Is it possible (or reasonable), that the show status will automatically change to "To Be Determined" when the current season is ended and there are no more seasons added?
At the http://www.tvmaze.com/showstatus there's a lot of shows, which most recent seasons are ended, but there's no info yet about renewal/cancelling (so they shoul be considered as TBD, right?).
It would also be great if a show set to 'In Development' changed status to 'Running' automatically when the first episode airs too.
Especially automatically changing to "Running" would be nice.
Changing from Running to To Be Determined after the "season ends" isn't that simple;
1. The number of episodes in the season needs to be added, otherwise there's no way to know if the season has ended or if new episodes need to be added (even months later it could still be due to a long hiatus).
The additional problem then being due the mismatch between number of episodes (as specified by broadcaster) and episodes we list that can occur due to the 2-part episodes policy.
2. There would have to be a way of setting that it should become Ended after the last season airs; for example when it's announced that the next season will be the last. A checkbox saying Ends after current season or something similar would suffice. The reason for this is that it shouldn't become To Be Determined if we already know that it should become Ended.
As for the In Development to Running, I can't see any issues due to that.
gazza911 wrote:
Changing from Running to To Be Determined after the "season ends" isn't that simple;
1. The number of episodes in the season needs to be added, otherwise there's no way to know if the season has ended or if new episodes need to be added (even months later it could still be due to a long hiatus).
The additional problem then being due the mismatch between number of episodes (as specified by broadcaster) and episodes we list that can occur due to the 2-part episodes policy.
At least it can be done for the shows where all data is present. IF (number of episodes is set) AND (the last episode was aired) THEN (change the status). It'll work for the number of the shows, and the rest can be fixed manually. Anyway it's better, than changing all of the shows manually, some automation is always good.
The same can be done for changing from TBD to Running;Returning, when the new season is added.
And yes, In Development to Running is the easiest and most convenient.
