General Edit

Our main goal is to reproduce the seasons exactly as they first aired on the original network.

But there are a few exceptions. One exception is that a new season should have at least two episodes. Special episodes should be added to the Specials, not as the next season. A popular example is White Christmas. The Black Mirror special was the only episode in "Series 3" on the official Channel 4 website.

Another exception is anime series. They have their own guidelines.

Revivals and Sequels

For regular series and miniseries that have sequels, we usually try to mirror the networks. Was it broadcast as the next season or as the first season of a new series? Did the sequel use the same website or have a new one?

For instance, Prison Break: Resurrection aired as the fifth season of Prison Break, Twin Peaks: The Return is the third season of Twin Peaks, and the brand-new season of The X-Files is season 11.

However, revivals such as Heroes Reborn, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Will & Grace and American Idol are new series.

Please put personal feelings aside and keep in mind that the most important thing for TMDb is the original release format.

Continuous Shows

Episodes are sometimes not split into proper seasons. This is often the case with soap opera and anime series. These shows should only have one season, which contains all the episodes.

Specials Edit

The special season is always Season 0.

Special episodes are any episodes that did not originally air as part of a regular, usually numbered season. Sometimes a network will call an episode a "special" episode—as an example, "in this special holiday themed episode"—but still assign it a season and episode number; in those cases, it should not be added to the special season here but, instead, to the season assigned to it by the network.

They sometimes air as an episode 0, an unnumbered episode or are released directly to DVD. For example, The IT Crowd's The Internet Is Coming and Black Mirror's White Christmas are special episodes.

Blooper episodes, recap episodes, preview episodes, best of episodes, live TV specials, (un)aired pilots, unaired or blacklisted episodes, etc. usually belong in the Specials.

Web specials, OVAs and spin-off webseries (e.g. Flight 462) can also be added to the Specials. If the network creates a separate page for the spin-off webseries, a new show should be created instead of adding the episodes as specials.

Some DVD bonus content is allowed.

No theatrical films, including short films. Proper television films, such as Looking: The Movie, generally belong in the movie section. Please do not create duplicates records for them in the Specials.

Season Number Edit

The first season is "1", the second season is "2."

Do not use years as season numbers (e.g. 2017).

Please be extra careful. If you misnumbered a season, please file a report.

Season Name Edit

We typically use the format "Season 1", "Season 2", "Season 3".

Local variants are accepted e.g. "Series 1", "Series 2", "Series 3" for UK series.

"Miniseries" can be used for Miniseries.

"Pilot" can be used for television pilots that were never picked up.

Season titles can be used when seasons have individual titles (e.g. anthology or anime series), the last season has a subtitle (e.g. Prison Break, Twin Peak), or there is two or more series in one entry.

However, for series that are re-titled during their initial run, the change should be reflected on a series level rather than on a season level.

The title of the series should not be added to series with independent season subtitles (e.g. Series Name: Season Name). A few popular example are American Horror Story, Spartacus, Survivor and Pokémon.

Season title formatting:

• The name of the series is sometimes an essential part of the season titles (e.g. NEW GAME!).
• For entries with two or more series, the full name of each series is usually added as a season name (e.g. Blackadder, Manon) unless they share a removable common prefix.
• When all the seasons except the first one have a subtitle, the title of the series can be used as the first season title.

Original Air Date Edit

The air date of the first episode of a season ( e.g. 3x01 for Season 3).

The Original Air Date field cannot be edited. You can fix incorrect original air dates by fixing the air date of the first episodes of each seasons.

The air date is "null" when there is no first episode. You can fix null air dates by adding the first episodes. (We do not yet properly support continuous numbering.)

Upcoming series with an unknown premiere date: we know the air date is wrong, but we can't remove it. Please be patient, we will fix it as soon as the premiere date is announced.

Season Overviews Edit

The Season Overview should briefly describe what happens during that season without spoilers, or describe specific information about that season that is different from the other seasons. Please don't enter an overview of the show in general. Some shows may have seasons which can't really be described or are the same as other season; in those cases, it's best to leave the overview blank.

Wikipedia overviews should be replaced with plot overviews.

Pre-season press releases often includes a tease of the upcoming season.

When using DVD descriptions as a reference, please remove any spoilers.

Screened theatrically? Edit

The theatrical flag on a season level should only be used for regular seasons that were screened in full at a film festival (e.g. Top of the Lake).

Please use the episodic theatrical flag for individual episodes and special episodes screened at a film festival or in theaters.