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Fiction/entertainment guideline notices
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RfC: Awards for fictional elements: Are awards for fictional elements, most notably characters, able to indicate the likelyhood of notability of said element?

Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Spoilers: Should spoiler warnings be added to all articles that cover a fictional topic or should spoilers be removed by removing all plot summaries from all articles, except for any sentences that can be sourced to secondary sources only?

edit · history · watch · refresh

To-do list for Wikipedia:WikiProject Television:

To do list:

edit - history - watch - purge

Contribute to the assessment drive by assessing articles in the unassessed category.
Ensure that requests for article assessment are met promptly.
Ensure that articles tagged for needing our expert attention are dealt with quickly.
Participate in deletion discussions for television-related articles.
Tag articles related to television with the {{television}} template
- Tag articles covered by Wikiproject Lost
- Tag articles covered by Wikiproject The Simpsons
- Tag articles covered by WikiProject The Apprentice UK
Add Infoboxes to TV-show articles that don't yet have them
Tag articles with requests for improvement
Work on articles needing improvement
Note or direct people to biography conventions for articles on actors, crew. Similar for characters and episodes etc.
Take on the task of analyzing Category:Television and its subcats. What categories do we think should be added to the articles, and which should go (Overcategorization) ? We also need to better explain on the category pages what they are intended for and weed out the articles that do not belong there. Some categories might need renaming because of WP:TV-NC ??
Define a list of TV genres to be used in the Infobox
Setup guidelines for trivia, ratings, filmography
Ensure that shows are discussed in the present tense.

Archives
Jul 2004 to Apr 2006 Apr 2006 to Sep 2006 Sep 2006 to Dec 2006 Dec 2006 to Jan 2007 Jan 2007 to Mar 2007 Mar 2007 to Sep 2007 Oct 2007 to Dec 2007 Jan 2008 to Mar 2008 Apr 2008 to Sep 2008 Oct 2008 to

[edit] FAR for Cheers

I have nominated Cheers for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets featured article criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fritzpoll (talk • contribs) 08:12, March 10, 2009

[edit] Article alerts

This is a notice to let you know about Article alerts, a fully-automated subscription-based news delivery system designed to notify WikiProjects and Taskforces when articles are entering Articles for deletion, Requests for comment, Peer review and other workflows (full list). The reports are updated on a daily basis, and provide brief summaries of what happened, with relevant links to discussion or results when possible. A certain degree of customization is available; WikiProjects and Taskforces can choose which workflows to include, have individual reports generated for each workflow, have deletion discussion transcluded on the reports, and so on. An example of a customized report can be found here.

If you are already subscribed to Article Alerts, it is now easier to report bugs and request new features. We are also in the process of implementing a "news system", which would let projects know about ongoing discussions on a wikipedia-wide level, and other things of interest. The developers also note that some subscribing WikiProjects and Taskforces use the display=none parameter, but forget to give a link to their alert page. Your alert page should be located at "Wikipedia:PROJECT-OR-TASKFORCE-HOMEPAGE/Article alerts". Questions and feedback should be left at Wikipedia talk:Article alerts.

Message sent by User:Addbot to all active wiki projects per request, Comments on the message and bot are welcome here.

Thanks. — Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 09:45, 15 March, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Charmed mergers

see Talk:List of Charmed episodes#Charmed (season_5)_and_Charmed_(season_6). -- User:Docu

[edit] Notability and fiction

WP:FICT: There is an RfC discussing the consensus on notability and how it applies to elements of fiction. Please feel free to comment on views and proposals, and add your own at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Notability and fiction.

[edit] List of Desperate Housewives episodes nominated at FLRC

I have nominated List of Desperate Housewives episodes for featured list removal here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets the featured list criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks; editors may declare to "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here.

