Guidelines for Adding Television Shows and Episodes

@pikahyper: @razzatazz:

This is just a suggestion for the episode pages, but on Anime Vice we started adding a table header with links to each episode within an arc/season. It makes it really fast and easy to browse through an entire series. It's especially helpful for going through larger series.

Here's a picture example from ONE PIECE Ep. 613.

You can see the name of the arc at the top "Punk Hazard". That's the most recent arc. The arrows to the left and right are used to scroll through the various arcs. By hitting that arrow to the left of the arc name, I can quickly go to the first episode of the arc that happened before this one. With the linked numbers below, I can very quickly get to any episode that appears within the Punk Hazard arc.

Something such as this might be helpful in this new series format. Though, that would probably go with seasons instead of arc names for most series.

I was unsure about this when we first started adding it, but I've really found it helpful.

@batsymyplaything: just out of respect send a PM to whoever it is that started the series, they might not care or they might have a legitimate reason to not continue, if you don't hear back in a day or two then I see no reason not to continue it.

you are correct, stuff shouldn't be added any earlier then what g_man said.

@magmagazer: some seasons already have more then that so ya that numbering would probably be best but a note should probably be included in the series description just to keep things clear.

@foxxfireart: no offense but I've always disliked that thing, it always just seemed like an easy way to get points to me since it is so rewarding, I'm not the only editor on AV that thinks so. Links don't reward as well here but there are some other things that would make it less useful such as the width of the description area which is much more narrow then we used to have and AV still has and we don't have the height in the description since it is effectively hidden until the reveal button is clicked. If any changes are going to come down for making tv episodes easier to view I'd rather see a system like screened has implemented.

One thing to keep in mind though, CV has one feature AV has always desperately needed, story arcs, I would suggest utilizing them more for tv shows since arc pages show a more useful view of arcs.

Then somebody should probably delete Agents of SHIELD.

@jedixman: yaaa we tend to not delete things a staff member adds :P plus it was the first show added to the site.

... well...

I had no idea it was post by staff... so... yeah. Ignore what I said...

@pikahyper said:

I just want to clear up what you said. You want us to add story arc in the series we're editing to each episode through each season, if possible. Am I right? Like for The Walking Dead, the first story arc is the "Days Gone By."

@jedixman: squigs is an engineer and probably the one who built the feature, he added Agents as a test to make sure everything was working before going live :)

@batsymyplaything: only legit story arcs, American shows rarely have story arcs and if they do they are only one or two parts, anime on the other hand has arcs. To be specific the Walking Dead tv series has no legitimate arcs.

I am not sure that we figured out how to deal with series story arcs yet.

@razzatazz: like I said above, legit ones only, they are not super common in American TV and are usually in cartoons instead of live action shows, creating story arcs based on dvd box sets would be the same as creating story arcs based on collected editions which isn't allowed, same thing. Justice League and JLU are good examples, the first seasons of each are almost exclusively two part story arcs with two three parters and one stand alone episode so each two/three parter is an arc. Avatar would be a good show for an American example of a longer arc more like anime, each season is sectioned off as a book so book 1, book 2, book 3, those also could technically be added as story arcs.

I see no reason to handle it any different then we already do for other sections of the site, it doesn't need to be complex, K.I.S.S., it is the best way to keep things, the tv section just inherits the same simple known rules from the other sections of the site so it cuts down on the learning curve, the only new rules should be for things that are exclusive to tv such as episode numbering or types of images allowed.

@razzatazz: @pikahyper:

What does it matter the amount of points earned for it? It's incredibly convenient for navigating and entire season from a single page.

With that table guide at the top, you can navigate every episode in a season/arc. I can also navigate the story arcs in order.

Yes, there are story arc pages in the wiki, but that doesn't always tell you which arc happened before or after. They also don't appear to link to series. Anime also often has filler arcs, which by site rules wouldn't be allowed. Not to mention so few comic shows ever follows arcs from comics. Then there are shows such as X-FILES or SMALLVILLE. This table guide at the top of each episode page could guide readers through the seasons.

@foxxfireart: as I said before a setup like screened would be better, your way would take up too much space on a series page pushing the description into the hidden area.

@pikahyper:

How could a table header that's barely a quarter of an inch take up too much space? I think you may be misunderstanding what I'm suggesting. I'm talking about what is at the top of the episode page in the picture I posted. The small portion where it says Punk Hazard and has all the episode numbers linked.

I also haven't been on Screened since Rorie left. I haven't the foggiest what you're talking about.

@foxxfireart: Still against, the episode ribbon makes it fairly redundant.

I'm gonna take a momentary break from drawing up synopsis for the Dragon Ball eps and just proceed to make up a new season or two. I'll still do the short description and add in original jap titles, but it's just we've got my aunts kids staying here until Sunday afternoon and I can't really focus. Hah, am I even doing the right job as it is, I wonder. :(

@renchamp: I think if the tv section was supposed to be a huge reason to visit the site it would be set up a little more "user friendly" and more like what people are used to :P vertical lists of episodes, production companies, technical details, seasons broken up, etc. I think it is more like you said, it is just another aspect of comics to keep people on the site, more of a one stop shop for almost anything comic related.

