I am opening this thread because we seem to be headed for the former in case of MAD MEN.
I think separate threads leaves less chance for spoilers. Then, if you haven’t seen one episode yet, you don’t read that thread. (I’m currently very frustrated by the Dr. Who thread; I want to read it, but I’m not through this season yet so I’m afraid of getting spoiled. sigh)
Normally I prefer separate threads for each episode, but in certain cases there’s just not enough interest to warrant that.
For example, discussion of the (late and lamented) Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles was confined to roughly four threads over two seasons.
In general I prefer separate threads, but I make an exception for <blank>.
In my case <blank> is summer reality or competition type shows, like So You Think You Can Dance and Hell’s Kitchen.
I’ve never watched any of those and probably never will, so my interest is only academic; but why is a single long thread better for shows like that?
Silly Skald, you forgot _______
In this case, _______, being “it depends on the number of contributors on a weekly basis.”
I think if you’re getting a lively discussion with a wide variety of posters on each episode then each episode is going to need its own thread. Otherwise a 12 episode series is going to have something like 15-20 pages and a 24 episode series will have an unweildly 50-75 pages to wade through. And it’s not just the wading through part while the show is live.
Often times I’m catching a show for the first time in syndication and want to go back to when it was discussed, say, in 2005. How in the world am I going to determine where episode #13 is in the 67 page thread?
But what about series where you really want to weigh in on topics but know there’s just not much support? Shows like Top Shot I created a thread on and I think it’s perfectly fine to have the entire series as one thread. Better than than 13 separate threads where half of them get 5 replies and half slink off the page with no replies.
So, in the end…it depends.
The popularity of it is what makes all the difference.
Lost, which was wildly popular and complex, deserved it’s own thread for each episode.
Persons Unknown, an unpopular show that’s on now, really only needs the one thread for the whole season.
If a discussion is so active that the episode threads become long, then perhaps it deserves individual threads. If not, then no.
Because it’s easier to look up who did what and when in one long thread. Especially when you are trying to remember who did the Paso Double three weeks ago and who did that wonderful HipHop. 
Also, Hell’s Kitchen doesn’t garner a whole lot of responses so keeping them altogether just seems to make it easier to find.
I guess I just don’t like to dissect things in as much depth as others do, so for most shows, one thread seems fine. I don’t actually have any current exceptions, but I’ve had them in the past.
Yup, it totally depends on the nature of the show and thus the nature of the discussion. If there are only a few regulars, and if most of the posts are fairly short and focused, a single thread is better – this is the case with most of the shows I watch most avidly, esp. the reality/performance shows like *SYTYCD *and DWTS. Relatively few people write extended commentaries on particular episodes (though they’re usually worth reading when someone does) – it’s usually more like “loved this, hated that, did you catch when X said Y?,” making the amount of content per thread quite manageable even when done as a whole season. Plus, as Tequila points out, a single thread makes it easy to scroll up and see what happened last week or the week before.
Reality/competition shows like *Survivor *and *TAR *tend to draw more posters who write longer posts, and much more detailed analysis of strategy, etc., so multi threads are okay for that. I don’t watch the complicated dramas with ongoing stories, like *Lost *and Dr. Who, but would imagine that they would also benefit from the multi-thread approach.
In general I prefer separate threads, but I make an exception for <obscure shows that may only attract one or two comments per episode>.
But even in those cases, having a few threads that died after one or two posts wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Separate threads for each episode allow people to post at their own pace and be fairly confident they won’t hit major spoilers.
The 24 threads by episode allowed some fun exchanges and there was always some fun to be had. I had the impression that shooting holes in the show from every direction was the aim of those threads.
The one long thread on the new show Justified was much more seriously treated.
I like both types, but if a show is going to generate a lot of interest, and/or it’s going to have a good number of spoilers, then the big long thread will be harder to find your way in, especially if you aren’t there every episode.
It depends on how much interest there is. Mad-Men’s popular enough that individual threads can generate a couple of pages per episode. Hot in Cleveland isn’t.
I lobbied for a all-in-one thread for this year’s Doctor Who, for fear of lack of posting, but both the UK and US-paced ones did really well (>1200 posts combined), so maybe next year single episode ones will work.
I agree with Zeldar, here. Popular shows such as The Simpsons, South Park, and Futurama demand separate thread, as there would be too many comments to wade through if they were all in one thread. This is especially true of shows on one of the broadcast networks, such as House, which can have 22-24 episodes in a season.
Depends on the show. Lost, for example, really needed 1 thread per episode, since there were so many theories and discussions (and potential spoilers for anyone not caught up). The Office, on the other hand, really doesn’t need a new thread every single week - perhaps one for each season (or start a new one after a hiatus). Especially since half of the posts in each thread are people reiterating how the show sucks and they want it to be cancelled right now.
Each Office thread generated between 20-100 posts per episode. A single thread for the entire season would be very unwieldy.
One thread per episode is nice, but some shows aren’t popular enough to warrant it.
There are just a few of us willing to admit that we’re watching America’s Got Talent. I would go so far as to call myself a fan of the show and I have nothing to say about the one that aired last night. We don’t need separate threads for this one.
I just started watching Nip/Tuck from the beginning and looked up threads. It had more Dopers watching it than AGT but not a weekly thread’s worth. Still if it had had them I might not have spoiled some later episodes for myself.
This.