New Show Status Pilot Only vs Series Ordered

When a series is ordered, they'll normally announce how many episodes have been ordered, so we can just set that on the season.

It doesn't matter, if it's the pilot order or straight to the series, the show is being developed, so the status "In development" seems logical. When the series was not picked up it's either deleted (if the pilot was not finished/not aired), or it's status being changed to "Ended."

The only thing that should be changed, is that "episodes ordered" in the show info would be always visible. Now you can't see it until the year/month of premiere is entered. Which is kind of awkward.

gazza911 wrote:
When a series is ordered, they'll normally announce how many episodes have been ordered, so we can just set that on the season.

I woudn't say it happens too often, for US cable or streaming series it's often announced much closer to their airdate then their order announcement, and even for broadcast series it's starting to become more irregular. That's much worse for British series, when sometimes nothing is known until a week before the airdate. I don't even want to think about series from other countries, for which sources are much, much more scarse.

Plus, it would require to combine 2 informations instead of one. I think it would be much more efficient to just change the status, if needed.

tnt wrote:
It doesn't matter, if it's the pilot order or straight to the series, the show is being developed, so the status "In development" seems logical. When the series was not picked up it's either deleted (if the pilot was not finished/not aired), or it's status being changed to "Ended."

The only thing that should be changed, is that "episodes ordered" in the show info would be always visible. Now you can't see it until the year/month of premiere is entered. Which is kind of awkward.

I understand that, but I think a series for which only the pilot has been ordered is not the same as a series fully ordered. Considering that only a 10% of pilots are actually ordered to series, it seems a very useful info. It's basically the same difference between a series already renewed and one still awaiting for its renewal (or cancellation).

I agree on making the "episode ordered" info always visible, but I guess that's another matter. :)

I don't see the need for this, especially since we delete pilots that doesn't get picked up.

Even programs with a series pickup without going through pilot first can hang fire for a year or more. Not sure there needs to be a distinction as even a series pick-up is no real guarantee the show will air within the next few months.

LadyShelley wrote:
as even a series pick-up is no real guarantee the show will air within the next few months.

Or at all ... the Coach revival from a few years ago had a 13 episode order, the pilot was filmed then everything was scrapped and nothing ever aired. Or that series set in ancient Egypt that was ordered but, other than a trailer, never saw the light of Ra. I'm sure there are other examples, these two just popped into my head.

Aidan wrote 3 days ago:

I don't see the need for this, especially since we delete pilots that doesn't get picked up.

Of course the problem does not exist for those not picked up. But until they're picked up (or cancelled), wouldn't be useful to know if it's already been picked up or not?

LadyShelleywrote 2 days ago:

Even programs with a series pickup without going through pilot first can hang fire for a year or more. Not sure there needs to be a distinction as even a series pick-up is no real guarantee the show will air within the next few months.

Not sure this address my suggestion: never said it was a timing "issue", just to separate pilot only ordered from full series ordered that are reasonably expected to air, eventually.

SilverSurferwrote 2 hours ago:

Or at all ... the Coach revival from a few years ago had a 13 episode order, the pilot was filmed then everything was scrapped and nothing ever aired. Or that series set in ancient Egypt that was ordered but, other than a trailer, never saw the light of Ra. I'm sure there are other examples, these two just popped into my head.

Sure, but same goes for renewal AND cancellations too, seeing how many series have been revived in the last couple of years. Should we leave all series in "To be determined" status, just to be (un)sure? :D

NathanDrake83 wrote:
Sure, but same goes for renewal AND cancellations too, seeing how many series have been revived in the last couple of years. Should we leave all series in "To be determined" status, just to be (un)sure? :D

The status would still be In Development as prior to cancellation it's expected, then it would be removed if the pilot never aired.

gazza911 wrote:
The status would still be In Development as prior to cancellation it's expected, then it would be removed if the pilot never aired.

Sorry, I didn’t specified, I was making a parallel with statuses used after the first season airs.