@pikahyper: Quick question since I don't wont to look like a ding dong again, but on the release dates on anime, do we put the day it aired in general, or the day it aired in America? =O

@dccomicsrule2011: country of origins air date.

@pikahyper: Okay thanks. :P

@dccomicsrule2011: np

@pikahyper: @razzatazz

The ribbon only shows you the list of episodes within the first few in relation to that episode.

What I'm suggesting would help guide users through not just all the episodes in that season, but then help quick browsing through the the seasons(or arcs). What about series that have hundreds of episodes and a number of seasons, such as STAR TREK and X-FILES.

@pikahyperI was going over the series page and notice that Star Trek: Enterprise didn't have a comic book series. It's not in ComicVine database, or wiki for Star Trek. So, am I right? There wasn't a comic book series for the show Star Trek: Enterprise because someone has added in the series page.

@batsymyplaything: it's still part of the Star Trek universe and to be technical it has a lot of recurring things from the comics: locations, races, ships, objects, teams, etc., it is pretty borderline but it is close enough to be useful to the site.

@foxxfireart: I am going to cede to pika's knowledge of how things worked at AV. He might come around though.

Suggestion: perhaps a rating tab. This is not just for episodes, but for movies and comics. They all have ratings, which might make it useful for users who want to know what is age appropriate.

Also, since the person who uploaded the series never added any episodes, can I take over adding episodes to the Torchwood series?

@jedixman: I had a chat with the member, who added the show. He said he'll get to the shows he added, but he didn't mind when I asked him about me starting to add new episodes to series he started, so email him and see what he says about Torchwood.

I stared helping with The Transformers but I have a question, when it went over to Japan as Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers and Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 they left out some episodes but also added episodes. How should this be handled, just leave the US episodes and make a second series for Super Robot? Or make a note somewhere? The extra episodes were normally just clip episodes combining several US episodes into one.

Also Season 5 wasn't a real season but a replay of past episodes and Transformers: The Movie being split into episodes. Should this be added as a season or just in the summary section as it is now?

Also for Transformers: Prime should Season 3 Beast Wars be separated similar to how Justice League Unlimited is being handled?

Also since I posted the link, this would be my personal preference of what the screen caps should consist of, basically the title scraped, similar to what @fhiz did with Batman: The Animated Series. Now when it comes to the Volume I do think a standard sized cover image should be found. Example was used a DVD cover or image, that way when you look at the series list it looks more uniform. Just my 2 cents.

People need to stop just adding series because they feel like it. Add something. At least a few episodes.

(I know I am not a mod or anything) But I thought would just comment on the bit in bold.

You mean Beast Hunters for TF Prime? I would say it counts as season three of Prime, therefore it would be in the same series. Since Beast Hunters is still Transformers Prime, its just an added name tagged on. But its still under TF Prime.

I did edit the TF Prime page and listed season three Beast Hunters there too. And it seems right to me.

@razzatazz:

On the topic of how things work on AV, I'm pretty sure I'm a better source than most. Considering I'm not only a mod there, but I also write regular articles for the sire's front news page.

You should try these guide bars we add yto anime pages on AV and see how easy they make navigating a large series.

A CV version would be different since many cartoons and shows don't follow arcs. Those could say "Season 1", ect.

@razzatazz: might want to add the link to @g_man's article in your first post or include what he wrote, took me a minute to find it under the new feed. http://www.comicvine.com/articles/comic-vine-wiki-update-comic-book-tv-shows/1100-147301/

@pikahyper this post.

Different country editions should be split up into separate series unless it is in the same language, the same as comics.

Probably skip season 5 but leave some info in the series description.

Beast Wars should be split off going by Tony's article.

@pikahyper: I just noticed Young Justice is combined as well, when the last season was re-titled Young Justice: Invasion, should those be split according to the "rules". I assume we are spitting in the same fashion that we split comic titles based on the indicia, basically a new name = new series even if it's a continuation of the original series.

@wmwadeii: blegh I hadn't noticed that one being done, but yes split.

Can we add The Simpsons and Futurama on Comic Vine since Bongo Comics is producing comics based on those series?

@crazyscarecrow: yes, Simpsons was already added though.

@pikahyper: OK thanks. Didn't know Simpsons were already added.

@crazyscarecrow: not all of it has been added yet but it is being worked on.

I'm going to assume that the answer is no, but do we include appearances when characters appeared in:

• The opening theme.
• Episode recap sequence.
• Coming attractions at the end ("To be continued" moments)

@jedixman: nope

I mentioned this already in the OP

Thanks someone added it.

@renchamp: episode exclusive arcs are fine, wouldn't be able to add many if they weren't.

@razzatazz@pikahyper I was wondering about the Flash live action TV show from the '90s. It doesn't seem to have its own page, and I was wondering if it will get one now that TV shows are added, or are we going with the version that states just the pilot as a "movie"? (the page is this one: The Flash)

@martianmanhunterisbetterthancy: the whole series should be added and the "movie" deleted.