I know IMDB uses this as well, but what's the point of having credited someone who didn't appear in any scene in the show? I can understand "Uncredited" because those actors appeared, but the only way "credited only" makes sense is if they appeared in deleted scenes perhaps. Otherwise, it was most likely a typo from whoever compiled end credits.
Is there any practical use of having these actors credited in episodes they didn't appear in?
https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/4107/spider-man
This is just one example of an old cartoon were the credits are the same for every episode, 3 actors credited for each episode even if they didnt appear at all. Also as @wmulder pointed out sometimes actors are contracted to be credited for X amount of episodes even if they dont appear in X amount of episodes.
@TomSouthwell wrote:
https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/4107/spider-manThis is just one example of an old cartoon were the credits are the same for every episode, 3 actors credited for each episode even if they didnt appear at all. Also as @wmulder pointed out sometimes actors are contracted to be credited for X amount of episodes even if they dont appear in X amount of episodes.
Basically any animation with multiple segments per episode would encounter this, because they don't have segment-specific credits, they're just all listed together on a full episode basis without separating them.
There was an episode of Friday Night Lights where a character doesn't appear but the actress is in the credits. The next episode even shows the scenes in previously on that were deleted. If somebody's just filling in credits here without watching the actual episode (which I come across plenty), then they'd add names just to add them and then seeing x-actor not listed would then add them thinking they're helping.
Yeah, with cartoons it's really weird. Original Scooby Doo constantly has same list of characters but doesn't add any new per episode so many characters are simply uncredited. Also, some of the voices may be used in cartoon opening so technically they do appear in every episode or "re-appear" since same segment is reused.
But when it comes to live-action shows, it's really strange.
For example, this episode of H2O... https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/189847/h2o-just-add-water-2x25-sea-change
It has Caroline and Jared in the credits but they don't appear in the episode. So I've added them as "credited only". They do play parents of one of the main actors and they sporadically appear in the episodes that have any relation to them, but in this one they were nowhere onscreen yet still were credited. This was either a typo or they did appear in a scene that was perhaps deleted.
But even if there is a contract that makes them appear credited in X number of random episodes, what sort of purpose does this site have for that? Aren't we trying to provide list of actors that appear in some episode correctly? Furthermore, we don't use same policy for main actors. When main actor doesn't appear in some episode, we simply don't mark him/her under appearance. And don't add him/her under credited only. So why do we do that with guest cast?
Also, many 2-part episodes list same full cast twice at the end credits even though some only appear in one episode (or in one half of a 2-part episode). I usually list them in episode they appear in such cases.
For example, part 1 - https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/189841/h2o-just-add-water-2x19-the-gracie-code-part-one
And part 2 - https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/189842/h2o-just-add-water-2x20-the-gracie-code-part-two
You can notice that I've listed exact main cast and guest cast that appear in each episode, but in the credits they just mashed them all the same in both end credits episodes because they treat that as "single long episode". Sometimes such episodes are not split in two in which case credits make sense, but having full set twice would literally be incorrect and serve no purpose here.
Usually if I watch some show I am interested to know who is acting or who will appear in it, not who was credited but never appears in it.
I believe there were some extreme special cases when each episode lists all characters from the entire series (one of you mentioned that for some Danish (?) show in one of the previous posts) where there was no reason to list them all in every episode as such.
What is the main goal of having credits on this site? That's what should guide the policy in regard to this.
But if we follow the logic of adding "uncredited" people who do not appear in the episode, by same logic we should exclude and not list "credited only" people since they do not appear in the episode. If we add people who do appear but are not credited, shouldn't we remove people who do not appear but are credited? Or is my logic flawed here? :)
For example, this episode of H2O... https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/189847/h2o-just-add-water-2x25-sea-change
It has Caroline and Jared in the credits but they don't appear in the episode. So I've added them as "credited only". They do play parents of one of the main actors and they sporadically appear in the episodes that have any relation to them, but in this one they were nowhere onscreen yet still were credited. This was either a typo or they did appear in a scene that was perhaps deleted.
While seasons 1 and 2 were generally correct, season 3 often credits characters that do no appear in episodes they were credited under so I am not adding those. I dunno if this is the right thing to do, but I just don't like wasting time on adding info that is of no use. Moreover since we equally list them on the episode page without any clear separation unless you click on "Guest Cast" and see they are added as "Credited only".
@kevin87 wrote:
Basically any animation with multiple segments per episode would encounter this, because they don't have segment-specific credits, they're just all listed together on a full episode basis without separating them.There was an episode of Friday Night Lights where a character doesn't appear but the actress is in the credits. The next episode even shows the scenes in previously on that were deleted. If somebody's just filling in credits here without watching the actual episode (which I come across plenty), then they'd add names just to add them and then seeing x-actor not listed would then add them thinking they're helping.
Does it say anywhere we should be crediting animation cast like that though. Im genuinely curious by the way 😂. I just started working on Teen Titans Go and just listed the guest cast in the segment they appeared in. Should they be listed in both segments though? @david
@TomSouthwell wrote:
Does it say anywhere we should be crediting animation cast like that though. Im genuinely curious by the way 😂. I just started working on Teen Titans Go and just listed the guest cast in the segment they appeared in. Should they be listed in both segments though? @david
I don't think there's ever been a discussion about it, but when I've done some I will type the credits out in a txt file and then when watch the episode I'll put a (1) or (2) beside the name so I know which actually appears and I'll put the ones who don't actually appear in that segment as credit only, since the credits don't separate them and we only do because of the individual writing/directing credits lol I think maybe I'm just being overly thorough though.
