I'd like to see some different approaches instead of rehashing the same arguments

Does anyone have a different approach they've been keeping mum about?

Well, our options are what?

• One TV thread, blackfont
• One TV thread, whitefont
• One TV thread, some combination of blackfont and whitefont (like Movies)
• Multiple TV threads grouped by genre
• Multiple TV threads grouped by some other logical organizing principle
• Multiple TV threads grouped by...day of the week
• Individual threads for more shows

I don't have premium tv and I don't watch the shows on FX that are being discussed there. And yet I still have comments, go figure.

I read the whitefont in Natter for shows I don't watch. The discussion has convinced me to give new shows a try. The shows that have their own threads still have some discussion in Natter and that adds to the richness of Natter. 24 is mentioned in Boxed Set. Heroes is discussed in Lost. Our lines have some bendiness.

Adding non premium shows to the premium thread seems more than bendy to me, but since I have never been in the thread it may be logic making.

In summary, whatever works for y'all.

Does anyone have a different approach they've been keeping mum about?

One thing I was thinking about was a cultural shift for B.org.

One reason to be slow about adopting new threads is that we've also been reluctant to eliminate threads even when they generate small traffic. Just general respect for the three people that were still interested in Smallville (or whatever) after it lost its flavor.

But I loved the Smallville thread in its first year, and I think that if we were more flexible about threads we could just let the hot shows generate their discussion and then prune them if they cool off.

So maybe lower the standard to create threads, but then have clear bright lines about killing them if they don't take off or sustain interest.

For example, if ten people said they'd actively participate in a thread of FX shows then that would be enough. Not just ten people voting yes, but ten people who say "Yes, I'm watching The Shield and Rescue Me and I promise I'll be in there after every episode chatting my ass off."

And if it takes off then it's good. But if the commitment falters and certain thresholds aren't met, then the thread just gets pruned. It was given its shot and it didn't sustain interest. You could peg that threshold to the traffic on the current lowest thread. It has to beat that over three months or its out.

I don't know if that would work, and it is a significant cultural shift for us. However, it would allow things like the Smallville thread in its first year. Passing enthusiasms would be allowed but they wouldn't become permanent fixtures.

Multiple TV threads grouped by some other logical organizing principle

I possibility for this might be a basic cable thread separate from the premium thread for F/X, USA, and TNT original programming.

I could get behind that.

That would work better for me than the repurposing of the existing thread. I'm only an occasional poster in Premium, but I'd like it to stay clearly defined as the high-profile pay cable shows, whereas I'd happily participate in discussion of Nip/Tuck, Psyche, and similar shows whether that discussion takes place in Natter or a hypothetical new thread.

I'd like it to stay clearly defined as the high-profile pay cable shows

Would you mind saying a bit more about why? Is it the shows, or the fact that they're on certain networks, or does the current arrangement help you to either find or avoid discussions? Or do you just like having a fixed list?

I like sj's idea.

I think I'm the idiot who came up with a basic cable thread in the last lightbulbs discussion, and on reflection, I don't like it.

Shows jump from premium to basic, or from basic to broadcast, or from broadcast to cable. And there's the matter of Reruns! Reruns in New Places! -- are they to be talked about according to where they originally aired, or where they're being shown now? And there's the other matter of cable packages in different markets or providers -- not just "my market doesn't have this", but "this channel (let's just call it BBC-A) is part of my normal package, but someone else would have to pay extra for it".

And of course, all of this assumes that I even know what channel something is or was originally on -- because, in a very real sense, my channels are TiVo and Netflix. So much about how people watch TV has changed just in the lifetime of this board. And as much as the networks try to stick their logos all over everything, it's less and less relevant as a way to classify our discussions.

The reason Boxed Set works is that people know, not always, but very much of the time, "this is the kind of thing we'd talk about in Boxed Set". And I don't think it's because they're shows that are officially defined as Sci-Fi/Fantasy -- we don't, for instance, spend a lot of time on Space-Opera-With-Lots-Of-Explosions. If anything, it's closer to the "fannish stuff" fuzzy category. The thread is the conversation that goes on there, not the TV Guide listing.

Premium feels very similar to me -- people aren't there because the shows are on certain channels (first mention of "I don't even get these channels"? Post #1). There's been no discussion of HBO's comedies there at all, for instance. On the other hand, it's the first place I'd think of if I wanted to babble about Homicide or Cracker, neither of which has ever been on a premium channel. Hence my confusion about the reaction to SA's post yesterday -- I thought of the suggestion to expand the header as something more or less akin to "you know, we talk about a lot of other comic books and not just the Buffyverse ones", and not "hey, let's go propose the dreaded General TV Thread (duh, duh, DUH!!)"