[edit] Game of Thrones (TV series) article

I would like some outside perspective on this matter in regards to the external links section of Game of Thrones (TV series). WP:MOSTV states that linking fansites are appropriate only if they demonstrate "more [significance] than any random fansite." Westeros.org contains an overwhelming amount of helpful information, but as the TV series do not necessarily pertain to the books, the link given is the forum. Technically, WP:MOSTV states that forums should not be linked to, but what differentiates the forum at westeros.org is that the executive producers post there (as does the girlfriend of the author, who works as a co-executive producer and is a reliable and credible source in regards to series), hence signifying a sanction of "recognized authority" (to quote from WP:EL). Winter is Coming blog is a fansite (in the form of a blog, so calling it 'only a blog' would be wrong) that is generally recognized within the ASoIaF fan community as the big source for HBO's GoT, as it alone receives insider information that proved to be right (HBO reacted to the leaks by punishing those who worked there and leaked info) and has been cited and/or mentioned by news articles by TV critics as an authoritative source. In addition, both fansites interact with some of the crew working on GoT on what seems to be a regular basis. I was wondering if I should either keep at least one fansite (or both) or remove both of them (along with a third that seems be a very small, random fansite) from the article altogether. Thoughts? —Mirlen^Talk 18:31, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

At first glance, they all seem to be providing largely the same information. Fansites are generally discouraged, and while there are some that can be significant enough to include I doubt there are 3 of them. My personal suggestion, based on WP:EL, WP:MOSTV, and the information I see presented on the fansites is that you determine which one is generally considered to be the most significant than any of the others and use that one only. BIGNOLE (Contact me) 19:00, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, I wasn't considering the third one at all, as it is a newly created fansite and does not yet prove to be more significant than the first two. After much consideration, I've decided to keep the WiC in the external links, which essentially serves as an informal 'further reading' section, and keep Westeros.org's forum as a primary source when quoting the executive producers and another member of the crew who posts there (as there is no need to post a primary source in the external links section when it's already in ref. section). —Mirlen^Talk 17:10, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] List of awards and nominations received by Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

I've nominated this article a week or so ago, and has received only one a comment since then. If anyone would like to comment, I would greatly appreciated it. The Flash ^{talk} 21:11, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Title cards in infobox

Is it the best option considering the limited amount of FU images we're allowed? - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 04:57, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I don't think they really are. Most of the time, they are just stylized text that really do not do much to identify the series. I think a DVD cover or a promotional image would generally be better. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 05:11, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Using the title card is easy and consistent, but I think we should ask ourselves "if we can only have one image to represent this television show, what's the best image". - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 05:20, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Here's my three cents. The majority of title cards consist of (a) the show's logo and (b) some sort of embellishment or background to the logo. Now, the logo itself is what represents the show; it appears on merchandise, DVD sets, websites, production material, etc. The title card on the other hand is typically--is not mostly--only used in the show's opening sequence; even then, it can change from season to season depending on the show's subject or budget. The logo then is therefore more appropriate and representative of a show than its title card. Logos also have the benefit of frequently consisting only of text and simple geometric shapes, making them ineligible for copyright, and opening them up for much wider and liberal usage here in Wikipedia.

First of all, I'd like to point out (and laud) the House WikiProject and its members for extracting that show's logo (and converted it to SVG!) for wider usage on Wikipedia. Not only is the logo employed across the articlespace where logical, but it's even used in the talkspace, wikispace, and userspace! That's awesome!

Secondly, I realized that while a lot of shows I watch have title cards that meet the threshold of originality for copyright, the logos in those title cards--that are used far and wide without the copyrightable elements of the title card--are usually textual only and fall into the public domain. But that I had the image manipulation skills, I would extract the logos myself from the six Star Trek series, CSI (1, 2, & 3), NCIS, FlashForward, Lie to Me, Life, Warehouse 13, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Journeyman come to mind off the top of my head. All these shows have a base textual logo that, while usually included in their copyrighted title cards, cannot be copyrighted by themselves.

Therefore it's my argument that no, using the copyrighted title cards is frequently not the best option, and in fact can be construed in many circumstances to fail WP:NFCC#1 and #3. — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 05:44, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Then what would you suggest? The idea of using "promotional art" creates its own problems, because you get new promotional art each season, and none of it typically reflects the show as a whole but more a specific season. You can't just go with the most recent, but at the same time, sticking with something that was used to promote the pilot episode of a show is not really the best option either. BIGNOLE (Contact me) 06:31, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Bignole... are you asking me? I'm suggesting we use the basest common elements of a show's representation (it's base logo, if you will) and use that as it'll frequently be only text and shapes.