@david to summarise the questions that have arose in this chat and the staff chat
Why do we 'credit only' guest cast but dont have a 'credit only' option for main cast?
How should 'credit only' be used in segmented shows, with a shared set of end credits?
@TomSouthwell wrote:
@david to summarise the questions that have arose in this chat and the staff chatWhy do we 'credit only' guest cast but dont have a 'credit only' option for main cast?
I think this is as simple as: because people asked for it for Guest Cast, but not for Main Cast :-) In theory we could support it for the latter too ofcourse, but I think it's just a lot less prevalent there?
How should 'credit only' be used in segmented shows, with a shared set of end credits?
So if I understand you correctly: an episode that clearly (as described in the policy) consists of two parts, but only has a single set of (cast) credits? In that case I would apply the credits to both of the parts, optionally making use of the "credit only" type. Does that make sense for you too?
@david wrote:
you correctly: an episode that clearly (as described in the policy) consists of two parts, but only has a single set of (cast) credits? In that case I would apply the credits to both of the parts, optionally making use of the "credit only" type. Does that make sense for you too?
This makes sense and is probably how many people here does it, but I must say I rather don't add "credited only" cast at all and only those that appear. Main reason for this is that all guest cast appear equally on an episode page so say if we have 2 guest cast, 3 co-acting, 1 uncredited, and 1 credited only they would all be listed under guest cast and unless you click on "Guest Cast" tab and see the clear distinction, whoever is watching certain page of the episode could just assume that all the guest cast will appear and be (un)happy with it only to later realise some of them did not appear.
Perhaps "credited only" should not appear on the episode page of guest cast but only if you click on "guest cast" tab. There is no reason to show them where guest cast isn't clearly separated and everyone will assume that all the guest cast will appear. Wouldn't that be an acceptable solution?
@MAT13 wrote:
This makes sense and is probably how many people here does it, but I must say I rather don't add "credited only" cast at all and only those that appear. Main reason for this is that all guest cast appear equally on an episode page so say if we have 2 guest cast, 3 co-acting, 1 uncredited, and 1 credited only they would all be listed under guest cast and unless you click on "Guest Cast" tab and see the clear distinction, whoever is watching certain page of the episode could just assume that all the guest cast will appear and be (un)happy with it only to later realise some of them did not appear.Perhaps "credited only" should not appear on the episode page of guest cast but only if you click on "guest cast" tab. There is no reason to show them where guest cast isn't clearly separated and everyone will assume that all the guest cast will appear. Wouldn't that be an acceptable solution?
Could we make those distinctions display on episode pages @david ?
@david wrote:
I think this is as simple as: because people asked for it for Guest Cast, but not for Main Cast :-) In theory we could support it for the latter too ofcourse, but I think it's just a lot less prevalent there?
People are asking for it now 😂. @RoseRed also questioned in the chat why it doesn't exist at starring level but does at guest level.
So if I understand you correctly: an episode that clearly (as described in the policy) consists of two parts, but only has a single set of (cast) credits? In that case I would apply the credits to both of the parts, optionally making use of the "credit only" type. Does that make sense for you too?
Single set of cast and majority of crew credits. It does make sense, but does this need to go in policy somewhere too? At the moment i would just add them tk the segment they appear in rather then both.
@TomSouthwell wrote:
Could we make those distinctions display on episode pages @david ?
There's no room on that page to display the distinction, and to completely hide the "credit only" entries from there wouldn't be any more clear IMO.
People are asking for it now 😂. @RoseRed also questioned in the chat why it doesn't exist at starring level but does at guest level.
But how common is it really that someone is credited as main cast but doesn't appear in a single of the show's episodes?! Do you have enough examples that'd justify adding it?
Single set of cast and majority of crew credits. It does make sense, but does this need to go in policy somewhere too? At the moment i would just add them tk the segment they appear in rather then both.
Yeah, if we all (mostly) agree I'll add this to the policy explicitly.
Main cast is already credited as, well, main cast. Then their appearances are tracked on the episode level. So I don't see the need for a credit only there.
@Aidan wrote:
Main cast is already credited as, well, main cast. Then their appearances are tracked on the episode level. So I don't see the need for a credit only there.
I think you're confusing two things here. You only track their appearance on episode level, not whether they were credited or not.
It isn't uncommon for some of the main characters not to appear in some of the episodes but the opening where they're all credited is still there.
When you don't see them in the episode appearance there can be two causes: (1) they were credited but they simply didn't appear in that episode, or (2) they stopped being main cast from that episode onward.
Just mentioning the difference. I personally don't care for credited-only main/guest cast since they don't appear so I don't see the reason they need to be listed either way.
I would rather we don't have "credited only" feature for guest cast than to add that feature to main cast.
Right, now I get what you mean: extend the Cast Appearance functionality to also allow tracking Main Cast members that didn't actually appear but were credited in an episode. I wouldn't be against that, but refactoring the Cast Appearances (from a simple yes/no to a ternary value) would be a big undertaking, so it's not likely to be top priority any time soon.
