since those people who get it get it, and those who don't don't, if that makes sense

I can't speak for anyone else, but I watch Premium shows without subscribing to any Premium channels. I don't know how many people in that thread are actually watching the shows as they air.

I like the idea of expanding Premium to be genre-based rather than channel-based. I can't explain why, it just feels like a natural expansion of the thread's current use. Of the other shows mentioned, I haven't seen them discussed anywhere else in any great depth, so I don't feel like it would drain conversation from Natter the way a General TV thread might.

I think Premium is a good exception to that, since those people who get it get it, and those who don't don't, if that makes sense.

I haven't been in Premium, so I can't comment on how well it works as a thread.

You can't make Premium a genre thread without losing some shows, can you? What does the addition of The Shield have to do with Deadwood or The Tudors?

I'm still confused if it's expansion and not more extensive reconfiguration.

Just to clarify, I'm not arguing that Premium should be changed. I have no horse in that race. I'm just saying that, if we decide to create new tv threads, I suggest we base them on genre, not channel.

I don't have a problem with expanding the scope of Premium, even though I don't watch those FX shows. Based on what I know about them, I agree that they share certain characteristics with the Premium dramas, which seem to be more than just fucking and cussing. Trying to define what those characteristics are, though, is problematic, as problematic as trying to define the genre trappings of literary fiction. They are realistic in a way that network dramas generally aren't, mainly because they seem to let their heroes be short-sighted and petty and generally unheroic, just like people are in real life. The good guys - when you can figure out who falls into this category - don't win, just like in real life. Someone a little sharper than I am could probably draw it together.

I think The Shield shares a charismatic anti-hero and generally pessimistic view of societal restraints with Deadwood and The Tudors. Seem to me that all of them draw from the same well of Richard III and Dickens.

The current thread slug mentions:

Deadwood, Entourage, Big Love, Brotherhood, Weeds, Dexter, etc.

Without even getting into FX shows, do you really see all of those shows as being of a type?

No, but I don't recall a whole lot of discussion on some of those shows. I know that dreck like Arli$$ and The Mind of the Married Man have only come up with derision.

See, this "underlying feel" thing with Boxed Set is a big factor in what gets talked over in that thread. People were surprised when I remarked, during the most recent what-goes-where talk, that Boxed Set is the media fandom thread, but that (usually subtextual) definition is how things are classed into or out of the thread.

I don't know if there's a name for people who watch premium shows plus the hard stuff of FX, but I do tend to group those two things together in my mind -- not because of genre, but because they attract the same people.

They just need a name! And then this question will be resolved.

t /polyanna

I'm starting to come around to Hec's idea of show threads that we don't let become permanent fixtures. Then there's no spoiler issue because it's easy to avoid, and there's no, "I didn't know we were talking about that in the thread of Group X shows." Sometimes, shows will fit together for whatever reason (genre, etc.) and we might want to group them. I don't know. I don't think there's an easy answer, because while the board can't be everything to everyone, we seem to work better when we're not so rigid about stuff.