Thai Watch Challenge FAQ, Questions & Discussion

 Jelena Petrovic:

Hm, yes, that's a good point - should we go by release date (and most likely filming date) for the anthology as a whole or the release date for the particular segment?

I asked that question above on my personal account - maybe I should have on the club account? Anyway, seeking others' opinions. I already gave my personal one =D

 Jelena Petrovic:

This drama has no channel assigned but the cover says it's CH3, if I'm not mistaken?

From the cover it looks like terrestrial is Ch 3 HD and streaming (uncut) is Netflix.
Search on the English title only returns Netflix results, including imdb.
Search on Thai title wasn't helpful, aside from airing Ch3.
Couldn't find it on Ch3's YT or ch3plus.com. No OST on Ch3 YT. Two gossip/'news'links on ch3plus.
YT "Official Pilot" and other promo clips from PS Productions and S CLASS Official.

Found a stolen upload - Ch 3 HD logo at very beginning and very end. No Netflix logo. GagaOOLala watermark.
Multiple OST credits prominent in end credits but not yet on YT it seems.
MDL lists one front page actor as "signed with Channel 3" (Tee), two ex-BOC, nothing noted for the rest.

Don't understand the link between PS Productions and S CLASS but from the above I think they're the most likely production co.

Pretty much all BL listed on MDL with Channel 3 as the original network was made by a different production company. I don't see any reason to think it's a Ch3 production, only that they gave it some money and have the terrestrial airing rights.

Maybe terrestrial airing is what MDL means by "Original Network" ::shrugs::

GENRES have changed since the Challenge list was made. (So that's why Investigation wasn't accepted for Kinnaree ::facepalm:: even though it's still in the Genre list we have to chose from to submit edits ::WhyDoTheyMakeItDifficultForTheVolunteersTheyDependOn::)

Anyway - Detective, Investigation, Suspense, Tragedy are no longer official Genres. If you want to use a title where that would be appropriate if they were allowed, go for it. If I'm still accidentally "in charge" next year, I'll remove them for 2027. I made a note on the Challenge form itself but not the Rules because no one reads the Rules and I don't want to mess up the tidy opening post.

There are some Genres not in the list too, though not all are very useful for Thai titles.

My thoughts (Elisheva):
Business - a lot of modern lakorns have business settings but are dreadful with the details
Food, Music - staples of Thai life, probably worth including in the Genres list? It would be a place to use a Cooking show.

Law, Medical, Politics, Sci-Fi, War - these are not Thailand's strengths drama-wise, though they're making progress with Medical at last. Military and Historical + Martial Arts cover most that might be labeled War (like Bang Rajan).

Sitcoms - tend to be difficult to find with English subtitles. I know of Ho Family/4Freaks 4Fam and that's it.

Documentary - that's covered in a Challenge section. Double up or no? Anyone besides me seek them out?

My bias is that I use that section of the Challenge differently and try to watch something from every listed Genre rather than listing 5 to complete. It's just a way I found to encourage exploration. Most of these "new" genres will be difficult. My choices to add would be Business, Documentary, Food, Music and Medical.

There's also a slight potential complication in that they are making changes to various things and proceeding with their usual lack of transparency so who knows if the current list is stable. *Maybe* that bit is done. But this is MDL so ::shrug::

Opinions please....

Happened to not doing genre, just know about those genres changed to tags. Interesting news.

I think if the challengers already choose a specific title for those genres, it should be fine to keep going with it just like you said. If they haven't, they automatically won't find any title for those genres. So, it's good.

In my very own opinion, Thailand does their best in genre action, comedy, melodrama, supernatural and thriller. Just saying.

If the group is public, posts will still be visible to all friends and followers of the group member who posted and will show up in their Home and Friends feed. Only if the group is private, posts will be visible to group members only. An initial announcement of the group will certainly help draw attention :)

Thai PBS has a wee section listing titles which include Songkran, which got me thinking about adding a category to the Challenge for Thai holidays, festivals, ceremonies and such. I made a list to gather possible titles to recommend for it and started thinking about possible prompts.

I'm of two minds in including it - while it would be useful to encourage participants to seek out and learn more about Thai culture, many (perhaps most) aren't overly keen on that and ignore similar sections (like regions & Thai traditional, even the years & channels). I would have loved it when I started a few years ago, but I'm this weirdo who sees the Challenge as a way to increase my cultural literacy.

The Challenge is build your own but the list of possibilities is already so very long. And those of us who are probably likely to be interested in such a section will already be paying enough attention to be familiar with them.

What are your thoughts?

These are my initial thoughts for prompts:
Watch a title with Loy Krathong
Watch a title with Songkran
Watch a title with a Thai marriage ceremony
Watch a title with a Thai funeral
Watch a title with a Chinese festival, holiday or religious ceremony

Any other ideas?

Weddings and funerals are often spoilers though, which complicates putting them in a public list. I don't mind knowing so I could keep one set to private to share on the off chance anyone asked. The BL-centric crowd often don't realise the significance of the quiet at home marriage rites too, but they seem the least interested in Thai culture.

So basically I think this is a good idea in theory but one which won't be used and will be of little real use or interest to participants.

Your thoughts?