My exposure in helping to run a small Web community has introduced me to many new things to obsess over—music being a chief one [being that the community is music-focused], but also new television shows. For example, I’m now sucked into watching Gilmore Girls, due to many people, but I’ll blame Kari the most.

Like Stewart, I’m watching re-runs after the fact; I can’t particpate in our community’s online water-cooler discussion on GG, because I’m in the middle of Season Three right now. [Specifically, at the episode where the Independence Inn catches fire.] Given that the show is running Season Five on first run right now, I’m well behind them.

Mind you, TWoP is a big help in stimulating my interest in these shows—for example, I can now start to pick out the styles of the different writers, and I’m cultivating a healthy dislike for Daniel Palladino’s style, which tells more than it shows :(—but I’m earnestly seeking someone to discuss this with. My only option right now is my friend Misty, but I have no idea where she is in the show. She’s got their eleven-month-old son to worry about, so I bet she’s not plowing through this show like I have.

Stewart brings up a great possibility for someone like TiVo or Netflix:

I wonder if there’s an opportunity here for subscription services like NetFlix or TiVo or for retail outlets like Amazon or Blockbuster to create micro-communities of episodic entertainment viewers. Folks who aren’t watching the shows “as they happen,” but who are catching up. Netflix knows who else is watching Alias Season Three; could those users be connected for some watercooler conversation? Because I’m dying to talk with someone — anyone — about Sydney’s missing two years, while season four piles up on the TiVo…

I know that I’d be interested.