so you won't know who to expect to disappear. It's on the level of watching a Joss Whedon production, you're pretty sure someone's going to go, you just don't know who. ;)
I don't think the BBC or ITV would have any issue with PBS airing the shows sooner. The issue is PBS wanting to stick to a schedule of Masterpiece changing the type of programming it shows on a seasonal basis and also not wanting to put their "big guns" up against new network programs.
They're going to get excellent ratings by PBS standards no matter when they air them, so they don't really factor in trying to air them before a percentage of the audience watches via other means. They also don't really care if you get spoiled by those who've seen it legally or illegally. I find it really interesting to see so many online review sites who have obviously downloaded eps to review them, yet no one blinks over it.
I'm not sure how much of the cut PBS gets from the DVDs. I just thought that could be the reason they released DVDs before the series had finished airing on PBS. They are also selling them as the original UK versions, as series one and two had some scenes snipped for PBS. However, it appears series three had some minor extra bits in the US version, perhaps as a lure for those who had seen the UK version already.
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Date: 2013-03-03 01:36 am (UTC)I don't think the BBC or ITV would have any issue with PBS airing the shows sooner. The issue is PBS wanting to stick to a schedule of Masterpiece changing the type of programming it shows on a seasonal basis and also not wanting to put their "big guns" up against new network programs.
They're going to get excellent ratings by PBS standards no matter when they air them, so they don't really factor in trying to air them before a percentage of the audience watches via other means. They also don't really care if you get spoiled by those who've seen it legally or illegally. I find it really interesting to see so many online review sites who have obviously downloaded eps to review them, yet no one blinks over it.
I'm not sure how much of the cut PBS gets from the DVDs. I just thought that could be the reason they released DVDs before the series had finished airing on PBS. They are also selling them as the original UK versions, as series one and two had some scenes snipped for PBS. However, it appears series three had some minor extra bits in the US version, perhaps as a lure for those who had seen the UK version already.