I think that's a great idea. It's going to be a popularity (vs. quality) contest either way, but at least this will force some thought and hopefully trigger some intriquing discussion (like the aforementioned Caruso vs. Smits).

das

I don't think I'll restrict genres. For one thing, it's a pain for me to keep track of. For another, there's a lot of shows that are "grey area." For example, does "Desperate Housewives" count as a comedy or as a drama?

Regarding the season/show discussion...how about a compromise? We draft seasons, but once a season is drafted for a show, no other seasons of that show can be drafted. So, if I draft season 3 of "Everybody Loves Raymond" it'll never come up against season 1 or season 4.

If you ask me, that rule would severely limit the very skill we're trying to measure here. We want to see who can set up the best slate of shows, and a necessary component of that is the mix of shows involved. It is an issue every real network exec struggles with.

I will say that I could support one rule like this: every slate has to have one news program. Otherwise, I fear that genre would unrealistically be entirely left out.

Heh. I wouldn't worry. I'm too stubborn to select popular choices and will likely draft an obscure array of greatness that leads to a first round exit to the guy who drafts Nanny 911 - Season 1.

das

Maybe it's just me, but it sounds pretty much equivalent to picking shows. I generally remember shows for their better seasons, so it's almost irrelevant to pick seasons if only one person can pick the show? I don't think anyone is going to pick seasons that aren't considered the best of a show.

Whereas, if we could choose multiple seasons, it may be more difficult for people to decide. But I agree with the complaint most people don't know the seasons.

I think we should either do all seasons or all shows. Not one season of each show.

I think that is going to be a real challenge for a lot of folks. I would be very tempted to select something like Wonderfalls, but who is going to vote for it?

I dunno ... I think it would be fun to compare seasons. Buffy (5) vs. Buffy (2) always gets people going. If we don't allow multiple people to pick from the same show, there's really no difference between seasons and shows. And what about the guy who selects 2 seasons from the same show? Is that a smart tactic, or is it a recipe for disaster? Just seems more fun that way.

das

I personally would give credit to anyone who managed to draft some sort of team with a common thread, or an original grouping, maybe even over better shows.

I think that a good addition to this would be allowing team names, which may allow people to see why we picked certain shows. It might make the game a bit more interesting if you have to decide between "Great Shows" and A Cleverly Drafted team.

I like that rule. It evens the playing fields between all shows and it won't be insanely hard to vote.

What about a set of rules like this:

32 teams, each choosing 10 seasons
Only *2* seasons of each show can be in the tournament

This increases the set-up time because there are more selections involved, but I would argue that also makes it more like a real network. It also creates the opportunity for something like Buffy season 2 vs. season 5 without adding so much content that only the top-flight shows will be involved in the contest.

I like this idea. I think it'll make the competition interesting especially if/when 2 shows come up against each other. Good call.

Too many rules just kills the strategy. If the 2 best seasons of Seinfeld have already been selected, is it really smart to try and select a third and at best only get 1/3 of the Seinfeld fans? I say we leave it open and let it sort itself out.

I do like going to 10 seasons, though. I'd bet all my Otter Droppings that Groucho doesn't have the endurance for that.

das

For the DVD draft, I had everybody draft 10 DVD's. By the time we got to the 10th selection a lot of players had dropped out. So I tentatively dropped it to 5 shows/seasons for this game.

The rule that could really put this over the top but would be a killer in terms of set-up time would be to give each network a budget and give every season possible a price. That way, you can have your Seinfeld Season 4 and your Friends Season 3 only if you're willing to fill the remaining slots with far less obvious choices.

I don't expect anyone has the stamina to set up that sort of game, myself included. It still would be really cool.

In the spirit of "programming a schedule," how about seven draft picks, one for each day of the week?

Sunday - Taradise, season 1
Monday - My Fair Brady, season 5
Tuesday - Oz, Season 2

etc...

You're full of good ideas haha.

I think this would be an amazing idea... but would probably take like a year to set up. And if were we going to do that, we might as well make it a website and buy and sell the shows and junk.

But ya, good idea... in theory.

Would you be constrained to choosing shows that aired on that night, or are you just suggesting that we would draft freely and then assign the shows to a particular night?

Sounds good to me.

das

You could do something very similar with an auction instead of a draft, but you would then have to have all of the participants in one place at one time.

i would be in, although this will be tough as I cannot distinguish Simpsons S 12 from S 14 (for example)

I'm in.

I would prefer to draft entire series though, because when it comes to voting I don't want to deal with Simpsons 3 vs Simpsons 4 etc.

I also think we should be able to draft TV shows that are not yet on DVD.

Ooh ooh I want to play. This sounds awesome. And I'm of the mind that picking a season of a particular show wouldn't play too well. As has been stated some people just like shows not particular seasons, nor can they distinguish between them.

I like the idea of 7 picks, one for each day of the week.

I also like the idea of only allowing two seasons per show.

I'm so getting Urkel for Friday

Okay, I've revamped the rules based on some of the discussion in this thread. Let me know what you think, and keep the feedback coming!