Perhaps one of the great things about television and movies is the sheer versatility. Both can be an experience enjoyed alone or in a group, though often for different reasons. But Grouper and TiVo (News - Alert) want to underscore the social side of television and movies, and are doing so as part of a new partnership that will help put each others' brands front and center in each others' products.

The Grouper experience—described as a “technology-based social club”--will be getting a whole new set of TV- and movie-centered themes added to it as a result of the the partnership, which is set to activate later in August. Grouper gatherings will get access to TV trivia games, as well as themed parties and even photo challenges.

Since Grouper gatherings are focused on small groups—traditionally, two groups of three—and commonly requires the group in question to meet at some kind of bar or the like (“pre-pay for the first round of drinks” is actually part of the abbreviated instruction chart) slipping TV and movie trivia into the event is a fairly natural extension.

Indeed, since both television and movies figure so readily into most any group experience—“who's watching what” is a likely topic at some point in the evening, and depending on the crowd, can be most of the evening—it's not out of line to have those group gatherings get a piece of those entertainment forms built right in, maybe making social intermingling between two groups of three a little easier to take.

Indeed, Grouper's CEO Michael Waxman noted, “When people meet for the first time, TV and movies are often times the ultimate ice-breaker conversation. This partnership will facilitate our goal of bringing people closer other by injecting pop culture into the mix.” This isn't the only intermingling that TiVo and Grouper expect to do, however; reports indicate that there will be more such brand intermingling to come over the next several months.

Meeting people—especially for those more introverted types out there—can be difficult as trying to pin down a reasonable area of conversation with which to begin an evening can be likewise difficult. If the evening doesn't get off to a good start, it's not likely to end well, either. But having a certain amount of topics ready to go improves the likelihood that the end result will come out right, and that makes things better and easier for all concerned.

Grouper's definitely made a good move here, bringing television and movies into its small-group meetings plan, and TiVo could benefit from the attentions of a younger demographic that may be pushing for cable cutting services that require a DVR progressively less. Only time will tell just how it all turns out, but Grouper and TiVo should be a very good match indeed.