Sci-Fi & Fantasy Group Watching Chat Event - Schedule ideas

Question

Edit The first group viewing event will be Sunday Jan 8th at 7pm PST, 8pm MST, 9pm CST and 10 pm EST, and 3:00 UTC on Monday. I'll create a new chat room called ViewScreen. I plan to watch the shows on Netflix, but you can use any means you want to watch the shows with us.

Link to the special chatroom: On Viewscreen The event has been scheduled for every two weeks and if you register, you get reminders when the thing will start so you don't forget.

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Ok, so sufficient interest in the idea of a group-watching chat event is present, so I'd like to open the floor for schedule ideas. I also think that we've agreed to watch a few episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series to kick this shebang off.

I was thinking to make the event regular, so it would be awesome if it was every week or once a month.

I was thinking of holding the first one this weekend on Friday the 6th, Saturday Jan 7th or Sunday Jan 8th sometime in the evening when everyone is available.

The event doesn't need more than a few participants to be hilarious. But the more the merrier.

Some rules I think we should abide by:

• Keep the chat on topic to the show we are watching. side talk should be done in another chat room or on another IM client if needed
• Try to keep the chat clean of any NSFW topics. Profanity can be allowed as I will be transcribing the event to a blog post afterwards and can bleep out any profane words if necessary
• We need to have some way of syncing the times with everyone, so I say if we're watching an episodic show like ST:TOS we have a sync-break after each episode
• This should be a funny event, so try not to get offended at the jokes people will be saying about your favorite characters

Any other rules and or times are welcome and I will edit the OP with a final time that is agreed upon.

Answer 1

This is a fantastic idea! Brett and I had talked, in Real Life, about potentially doing something like this. I love the idea of doing Trek episodes -- 22 minutes is time I can spare, and liveblogging/livechatting something is a lot of fun.

Things to keep in mind:

• Time zones are tricky! Try to sync up a la what Yuletide uses, which is this world clock event timer.
• If this is going to be a recurring event but with different shows, then pick the best episodes to introduce newbies to. Otherwise, if this is more MST3k, then pick accordingly. If this is going to be the TV equivalent of a read-along, then go in order. That way, if someone misses a week, they can catch up without a lot of confusion.
• Be reasonably consistent! Making this event at about the same time each week means people can/will make time for it. I know I always did when ONTD!StarTrek did their watch-alongs.
• If you do go through series-es, throw in a movie from time to time. It breaks things up, plus movies are as great of a way to generate questions. C'mon -- you all want to watch Manos: Hands of Fate, let's be real.
• Consider tossing in anime, as well -- Neon Genesis Evangelion, Trigun, and Gundam are all shows that would be on-topic here, as well as deep, broad-appeal shows that ask questions of the watcher.

And okay, this got kind of off-topic. But! The consistency of time and the time zone sync are the best tips I have for you. Also, if a moderator makes the chat event, a system message will appear immediately prior to the events' start. That will help pull in people into the chat who aren't necessarily surfing meta all the time like I am.

Also, major +1s to whomever suggested giving this its own chat room -- I think that would be best, imho.