For example, Star Trek: Voyager's title card (File:VOYlogo.png) incorporates elements that cross the threshold of originality: the starfield in the background, and metallic overlay of the text are apparent. However, if we look at how the Voyager logo is represented elsewhere, we'll see that only the words and particular shape/layout of the words remains consistent across the product: all seven DVD sets simply colour the textual logo white in their box art [1], the books vary its colouring, but retain the same shape and layout of the textual logo [2], the Star Trek: Voyager magazine continues the colour-play while retaining the textual identicality [3], and the Star Trek website itself only uses the base text arrangement (in white, occasionally with a drop shadow) [4]. What this shows me is that what represents Star Trek: Voyager across the board is the specific arrangement and font of the series' name, and that can be simply enough recreated (if not copied from elsewhere) without running afoul of copyright limitations due to its intrinsic simplicity ({{PD-textlogo}}). — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 07:07, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

If only one image is allowed, do we really think some text is the best possible image? - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 07:25, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

House

I'm not sure what you're asking. "If only one image is allowed"? Where? How? Are you referring to a show's article or its infobox? Are you confusing non-free image use with libre-image use? As to whether "some text" is the best possible image, in many instances I think it is, because it is that show's logo. Not only does the House logo not fall under the auspices of the non-free content criteria, but it is the actual logo of the show as presented across that franchise. — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 17:18, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

So, you're suggesting that instead of using the actual title card, which is typically the considered the "logo", we should just use a user created version of the logo (which would ultimately be "free" because most logos are basic shapes and texts that cannot be copyrighted)? If so, I ask, how do you prevent the edit wars over who's "logo" is the better option? I can see that getting out of hand very easily. BIGNOLE (Contact me) 18:25, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Bignole, I respectfully disagree with the consideration of a show's title card as its logo, especially since some shows will change their title card over the course of the series, but the logo implemented itself doesn't. Furthermore, the franchises themselves don't use the title card as the logo, but implement a specific logo across all their associated products. As to edit warring, I haven't seen any where implemented, but as that's been a small sample thus far, I can't speak to the possibility. All this being said though, if both the title card and logo are representative of the product, and one is copyrighted and one isn't, then the latter is preferred by the direction of WP:NFCC#1. — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 19:21, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

However, if the logo is purely stylized text, as is in the case in House, it does not meet WP:NFCC and does nothing to identify the series. "House" still equals "House" no matter what font its written in. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 18:31, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Then what should be there? I mentioned promotional image or DVD, but a DVD is only going to represent one season (and we can't have all the DVDs, because it wouldn't pass NFCC). A promotional poster is often the same way, being specifically directed at either one episode or one season. Then it becomes a fight over which promotional poster is better, or which season of DVD to use. I think the reason we've always kept it at "title card" was because there wasn't a lot to argue about (what..which second of freeze frame to use?). Obviously, as PD pointed out, in most of those cases we could get away with just using the stylized logo that the studio uses, because we can use that for free (which, I think is an acceptable alternative to the title card, but I'm not sure if a promo image or DVD is). BIGNOLE (Contact me) 19:14, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

You're saying that the image above does nothing to identify the series House? It is consistently--if not singularly--used across the franchise to identify the product from its title card to its website to merchandise related to and produced by FOX. Apparently both I and the Fox Broadcasting Company find the font, arrangement, and shapes of this logo to be sufficiently distinctive to identify the TV series House and all related with it. — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 19:21, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

I didn't read your earlier post correctly when I made my last comment. If there's something non-copyrightable that represents a show well, that would be a good thing to use where needed. What about using cast images? It seems between a non-free text and graphics image and a non-free cast image, the cast image more important. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 19:36, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't think so. A non-free cast image (assuming you can find a group image, because it would look odd to join multiple images together) for the main page infobox would seem odd to have when the page is about more than just these select people in a picture. Especially if you didn't know what the show was about and as such didn't know who these people even were. BIGNOLE (Contact me) 19:46, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

I can see some merit to that, but make two points in return. (a) The TV series infobox doesn't have a restrictive function for images, it just takes regular old wiki syntax. You could then even accommodate both in an infobox, by just typing [[File:SHOWLOGO.svg]]<p>[[File:SHOWCAST.jpg]]. (b) Since most shows have a cast section specifically discussing them, wouldn't a cast photo be more apropos there? And if so, would you use it twice in the article, then? — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 19:47, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Regardless of if it's being used somewhere else, it still creates a "who is this" effect when come to the article. If the only image you have is a cast image, why even put it in the infobox at all? BIGNOLE (Contact me) 20:26, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

