@gazza911 wrote:
They go at the start of the season; you can see that here: https://staging.tvmaze.net/shows/1085/test/episodes
Well, in the Psych example that would be really weird. Positioning the special at the beginning of a season kind of imply that it should be watched before the season. However, the special was actually released 6 years after the end of a show, and definitely should be watched last.
@tnt wrote:
Well, in the Psych example that would be really weird. Positioning the special at the beginning of a season kind of imply that it should be watched before the season. However, the special was actually released 6 years after the end of a show, and definitely should be watched last.
It doesn't have a number, so would either have to go at the start or end without a date.
Maybe for this specific one being at the end works, but it wouldn't for others.
Until (and if) episodes can have an airdate and signify it's not on the same network, there's not much that can be done.
Copy editing stuff:
Specials should be rare; if a season has nearly as much (many) specials as regular episodes, you're most likely doing it wrong.
Theatrical movies related to a show may not be added. (might want to emphasise this in bold or something as it comes up so often)
Examples are Doctor Who's (the Doctor Who) christmas (Christmas) specials, or Black Mirror's "Bandersnatch".
If the episode has a different premise than regular episodes on the show, it should get the type (should be marked? maybe? Something just sounds off with that phrasing) "Insignificant Special".
Insignificant specials are only allowed when (if) their length is at least 50% the length of regular episodes.
@tnt Good point about specials without an airdate, will give it some thought what to do with that!
@LadyShelley thanks!
@tnt wrote:
Well, in the Psych example that would be really weird. Positioning the special at the beginning of a season kind of imply that it should be watched before the season. However, the special was actually released 6 years after the end of a show, and definitely should be watched last.
So if an episode doesn't have a number nor an airdate, there's really nothing we can do in terms of positioning it the "right" way.
How about simply excluding specials from the "season consistency" rules? That would fix this problem, and those rules were never specifically meant to target specials anyway.
@david wrote:
So if an episode doesn't have a number nor an airdate, there's really nothing we can do in terms of positioning it the "right" way.How about simply excluding specials from the "season consistency" rules? That would fix this problem, and those rules were never specifically meant to target specials anyway.
sounds fair!
@david wrote:
So if an episode doesn't have a number nor an airdate, there's really nothing we can do in terms of positioning it the "right" way.
Could it be done manually? Some ability to tell the system, where this special should be positioned.
How about simply excluding specials from the "season consistency" rules? That would fix this problem, and those rules were never specifically meant to target specials anyway.
Does this mean we could use the airdate even if special was released on a different source?
If there's no other way, probably this is the best solution.
@tnt wrote:
Could it be done manually? Some ability to tell the system, where this special should be positioned.
No, the ordering is already influenced by three variables: episode type, episode number, and airdate. Adding a 4th variable (some kind of manual ordering) to the mix would add an immense amount of complexity that's not proportional to the handful of edge cases this applies to.
Does this mean we could use the airdate even if special was released on a different source?
Yeah; I don't think there is any harm in that - specials are odd anyway so there's no real benefit in respecting the season consistency policy.
However, I did change specials without airdate to display at the end of the season instead of the start, that seems more likely to be appropriate.
@david wrote:
Yeah; I don't think there is any harm in that - specials are odd anyway so there's no real benefit in respecting the season consistency policy.
There's one small problem with it though - they could potentially create a scheduling conflict by appearing on the wrong network in the schedule.
This is now deployed, and the policy is updated!
I made a quick start at https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/210/doctor-who with marking episodes as significant special, and it's looking good. Please play around with it and let me know if anything is off or confusing. :)
Just so that others know:
Any specials that were added prior to the change automatically became Insignificant Specials.
@david The policy should also be updated to reflect that significant specials airing in another network are allowed to have an airdates set, ignoring the season consistency rule.
@gazza911 wrote:
@david The policy should also be updated to reflect that significant specials airing in another network are allowed to have an airdates set, ignoring the season consistency rule.
It's there in the season consistency section: "This rule does not apply to specials, which should still always follow the world premiere.".
@david wrote:
It's there in the season consistency section: "This rule does not apply to specials, which should still always follow the world premiere.".
Okay, must have missed that.
Should it apply to all specials, or just significant ones?
@gazza911 wrote:
Okay, must have missed that.Should it apply to all specials, or just significant ones?
All specials.
