View source for Dedicated 'Dr. Who' fan sends rescue call to area Whovians

{{article
| publication = Lansing State Journal
| file = 1991-08-07 Lansing State Journal.jpg
| px = 750
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| date = 1991-08-07
| author = John Schneider 
| pages = 1B
| language = English 
| type = 
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| text = 
EAST LANSING — Local couch potatoes who thrive only in prime time and only under network conditions may ask, "Dr. Who?"

But Whovians — followers of the campy British science-fiction series — are crying, "Boo-hoo."

Dan Delmerico, a Whovian from Fowlerville, took it upon himself to alert the media of 'the good doctor's demise. He called me to deliver the grim news:

After a six-year run on local public television station [[broadwcast:WKAR|WKAR]] (Channel 23), "Dr. Who" has been caught, so to speak, in a TRANSMAT (transport of matter) Beam. In television talk, the show has been taken off the air.

Steve Meuche, WKAR general manager, described the move as a temporary hiatus brought about by the show's high cost, its dwindling audience and the fact that new episodes of the series are slow in coming.

"We've run the old programs over and over again."

Meuche said he was aware of the show's local loyalists — a group he called small but dedicated.

And, at the moment, angry.

Delmerico, a 38-year-old computer salesman and captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, didn't learn the show was canceled until he sat down to watch it last Friday night.

It just so happened that he had mailed a check to WKAR that morning.

He called Monday and asked to have the contribution returned.

What is the appeal of "Dr. Who?"

According to Delmerico, it's the show's subtle humor, its intelligent dialogue, its tendency to explore new ideas and possibilities.

"It's 'Star Trek' without the crass commercialism."

In its original time slot — Sundays at 2 p.m. — it was a great alternative to football, he added. Last spring the show was moved to Fridays at 11:30 p.m.

Delmerico suspects that the local Whovian community is larger than WKAR thinks.

Is he right? 

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