United States--1973-1977

1973

• If reports of William Hartnell serials screening in Ensenada (and Tijuana?) in 1972 and/or 1973 are accurate (see our profile on Mexico), this would be the first time since 1965 that episodes of the first Doctor were available in the US, albeit only watched by those who spoke Spanish!
• 1973: Time-Life continues to promote the series, with print ads in industry magazines, such as Broadcasting.

Time Life Films ad, 26 March 1973 - Dr Who in the bottom row, second square

Time Life Films ad, 30 April 1973

Alan Enterprises Inc Advert, Dr Who and the Daleks / Daleks Invasion of Earth 2150AD, June 1973

• 1973: The two Peter Cushing movies are made available to television broadcasters by Alan Enterprises Inc.

1976

• May 1976: Famous Monsters of Filmland (issue #126, cover dated July 1976) features "The Funtastic Adventures of DR. WHO", an overview of the series that was currently in syndication. (The article liberally pulls its facts and interviews from the 1972 Pan Books / Piccolo edition of The Making of Doctor Who.)

• 1976-1977: Off-air home recordings are taken of Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death, Terror of the Autons and The Daemons, which prove their value in later years...

1977

• May 1977: Boston PBS station WGBX strikes a special deal with the BBC (with whom WGBH had a healthy partnership and co-production deal; WGBH produced the acclaimed "Masterpiece Theatre" (debuted in January 1971) which showcased many BBC productions) to acquire additional episodes of Doctor Who beyond the standard Time Life package that went up to The Time Monster. The package comprised of seven serials / 34 episodes from Jon Pertwee's final two seasons, but only those serials which existed entirely in colour (hence Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks and Invasion of the Dinosaurs were not available). The rest of the country would have to wait until 1983 to acquire these episodes:

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JON PERTWEE (continued)

Seven stories, 34 episodes

RRR	The Three Doctors	4
PPP	Carnival of Monsters	4
TTT	The Green Death	6
UUU	The Time Warrior	4
XXX	Death to the Daleks	4
YYY	The Monster of Peladon	6
ZZZ	Planet of the Spiders	6

- At the time the WGBX / BBC deal was signed off, CKVU and TVO in Canada acquired the same set of episodes (but not Carnival of Monsters), presumably because the BBC wanted to make good on the PAL to NTSC conversion investment.

• 1977: Harmony Books / Crown Publishers Inc publish Fantastic Television by Gary Gerani with Paul H Schulman. The "hopelessly lowbrow" series Dr Who is given a two-page spread. It mentions that "Time-Life has up for offer 13 color Who adventures made in 1970 (sic) and starring John Pertwee (sic) for TV syndication in the US"; Tom Baker features in two photographs.

Fantastic Television, 1977

Note Deborah Watling as the Invisible Man's niece

Ad for Target books, Starlog #8 (September 1977)

• Starlog issue #8 (cover dated September 1977, but published 14 July 1977) features a mail order ad for Target books; the mail order company was actually based in London. The ad featured images of all the Doctors although only Pertwee's stories were screening in some States.
• During his final season as producer (1976 to 1977), Philip Hinchcliffe has discussions with BBC management about selling the series to the States. But management decrees that the sale of the Pertwee serials was not that successful...
• Indeed, by the end of 1977, only 16 markets within the US had purchased the package of 72 Pertwee episodes - and only a few of them actually screened all the episodes; the majority drop the series mid-run:
  • Pennsylvania (x2)
  • Florida (x3)
  • Arizona (x2)
  • Washington DC
  • California (x2)
  • Alaska
  • Iowa
  • Nebraska
  • Illinois
  • Massachusetts
  • New York
  • as well as US territory Guam