One of my favorite online columnists, Bill Simmons at ESPN, suggested the idea of a TV Channel Draft. The idea is if you can only watch shows from a set number of channels, and they are exclusively yours, which chanells would you choose. The selection is done via a draft.
Selena and I explored this idea, and here are our draft results, with a round by round breakdown to follow.
| Round | Selena | Greg |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  LOST, Desperate Housewives, Pushing Daisies, Extreme Makeover |
 30 Rock, The Office, Earl, Scrubs, NFL |
| 2 |  Weeds, Dexter, The Tudors |
 Prison Break, Simpsons, Family Guy, NFL, MLB |
| 3 |  Gossip Girl |
 Daily Show, Colbert Report, South Park |
| 4 |  Project Runway |
 PTI, Around the Horn, Sportscenter, NFL |
| 5 |  Flight of the Conchords |
 Anthony Bordain |
| 6 |  Mad Men |
 Countdown |
| 7 |  It’s Always Sunny… |
 Alton Brown shows |
Round by Round Breakdown
We both knew we wanted ABC, but Selena got the first pick in the draft. I was disappointed to lose LOST, as it’s my favorite show, but being a serpentine draft that meant I got the next two picks and locked up NBC and FOX.
Selena realizing she lost a lot of great shows with my picks didn’t hesitate to assure she didn’t lose some of her very favorites and took Showtime and CW to lock in Dexter, Weeds and Gossip Girl.
Following Selena’s lead, I then took Comedy Central and ESPN. I didn’t think Selena would value as highly as I would, but wanted to make sure I snatched them up.
Selena then took Bravo for it’s track record of great design-related reality shows and completed the set of pay channels with HBO.
Like in any draft, the pickings start slimming after the first few round, and following the HBO pick, everything else was based on single shows that we tend to watch with some regularity.
Results Recap
Selena got the top pick, ABC and ran the table on the pay stations, as well as securing her favorite tweeny and reality shows on CW and Bravo.
Greg got his sports across three channels, some pretty funny comedy and a lot of news and (oddly) food related shows as well.
And the Winner Is?
So, who do you think won the draft? Please tell us in using the comments below.
Oh, the NBC loss is hard but I do think Selena won overall. ABC, Bravo, HBO, and AMC? Those are winners. But you both got stuff you enjoy!
I would the decision over who won would depend a lot on the sex of the person voting. I would side with Greg in general as he got the comedies and sports that I like.
I do need to point out one error: Scrubs will no longer be on NBC. Its eighth season will be on ABC starting some time after the New Year, so Selena gets “Scrubs,” not Greg. That’s a huge loss in my book and almost makes me lean Selena’s way, but since it’s been off it’s game lately, I still side with Greg.
What, Scrubs is moving to ABC?!? Another reason it warrants the first pick. When we came up with the idea, I really didn’t know what would be the top pick in the draft, but after putting some thought behind it, Selena choose the best pick in ABC.
Yeah, they haven’t announced when it will be debuting but it’s definitely on ABC.
In other Scrubs news, JD and Carla and the producer have announced they’ll be leaving at the end of the season, but they will also be introducing 3 new interns who may carry on the show if ABC wants to continue it.
I’m going to buck the above mentioned male/female split decision. While I do think that Selena got the best overall pick, I think Greg got the most great channels. Probably because I don’t get any of those premium channels and don’t really feel like I’m missing out.
What I think would be awesome, is if we “battled” every week. i.e. Monday night, my CW show (Gossip Girl) vs. Fox’s Monday night (24 and Prison Break)
Might I also mention that I got True Blood, which I intend to start watching very soon?
Oh, and I’m also a closet 55-year old woman and I love “In Treatment.” Mostly because I also love Gabriel Bryne. So I’m glad I got that.
I’ve now finished the first 4 books of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Selena. I strongly recommend them! I don’t get HBO, so i won’t be watching “True Blood.” But I hate Anna Paquin as an actress so that’s okay with me.
True Blood has been very enjoyable thus far- I really look forward to it. I tend to miss it when it airs, and then wait a few weeks and watch a mini-marathon On Demand. And that suits, as I usually want more after just one episode.
If you react the way I did, don’t be put off by the first ep… I wasn’t so sure after I saw that one, but it got a lot better after that, and won me over.