The thread with only a few shows sounds like a nice solution to some problems, but it seems really hypothetical beyond boxed set-- what are these groupings that demand threads?

While I'm posting and we're doing some freeform nonaggressive position-staking I'll put myself down as a buffista conservative-- I like things the way they are and think change will not make things better.

Does anyone worry about being spoiled for comedic shows?

Well, there are some gags that aren't as funny if you go in expecting it, but some comedies, like The Office, do have important drama to them that people are invested in (not just Jim and Pam). But, as a spoilerphobe, I just don't go in until I've seen it (and, Kevin, I love MNIE too, but there seemed to be very little talk of it in the thread, so, continuing this point, if I were so inclined after having watched TO but not MNIE, I might be adventurous to venture in Thursday night and assume that the MNIE posts would be easy to avoid in the flurry of Office squee anyway.)

Does anyone worry about being spoiled for comedic shows? Sincere question, btw, no sarcasm. I'd really like to know.

I wouldn't want to be spoiled for The Office. Other than My Name is Earl, I think that's about the only comedy I watch right now.

The thread with only a few shows sounds like a nice solution to some problems, but it seems really hypothetical beyond boxed set-- what are these groupings that demand threads?

Hmm, well, there's my cable, regular, premium idea. Or we could do genre specific like "cop shows" (L&O, The Closer), "medical shows" (House, ER, State of Mind), "lawyer shows" (Damages, Boston Legal). Hmm, L&O is a cross genre problem, but I think that would just require a BSC to pick a thread.

To me a cop/lawyer/medical show thread is just like starting a cat thread, a knitting thread, and a diet thread. It's totally arbitrary and it just seems like we're starting slower threads for the hell of it, rather than serving communities. I loathe the idea, and frankly if natter slows...well, at least I'll be getting my billables in.

See, I don't understand how we split the threads. If we split by genre: crime, hospital, football in small texas towns, time-travel - well, some of those buckets would have more than 4 shows and some would have lots fewer.

true. But, if the point is to create smaller threads to make it easier for people to participate, does it really matter how we divide them?

While I'm posting and we're doing some freeform nonaggressive position-staking

I'll take bon's lead. I had been avoiding all this and haven't participated in a vote in yonks because I only use the non-show threads. The show discussions make me crazy and I will only care about any thread formation IF it slows down the board or starts bringing in a ton of new folk who find their way into Natter.

The point that ND makes is that some shows he sees later than others -- but would his delayed viewing shows match up by genre? By who broadcasts them? Or by some other more personal means? And if others feel the same way -- do we have a thread of 4 shows that ND watches as they air and another of shows that I watch as they air and another for shows that Vortex watches on delay, etc.

Or we could have seven buckets - by day of the week that they first air.