Okay, here's me trying again, and not from my PDA.

What is this thread other than "A thread to discuss the TV I want to discuss with the people I want to discuss it with"? I just don't get the unifying theory more than "Well, d'uh!"

Choosing to add FX in there...you left out Homicide, then.

I really really don't get it, and the more the discussion goes on the more confused I get.

What is this thread other than "A thread to discuss the TV I want to discuss with the people I want to discuss it with"? I just don't get the unifying theory more than "Well, d'uh!"

I think the more accurate description would be, at least for what I'd like in a thread, is "A place to talk about shows I like where I don't need to wade through natter and fight its white noise." I like nattering in natter, but I'd rather do show discussions elsewhere, and I think I'm not alone in that.

A general TV thread, then?

Choosing to add FX in there...you left out Homicide, then.

Which is exactly why I don't want a definition that's based on networks OR based on "only this exact list of shows can be discussed and all others will be thread-nannied". Because that never actually works, but defining threads certain ways can really encourage it.

No, SA didn't mention Homicide -- I did, as an example of "if I wanted to discuss THIS show, I would find the conversation I want in THAT thread", under my premise that it functions more like a genre thread than a thread that's defined by a network, whether it's HBO or F/X.

And I'm not SA (I've even been in the same room with her, with Buffista witnesses), so I can't answer for her on why she worded her post the way she did. I don't know how if she's secretly working for the F/X marketing department to try to raise their visibility by infiltrating thread slugs, or if she just thought "these shows have a lot in common with the stuff we already talk about in this thread, so let's talk about them".

I don't think the current way of handling TV threads is working, and tighter definitions of "only X, Y, and Z may be discussed in this thread" seem to make the problem worse rather than better.

A general TV thread, then?

I think that's what it keeps coming back to, yes. I'm beginning to think any further attempts to compartamentalize shows are either going to be too specific, and thus mostly just further proliferation, or too arbitrary, and that a white-fonted general thread would be more useful (given that spoilage seems to be a big "nay" factor to the idea, though not the only).

I'd think an all-TV thread would be just as unwieldy as apparently Natter is.

What is this thread other than "A thread to discuss the TV I want to discuss with the people I want to discuss it with"?

I was just thinking... saying that explicitly might actually help. I think it's a mistake to try to come up some way to categorize a (to me) disparate group of shows. It's just an overly complicated solution. SF shows are pretty easy to identify, what with the spaceships/robots/aliens/alternate dimensions, so the genre definition works for Boxed Set. That doesn't mean you need a similar categorical basis for other threads. I honestly don't care what the combination of shows is. I just want to be able to tell what I should and shouldn't expect to find in the thread. And however much I'm told that this is an intuitive grouping, it isn't to me.

So: change the slug to say "For discussion of Sopranos, The Tudors, Dexter, The Shield, Nip/Tuck..." and whatever else you want to include. That's certainly clear enough for those of us who want clarity. And then you won't have to explain why X show is included and Y show isn't, or retrofit a definition around a set of shows. It's not a general TV thread, it's a potpourri. And you can even expand it or split it as needed, depending on traffic.

Or do you just like having a fixed list?

This, mainly. It just seems to me that opening the door to 150 or so different interpretations of what shows mirror the feel/vibe of the premium channel series is going to result in widespread confusion and possibly splitting discussion between the thread and Natter in a way that will be even harder to follow than skimming past unrelated topics in Natter already is.

Yup.I am still confused by all categories smaller than all that predictably encompass The Wire, Nip/Tuck and The Tudors.

I'm already confused about where to discuss Jericho - it's post-apocalyptic premise seems to make it Sci-Fi, but it doesn't really feel like a Sci-Fi show and it certainly doesn't feel like a Boxed Set show. Fortunately, I don't have much to say about it so it's not a big deal.

Premium is so easy to understand. I like to think of myself as a frequenter of the Premium threaad and I don't have the slightest impulse to discuss Nip/Tuck or Rescue Me in there. I'm trying to understand why other people do feel the need, but beyond the idea that discussion in Natter is unacceptable I just don't.