I just wonder, with the Horror Challenge in full swing and the Holiday Challenge discussion underway, whether it'll be overkill if I start a TV Challenge discussion thread. You know, because then we'd be "dominating" the front page with our silly little game-playing or whatever it is we're wasting time doing.

I wouldn't worry too much about the dominating thing, probably , but it may be too little time to put one together.

But then, it doesn't have to have all the awesome bells and whistles that Chad and others put into their Challenges. I threw the first Criterion Challenge together in like an hour, and while it looked mediocre, a bunch of us had a good time with it. Every Challenge doesn't have to be a big deal with sponsors and fancy formatting. Some can just be two simple threads and three or more of us gathered together for the same purpose. We could think of next month as a "practice Challenge", just for a couple of us to fill our month, with no commitment to do it again next year.

TV on DVD Challenge Discussion thread is active!

Just do what I do, cut and paste what you like from other challenges, changing/adding some things and boom, instant challenge. Keep it simple for now and spend the rest of the year building fancy tables and stuff.

If you want a quick and easy sponsor to deal with, contact GoldenWheels, the Hamilton Books guy.

But you could just throw up the discussion thread now since it's such short notice and flush out the details as you go along. Since it's just a TV challenge, there shouldn't be much confusion over how it'll work.

edit: And there you go beating me.

First feedback posted favors this challenge in January, and I think I agree. Other than the Holiday Challenge wrapping up on the first, is there any potential overlap there?

The only problem is that January is the last full month left, and we have lots of unexplored ideas and genres.

November is perfect for TV because of the nice merge with Holiday.

I was hoping that someone would eventually do an Action/Adventure Challenge for January.

I'm content to do this however the consensus wishes, but I personally favor January for the simple reason that I think it's a slower month for a lot of us that favors gorging on an entire season or two of a show. Plus, there's the post-Christmas timing, and it might be nice for participants to have a challenge ready made for any TV DVD releases they get as gifts. But you guys tell me what you'd prefer to do and I'm down with it.

Unlike November, I think for the most part that January is pretty much re-runs only for on-air stuff, so that's when I'd rather have it.

I'd like to see that, or a Comedy Challenge.

What he said!

We're always happy to offer up some prizes guys!

I'll keep that in mind when the Drive-in Challenge returns.

Please do!

Early poll returns indicate that January is the preferred month for this. I realize there are other potential challenges people would like to see offered, but this is the one that's been thrown out there and seems to have some early support. If you haven't voted in the discussion poll, be sure to do so.

I know Trevor was excited about linking the Horror and Holiday challenges, since both permit TV content, but I think that link--while interesting--is secondary to the fact that several would-be participants just want a breather between those two. And since re-runs replace new content for OTA TV content in January, several members have expressed that they'd rather pop in discs then than in November, when there's still new content airing of the shows they watch. This isn't my "final word" on the topic by any means, but if there are other challenges that someone would prefer to have in January (action, comedy, Razzie Award winners, whatever), then now would be a real good time to get vocal.

So to recap: thoughts about other challenges should be kicked around here, and thoughts about the TV on DVD Challenge should be shared here.

No need to consider a "break month" in any decisions. We already have 10 Official Challenges, with several big genres not at all covered yet. If anyone wants or needs a break, simply skip a Challenge or two. I think most people only participate in a couple. I know some of us "do them all" and would appreciate a break, but I think it would be better to not let that influence any decisions.

The overall purpose of all the Challenges is to be include everyone, so the more Challenges the merrier, with a limit of 13 I think (one for each month, and the floater Academy).

Again, my personal opinion is that challenges covering the missing genres of comedy, drama, and action/adventure are much more important to get going than a TV Challenge. If we had those Challenges, then there would be no need for a TV Challenge, as every TV show/season would be covered by an existing Challenge.

I know the argument that current Challenges cover the genres that are more conducive to mass watching, but I disagree with it. To have the three largest genres not covered by any Challenge is just plain wrong. If we had one month of Comedy/Drama (the Dramedy Challenge?), and one month of Action/Adventure, then every film in our libraries would be covered by a month. Right now, most of us probably have half our libraries not covered by any Challenge.

I only suggested TV for November because of the Holiday Challenge. Anything we do in November should merge to some degree with the Holiday Challenge, out of respect. All the OTA TV shows are showing Thanksgiving episodes that last week, Christmas DVDs are on sale everywhere, and pretty much every TV series has multiple episodes every season that could count for the Holiday Challenge. If any Challenge is going to be slightly "second fiddle" for the month of November, a TV challenge makes the most sense imo. Personally, I would never have remotely considered a TV challenge for any other month.

