BET picked The Wire up last year. I think it's on Thursday.

I thought BET was just running repeats of the Wire.

Well, I liked Cable Drama and Network Drama the way they were. . . but I've never been in premium cable because I don't have it.

They are repeats. I was just trying to specify what we discuss.

This is nitpicky, but how about saying "original drama produced for cable networks"? That way it covers something like BET picking up "The Wire."

I think that would still be covered by Premium, though. The Wire was produced for a premium network, not a cable network, so there's not much point in making the distinction.

It's further moot if the vote swings to a combo thread.

Have we done any research at all on how many buffistas have/don't have cable and/or satellite? It's upwards of 80% in the US, but we're pretty TV-obsessed folk, so I'd guess even higher.

Did we split up drama by delivery mechanism (unlike comedy, reality, and SF/F/genre/boxed-set-whatsis) because we already had premium and it felt like it worked? Because we were afraid of too much traffic if it was all drama (which IME didn't happen, but I admit I only looked in and didn't participate)?

Have we ever seriously discussed having just a drama thread? (I can't remember doing so, but I'd welcome links that prove me wrong)

Have we ever seriously discussed having just a drama thread? (I can't remember doing so, but I'd welcome links that prove me wrong)

Dunno. The network drama thread worked pretty well. I think it's worth considering.

Hmmm. Arguments for why cable drama would work better with one or the other? When I think of shows like Psych or Monk, I think they'd fit in better with network. Rescue Me I might go the opposite way.

I still feel like Network Drama was too big a bucket, but I know I'm in the minority on this. An even bigger bucket would never be workable for me. Since everything I watch is drama, I would be very sad to see things go that direction.

Did we split up drama by delivery mechanism (unlike comedy, reality, and SF/F/genre/boxed-set-whatsis) because we already had premium and it felt like it worked?

I suspect we did because--at least in part--of where the whole discussion originated. And because there didn't seem to be a better way to determine Bright Shiny Lines at the time.

I'd rather not have just one big bucket drama thread, because that would be far too large and unwieldy for even me to follow.

Premium works for me because of the relatively small number of shows that get talked about; Cable worked for me on the same premise. I wouldn't want to take out the dramedy shows from Cable, because of cross-pollination purposes, and because I think original cable drama programming has elements that separate it from network drama.

I haven't actually watched television when it airs on an actual television in about six years, so I'm not the best representation for who does or doesn't have cable. Stations are something I tend to forget about, generally, and part of the reason the network/cable/premium divide has worked for me is because thematically I can tell what show is associated with which setting; there's no chance I could tell you what channel it aired on, though.

What sort of shows are you talking about when you talk about Cable "dramedy", SA?

Psych and Monk, primarily.