This is a discussion thread, and part of discussion is to offer points and counterpoints, give and take. You gave an opinion, I dissented, and I provided a reasoned argument to support my point. If that prompts a response like an outraged Margaret Dumont ("bad form"? My goodness, did I butter my bread with the fish knife?), then I shall, like Groucho, slouch away from this thread and skip participation in this month's challenge.

I have deleted my list.

Actually I thought you guys had agreed that noirs didn't count. I hope we're not getting into battles even before we start.

Or - and follow me on this - you could make a Little House drinking game for the challenge.

*le sigh* We have hosts to make the final determination about things. This wasn't a new topic, and has been discussed and considered for three years now at one time or another. As host, I was already familiar with the arguments for and against, etc. It was not an opinion. It was a ruling.

Nor was it a ruling offered arbitrarily or because I'm some power mad keyboard warrior, but because my experience has taught me none of us really care to spend 15 posts of back-and-forth just to get to the point where I would have eventually ruled anyway. And it had to be me to rule, 'cause I'm, like, the host and that's what hosts do. Because otherwise, we get overrun with "points and counterpoints" and get nowhere.

Again, though:

Noirs are accepted as "Zeitgeist Films," but because we have a challenge devoted to crime films, participants are strongly discouraged from loading up on them. God knows we've made this challenge pretty inclusive already, and there's really plenty of content to be viewed that's specifically appropriate for this challenge and not some of the others.

Does anyone know what they are starting with? Myself I don't know where to start as I have Dogfights season 1, a season of Little House, a few westerns, a few war movies, a season of Adventures of Robin Hood, and the MC Warriors 50 film set. I have no idea where to start.

I was all set to make a joke about any film with real actors should count, as people are historical, but perhaps the timing isn't right.

As for what to start with, I have a huge pile of docs at the house, but have no idea where to begin. I could probably fill the whole month with NASA type docs, or Life/Earth stuff, or WW2 things; but I'll probably just do a mix of everything. Depending on her schedule on the 31st/1st, I'll let Jen pick the first item.

I was thinking of musicals as a one item category on the checklist-Watch a musical that depicts an historical period.

I'm leaning towards finishing S1 of Rawhide to both start this one and finish the MYO since it fits with my "50s/60s TV" theme. After that it's on to a few titles I purchased last year intending to use for this challenge but never got to:

History Presents: The 60s Megaset
This is a comprehensive set of documentaries which contains the following:
King - Tom Brokaw's portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.
1968 with Tom Brokaw
The Vietnam War, Vol. 1: Vietnam: On The Frontlines 1-4
The Vietnam War, Vol. 2: LBJ And Vietnam: In The Eye Of The Storm / Command Decisions: Tet Offensive / Unsung Heroes: The Battle of Khe Sanh
Race to the Moon, Vol. 1: Failure Is Not An Option
Race to the Moon, Vol. 2: Code Name: Project Orion / Modern Marvels: Apollo / Modern Marvels: The Space Shuttle
Voices of Civil Rights Vol. 1: Voices of Civil Rights / Mississippi State Secrets / Crossing The Bridge
Voices of Civil Rights Vol. 2: Biography: Martin Luther King Jr. / Biography: Thurgood Marshall
JFK: A Presidency Revealed, Vol. 1: Feature
JFK: A Presidency Revealed, Vol. 2: Bonus programs- Biography: John F. Kennedy / Biography: Joseph Kennedy Sr.
The 60's: The JFK Assassination / Modern Marvels: Apollo 11 / Bay of Pigs Declassified
The 60's: Peyote to LSD
Days of Rage and Wonder: Hippies
Days of Rage and Wonder: Riot: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial / Sex and the Vietnam War

And follow that with:
Empires Megaset
Which contains the following documentaries:
Engineering an Empire - 14 episodes dealing with Rome, Egypt, Greeks, Aztecs, Carthaginians, Mayans, Russians, Early Britains, Persians, Chinese, Napoleonic France, Byzantines, and Italy.
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire
Ancients Behaving Badly with an episode each on Caligula, Attila the Hun, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, and Nero.
Barbarians with an episode each on The Vikings, The Goths, The Huns, and The Mongols

After that (or between episodes) I'll probably watch some of the WWII movies I've stockpiled.