(redent)Well, if only one non-free image were allowed, I'd guess that the most important one for most TV shows would be the cast image. Showing the cast in the infobox doesn't seem confusing to me, but I could be wrong. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 03:15, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

How much of the cast? Which iteration of the cast? What about shows with rotating casts or no recurring cast? Then there's the complication of whether a non-free image of the cast would meet all the auspices of the NFCC. It's rather an untenable decision to determine just exactly what segment of the cast at which time constitutes the "identity of the show", if they do at all. — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 03:44, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, you do the best you can on a case by case basis. But, I imagine it's easier than meeting the NFCC with a title card. Unless you happen to find commentary on the selection of the font and background image, all you can say is "it represents the article", which I don't think it does best. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 01:39, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't think a cast image does it best either. First, a lot of shows don't have free images of the cast (whether together or a part). Secondly, the article is about a show, not just the select people in front of the camera. You'd be just as inclined to have a photo of the creator, or some writer/director. BIGNOLE (Contact me) 01:58, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Spoiler Warning Discussion

A discussion is underway at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 55#SPOILER ALERT disclaimers discussing whether spoiler alerts should be added to all articles that cover a fictional topic. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 04:57, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

As an update, this discussion now has several editors calling for the removal of plot summaries from all articles, except for what plot can be sourced to secondary sources (and therefore the bulk of spoilers all in one go). -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 04:08, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] TV Channel Infobox Proposal

I have made a proposal at Template talk:Infobox TV channel#Remove of Channel params to remove all of the individual channel number/carrier params of the infobox. Further input would be appreciated. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 07:30, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Too many useless Masters of the Universe articles

There are too many poorly written and articles with little justification for notability or evidence of third person notability. Wikipedia is not for fan speculation or essays. There were no reliable sources, and as such constituted original research (specifically WP:SYNTH). If sources can be provided to demonstrate that this is notable in any real-world sense then sources should be added.

List of Masters of the Universe characters needs rewritting.

Minor characters which I believe are minor and have no reliable third person sources needs deletion

Rotar

Megator

Ninjor (Masters of the Universe)

Extendar

Lizard Man

Batros

This does not meet general notability and I believe is WP:FANCRUFT needs deletion

List of Masters of the Universe vehicles

Dwanyewest (talk) 02:21, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

List of Masters of the Universe vehicles

Clamp Champ

Ninjor (Masters of the Universe)

Extendar

Wind Raider

Need to be dealt with they are a waste of space

Dwanyewest (talk) 00:38, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Episode mergers

Diamond Ray of Disappearance, The Problem with Power, The Cosmic Comet, Teela's Quest, Origin of the Sorceress all should be merged into List of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episodes

Dwanyewest (talk) 02:54, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Now that you've tagged the articles and notified this project are you going to start the discussion at the list of episodes? Help:Merging — Sarilox (talk) 15:38, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

If this is what I must do I shall Dwanyewest (talk) 02:12, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Correct tense

I know that we're told to say "Hogan's Heroes is a television series", rather than was because it continues to exist, per MOS:TV ("References to the show should be in the present tense since shows no longer airing still exist") but I'm having a problem at Popstars The Rivals, because it no longer airs, and it focussed on a single event (winning a singing competition). The event no longer exists, so it sounds odd to say "Popstars The Rivals (often stylised as Popstars: The Rivals) is an interactive reality, talent show broadcast in the United Kingdom during the autumn of 2002." Is this an exception to the rule? Matthewedwards : Chat 01:31, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Is is still correct, as the episodes do still exist. It was a single event, but it was recorded and video from it still exists, so it still exists. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 01:39, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

One solution is to put the information into two sentences. Popstars The Rivals (often stylised as Popstars: The Rivals) is an interactive reality, talent show. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom during the autumn of 2002. – sgeureka ^t•c 13:22, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I started drafting a little guide at User:The JPS/tense. The JPS^{talk to me} 13:25, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] FAC for Supernatural (season 1)

Can anyone familiar with featured articles please take a look at Wikipedia:Featured_article_candidates/Supernatural_(season_1)/archive2 and give their input on whether or not it meets the criteria? Thanks. Ω phois 08:42, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed merger