I can only speak for myself, but the idea of an action or comedy challenge just seems kind of generic to me. I know they're easily defined subjects and all, but they just seem too broad for a challenge. I think of niche topics for the challenges, but maybe that's just a personal hang-up of mine?

The appeal to me of the challenges is that they give me an excuse to break away from that half of my library that tends to dominate my regular viewing. I surely wouldn't have gotten around to seeing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre without the Horror Challenge, or Tsotsi were it not for the Academy Awards Challenge. I'd still not have explored the works of Ingmar Bergman had it not been for the Criterion Challenge. In short, I'm not concerned about Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Casino Royale going unwatched, because I'll get to those on my own.

(Which reminds me: If we push TV on DVD back to January, I'm definitely going to gorge on Bond movies in the interim before the Holiday Challenge begins.)

I don't think it's necessary for any November challenge to pay "respect" to the Holiday Challenge. The content you cited all qualifies for--and during--the Holiday Challenge, so there's no reason to obligate any other challenge during the month to co-exist so specifically.

As others have pointed out, TV networks push new content in November, but re-runs in January. For TV viewers, then, January is a great month for this challenge. And even though TV content would qualify for other challenges, it is a different medium. The ongoing nature of a series really shines in the DVD format, and I think it's perfectly appropriate for the DVD Talk community have a singular challenge dedicated to TV content without making it a spin-off of another challenge.

But, like I said, I'm not dictating anything here; just trying to build consensus one way or the other.

I asked this on the TV on DVD challenge thread, but it might be more appropriate here.

Has there ever been a Western challenge? If so, how did it do, in terms of participation by members? If not, would enough people here want to participate in it?

I was against a Nov. Challenge because I thought I needed a break after Oct., but you're right, I can either sit out or lessen my involvement in a Nov. Challenge, so I'm with you now.
That's if you watch TV shows during those Challenges. Some people might prefer to stick with movies, or might not want to mix in a season of some show with the movies they're watching.

The Western Challenge morphed into the June Historical Challenge (which includes Westerns, War films, Historical epics, and the like).

We need a "Special Features Challenge." With the exception of commentaries, I am so far behind on watching the special features of the movies I've watched the last 4 months or so. Well, in reality, I have special features from discs I watched years ago that I still need to watch. The Lord of the Rings EE DVDs come to mind.

P.S. No, I'm not actually suggesting we have that challenge.

It's funny you mention this, 'cause I was just thinking about this yesterday! Since commentary tracks count for challenges, I can justify those but the rest of the features I've sort of sacrificed in lieu of qualifying content. Thank God the Criterion Challenge actually encourages participants to delve into supplemental material; I watched every last minute on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Rock.

Exactly my argument! We've already got the freaks and geeks. Let's make Challenges where the normals will come out to play.
But with 10+ months taken by Challenges, there is no time to get to those "normal" films. As one of us who pretty much does every Challenge, I'd love a time of the year for every genre.
It's not just the "respect" thing, it's multiple reasons. Any Challenge in November is going to be in some way "second fiddle". And since a TV Challenge is sort of superfluous, with all of the content already covered in other existing or future Challenges, it seems perfect for the "bonus" month of November.
That's one of the things that I love about the Challenges, their diversity. And why I feel the rules should be as inclusive as possible.

Each of us is free to make a Challenge more challenging my limiting ourselves to films only, or to unwatched things only, or to TV only, or to whatever.

All I know is that the responses in the TV on DVD Discussion thread indicate that potential participants really do prefer to have this one in January, and no one has responded so far that there's another challenge they'd rather do instead. Maybe that's where you should pitch your argument?

No argument, just writing into the void. Only a small percentage of Challenge participants see these threads or vote. All that matters is the opinion of the one person willing to start a Challenge. So I'm just trying to knock sense into your head.

You can always do that for the May MYOC Challenge. Trevor watched all of the content on those Lord of the Rings EE DVDs plus a bunch of others, and a couple of other posters did Commentary Challenges.
You don't watch other (non-qualifying) stuff during the Challenges?

Fat chance, buddy!

Don't remind me Frodo. I think I went a little insane that month.
A bit, but I try to avoid it.