That would just be topic drift, right?

That sort of drift is explicitly dissuaded in Boxed Set.

Yes, but does it need to be in Premium?

Maybe it does, I don't know how bright the lines need to be.

I'm in favor of pretty bright lines, myself.

I like them bright too. Especially since the slide to de facto general TV thread is an even easier one from Premium.

I know that FX is a free cable channel. And I am not asking for premium to turn into a general television thread. What I am saying is that the serial dramas that FX is producing are thematically and stylistically kin to the shows we are currently discussing in Premium, and I think that the overlap of discussion about the shows on that channel and those we talk about in Premium is sufficient that we could consider allowing discussion about them without calling it thread drift. I don't care if you still talk about it in natter, but I am never in Natter, especially not when these shows are actually on. I'd like to have the opportunity to discuss them with other people who also watch them, and those are the same people I talk about Rome, Tudors, Dexter, etc with.

You're gonna get spoiled for twenty different shows walking in to the Boxed Set thread; I really don't think a thread purpose should be based on what someone might watch someday on dvd in the future. I'm talking about what we're watching now, and what we're watching now come out of FX correlates with what we're watching now on HBO and Showtime, enough so that I group it together as a natural discussion base.

And this is not just a mememe thing, the folks who frequent Premium thought it was an appropriate extention of the thread purpose.

I'd like to have the opportunity to discuss them with other people who also watch them, and those are the same people I talk about Rome, Tudors, Dexter, etc with.

While this is perfectly understandable, I think it's a really bad reason to want to extend a thread's umbrella. How do you cap it? Rome and Dexter and Tudors are similar primarily because they're on the same sort of TV station. More and more edgy TV will come out on more and more TV stations. It's the nature of the beast. How do you decide what stays in and what stays out? Will all FX shows also be included in the proposal? "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," for instance? Only new FX shows, and not "Beverly Hills 90210" or "Married With Children"?

FX barely seems to agree on its own image.

I really don't think a thread purpose should be based on what someone might watch someday on dvd in the future

And I don't think a thread purpose should be based on "Well, these are the same people I discuss some TV with, why not other TV that I think is similar."

You're destroying the possibility of a bright line, and I have to admit it was something I saw come up during the thread creation discussion, and I was hopeful the fact that it didn't make it into the proposal meant that it didn't have attractiveness.

But these are things I can say as well in Lightbulbs as in here, so I'll not bother going on until it gets that far.

I'm not sure thematic linkage of "cussing and fucking" shows is any less bright a line than we currently have in Boxed Set. That said, I can also see the argument for keeping Premium as strictly defined as possible.

Personally, I'd like to discuss The Sheild in Premium for all the reasons that SA brings up, but I don't feel strongly enough about it to open Lightbulbs.

And I don't think a thread purpose should be based on "Well, these are the same people I discuss some TV with, why not other TV that I think is similar."

That's exactly the purpose of Boxed Set. That's why we created Boxed Set in the first place. And I think it's a valid reason to extend the purpose of Premium.

How do you decide what stays in and what stays out? Will all FX shows also be included in the proposal? "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," for instance? Only new FX shows, and not "Beverly Hills 90210" or "Married With Children"?

I think it was clear from from my initial suggestion that I was referring to FX's original programming of serial dramas, and not the general reruns shown on thirty other channels. It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise, and as Jessica notes, I was referring to cussin' and fuckin' shows, not the entirety of FX's television line-up.

I will note again that I am not asking for Premium to become a general television thread, and I don't think that my suggestion makes for a more slippery slope into a de facto general television thread. Wanting to keep the policy regarding thread drift intact is one thing, but I think this minor adjustment to a thread's slug doesn't warrant a full-on lightbulb consensus. Or rather, I don't want to make this a discussion about our big Plans and Goals for the board. I just want to talk about shows that are thematically similar in the same place, and there are grounds enough to do so based on the agreement of the people who frequent the thread, the same genre constraints we place on Boxed Set, and the fact that this won't negatively impact the rest of the board discussion.

I'm not sure thematic linkage of "cussing and fucking" shows is any less bright a line than we currently have in Boxed Set.

You don't think that science fiction and fantasy TV is a brighter line that "cussing and fucking"? I don't get that.

It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise, and as Jessica notes, I was referring to cussin' and fuckin' shows, not the entirety of FX's television line-up.

What makes a "cussing and fucking" show? Why FX's cussing and fucking shows? Perhaps they're the only non-premium channel doing it (I have no idea), but "FX original serial drama" doesn't say or imply "cussing and fucking." If the half/hour or non-serial drama ups the profanity, it's still not included, even though the non-bright line of "cussing and fucking" includes it?

I can't make useful and predictive sense of what would go in the new

Since the definition of what goes in Premium is something that was voted on, I assume that changing the definition of Premium is something that should be voted on.

That's exactly the purpose of Boxed Set. That's why we created Boxed Set in the first place.

The reason we created Boxed Set in the first place was to consolidate a number of threads that had thematically similar TV content being discussed.

I will note again that I am not asking for Premium to become a general television thread,

Never meant to imply you did.

and I don't think that my suggestion makes for a more slippery slope into a de facto general television thread

It's plain that you think the definition of which shows to include is a bright line one, otherwise you wouldn't do it. But the more interpretation that's left up to the reader (especially the ones from outside the thread that weren't in on the genesis of the idea) the more one edges towards that slippery slope.

Which is exactly why I love bright lines, even when I totally understand an inclusion or exclusion.

On the one hand, I'm unlikely to ever use that thread much, regardless of what it covers. But I like clear definitions. "Thematically similar to HBO/Showtime programs" is only helpful if I've a) watched more than a couple of episodes of any HBO/Showtime programs, and b) understand why you think certain FX shows have notably similar themes. I haven't, and I don't.

So basically, what ita said.

Additionally... I assume that the FX shows are currently discussed in Natter. Maybe the people doing that don't currently post in Premium, and don't want to. Even if those who regularly use Premium love the idea, why is it only up to them?

If you had to vote on creating the thread with a distinct purpose, it seems weird to just consense to change that purpose six months later. Would people who voted for (or against) the topic have voted the same way if FX had been included from the start? The idea of including other cable programming was discussed when the proposal was originally made. [link]