It has been proposed that History of Family Guy be merged into Family Guy on the grounds that it is a content fork. Can editors please give their input? Discussion is here. Thanks. Ω phois 21:03, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] How the Earth Was Made

Another editor and I are having some disagreements over what is and is not appropriate in the infobox. Specifically whether there should be a caption on the image and if so what, if (without commercials) is appropriate to add after the episode runtime, if "Science" is a genre that needs to be appended to Documentary, and whether we should use History or The History Channel (which even the channel itself can't seem to decide on). Additional views would be useful at Talk:How the Earth Was Made#Infobox issues.-- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 01:27, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't think we have a standard way of doing most of those things. I think we usually have a "Showname title card" caption, although I'm not a fan of it. I've seen the time as 44 minutes and 1 hour, so whether or not it has commercials is a good thing to mention, in my opinion. We have Category:Documentaries about science, but I kinda think that's unnecessary (unless we have a specific page for that type of doc). And, I've seen History used instead of The History Channel, and I'm not a fan of that because it's ambiguous. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 03:54, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

There is now a dispute on this article regarding if the episode width should be set at 65-70% (current), 100% (one editor), or removed all together (from the 30 responder to the disagreement over the first two). For such a tiny article, it sure seems to bring out some crazy arguments. Further views would certainly be appreciated and useful at Talk:How the Earth Was Made#Episode table width dispute -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 16:20, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Template:Infobox Television Name

A proposal has been made to rename the Television infobox. Views welcome at Template talk:Infobox Television# Name -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 00:33, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] San Diego Comic Con

Would San Diego Comic Con fall within the scope of the project due to large number of shows which premier or hold a panel at the event? --RightCowLeftCoast (talk) 22:29, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] FAC for Supernatural (season 2)

I have nominated Supernatural (season 2) for FAC. Can anyone please take the time and review it here? Ω phois 21:23, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Question about TV channels

I think this is the most relevant WP so I'll ask here. I was thinking it would perhaps be a good thing to restructure Canal+ Sport 1 (Scandinavia) (and it's sister channels 2, HD and Extra (no article)). Now the channels are "merged" into articles by channel name, I think it would be better to merge by country. So we have Canal+ Sport (Sweden), Canal+ Sport (Denmark), Canal+ Sport (Norway), Canal+ Sport (Finland) where 1, 2, Extra and HD are show similar to Sky Sports. The main reason for this would be that the broadcast rights for the sports are not exactly the same in all countries (for example, Serie A is not shown in Sweden but in all 3 others, in Finland the UEFA Champions League/Europa League are shown but not in the others) and I would say the Swedish C+S1 has more in common with S2, SExtra and SHD than C+S1 NO, DK and FI.

So how should I go about implementing this or getting some merge/move/split discussions going (There doesn't seem to be many people watching either Canal+ Sport 1 (Scandinavia) or C More Entertainment) cha ndl er 00:44, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] New articles

I've set up the AlexNewArtBot to list new articles related to this project. I recommend watchlisting User:AlexNewArtBot/TelevisionSearchResult for anyone interested in patrolling new television articles. The search results are updated daily. Sarilox (talk) 01:48, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Pageview stats

After a recent request, I added WikiProject Television to the list of projects to compile monthly pageview stats for. The data is the same used by http://stats.grok.se/en/ but the program is different, and includes the aggregate views from all redirects to each page. The stats are at Wikipedia:WikiProject Television/Popular pages.

The page will be updated monthly with new data. The edits aren't marked as bot edits, so they will show up in watchlists. You can view more results, request a new project be added to the list, or request a configuration change for this project using the toolserver tool. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks! Mr.Z-man 01:03, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Book-class

Since several Wikipedia-Books are TV-related, could this project adopt the book-class? This would really help WikiProject Wikipedia-Books, as the WP TV people can oversee books like Seasons of 30 Rock much better than we could as far as merging, deletion, content, and such are concerned. Eventually there probably will be a "Books for discussion" process, so that would be incorporated in the Article Alerts. I'm placing this here rather than on the template page since several taskforces would be concerned.

There's an article in this week Signpost if you aren't familiar with Wikipedia-Books and classes in general. Thanks. Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 21:13, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

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