Probably going to start with my unwatched copy of The Wild Bunch.

Last year, I watched THE STORY OF VERNON AND IRENE CASTLE for the Historical Challenge. It's a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical about the famous husband-and-wife ballroom dance duo from the 1910s. WWI figures in it.

Other musicals that fit this challenge:
FOR ME AND MY GAL (1942) - WWI musical with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland.
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944) with Judy Garland - set in the past and based on a real family.
THE PIRATE (1948) with Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and the Nicholas Brothers--set on a Caribbean island in the early 1800s.
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME (1949), a period baseball musical with Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Esther Williams.

Tons of songwriter musical bios from the 1930s and '40s:
SWANEE RIVER (Stephen Foster)
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (George M. Cohan)
RHAPSODY IN BLUE (George Gershwin)
NIGHT AND DAY (Cole Porter)
Tons more about lesser-known songwriters: TIN PAN ALLEY, MY GAL SAL, I WONDER WHO'S KISSING HER NOW, THREE LITTLE WORDS, etc.

Plus a million biopics from later years about rock and rock-&-roll greats.

^Don't forget Calamity Jane with Doris Day. A western *and* musical! Which reminds me that I still have S3 of Deadwood waiting to be watched.

I'm already formulating it! Drink when Ma worries about money, when Pa says "Half Pint," when Mrs. Olsen needs to be pushed in the face...

I have so much that I cannot choose! I want to continue Dr. Quinn and Little House and finish the first seasons of each. I also want to watch Rome and Boardwalk Empire. As for films, I want to get through some of my unwatched westerns and period films.

I rarely purchase anything to use specifically for this challenge, but I found this DVD titled Broken Silence at Big Lots over the weekend for $3 and couldn't resist knowing June was just around the corner.

So a nice pick-me-up film when you hit a lull.

BTW, in the list thread, you'll see a new section of daily recommendations. These all connect to events in that day in history. I even threw in a couple of wild card suggestions. Obviously, several of these events have been depicted in numerous movies and TV shows so there are plenty of alternatives. As yet, I don't have any recommendations for the 19th or 30th.

If you have a DVR, the History channel has a 3 night Hatfield and McCoy mini-series starting today.

As for what I'm watching with this new rule change, I'll still be starting with my westerns but then switch it to noir. I'm only including noir because I'm working on a list of 250 and I have 60 left. It's my last chance to get any in before I can't watch any of them until November due to the challenges from July-October I'm going to participate in.

A few War musicals:

DARLING LILI
OH, WHAT A LOVELY WAR!
SOUTH PACIFIC
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (sort of, deals with the family fleeing the Nazis)
1776!

Some other possible choices for the challenge:
STAR! (biography of Gertrude Lawrence)
FUNNY GIRL/FUNNY LADY (biographies of Fanny Brice)
FANCY PANTS (Is it a musical or a western comedy or both?)
PIRATES OF PENZANCE
DREAMGIRLS (set in the 60's)
HAIRSPRAY (Set in the 60's)
HAIR! (also set in the 60's)

WHen you think about it, there are a lot of musicals that qualify.

As for what I'm going to start with, a friend recommended I start with my Robin Hood episodes, so might start with those.

Life/Earth docs count? I thought they were more nature than historical.

We take pretty much all docs here. It's not like they're going to qualify for any other challenge, and gettin' yer learn on is part of the objective of this challenge.

I have a bunch of these History sets and I'm sure a lot of them have repeated components. My shelf space would be ecstatic if I could figure the definitive version of each and toss the rest, but until then my Trevor-like OCD forces me to keep them all.

Nice, I have the series of Life, as well as some Wild Kingdom sets on DVD.

We go live in an hour. Any last minute suggestions or requests?

BTW, I forgot to actually add Musical to the checklist until just now. If you've already copied and pasted it, you'll want to update that.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Counts?

I'd be surprised if it did.