I wish PBS would market this show as much as it does Poldark. To be honest, I found Poldark very soap-operaish. I grant that Aidan Turner is very pleasing to the eyes, but I think The Crimson Field has a far superior cast and much better production value. I love these characters and am already lamenting that it's down to its last two episodes. Somebody pick the second season up online already! It can happen!
shareAgreed. Poldark is fine, but can be predictable. I'd much rather see more episodes of TCF!
shareI don't blame PBS for their marketing choices on this one. It's already been canceled by the BBC, while Poldark has been given a 2nd season, with BBC saying it will run for 5. I've already seen the full series of both programs, and I'm not surprised by by the BBC's decisions.
shareHave you seen Outlander?
shareThe reason I watched The Crimson Field is because of Outlander-- Richard Rankin being one of those names being thrown around for Roger. Sad that this series got canceled. I find myself actually waiting for Sundays to see it-- even though I've found full episodes on You Tube. :)
shareYour commment echoes 99% of the tweets that mention both shows. USA clearly prefers The Crimson Field. See the Storify...
The Crimson Field vs. Poldark: A Tale of Two Dramas
https://storify.com/SaveTCF/the-crimson-field-vs-poldark-a-tale-of-two-british
However, their respective message boards suggest Poldark is the more popular series. Last Tango in Halifax comes On PBS right before Poldark, and its board is as dead as this one. Only the Poldark board has the kind of traffic that indicates a popular series.
shareOne would hope so .. PBS marketed the hell out of Poldark and gave it the preferential time slot. Print and digital adverts galore. Screeners were sent to major TV critics for reviews. An ad even appeared on my Kindle lock screen. Many people post on social media that they were unaware of TCF until they happened to hear word of mouth or stumble upon it.
Ratings were not far off in the UK, no idea about USA.
5.9M watched finale of Poldark v. 5.1M of The Crimson Field (overnights). Poldark was also much more widely advertised in UK as well.
Pretty much! And PBS is marketing it as the next Downton Abbey, so of course it'd be massive in terms of audience chatter.
shareMany people post on social media that they were unaware of TCF until they happened to hear word of mouth or stumble upon it.That's true for me as well. I found out about it quite by accident. PBS scheduling is very untrustworthy and I've missed parts of several good PBS shows because the schedule on my DVR says it's a one-hour show when it's actually one-and-a-half or two hours. So I've set my DVR to record an extra hour beyond the end of "Masterpiece" to avoid missing the end when the schedule is wrong. When I watched the first episode of "Poldark" I discovered that the last hour of the recording contained the first episode of TCF. I'd never heard about it until that moment, but I'm glad I didn't miss it since it's become a favorite of mine now.
Since the BBC had already declined to renew TCF, I'm' not a bit surprised PBS didn't promote it. They didn't start promoting Call the Midwife until series 3, after it had gained attention in the US due to its success on netflix. They never promoted the reboot of Upstairs, Downstairs, either.
shareThere's a petition to the BBC to renew the series. You can read and sign it at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bring-back-another-season-of-the-crimson-field