Actors should only be added to the guest level on the individual episodes if they are not in every episode. If they are in every episode of a season, they're added at the season regular cast instead of the episode level.

Yes that's my thought to but while reading about it in this very forum people doesn't seem to do it that way, there seem to be a consensus that if they are listed in the credits as a regular even if not appearing in every episode they are added to the regular cast page with an erroneous episode count to follow. And while looking around that seem to be the way it's done to, but that wasn't really what my post was about anyway.

But I guess you answered my question even though not answering it ;) There isn't an easier way to add cast than the one I've found.

And that's where the last part of my previous post steps in.

The show I was about to add actors on now only has a few actors that are in all the episodes but several important characters, where at least one is mentioned in the pre show credits (is that the name of it?), that's in all but one episode. So instead of having to add him, and several others, on seven separate episode pages one by one it would be much more effective to be able to add him on one and on that page be able to choose in what episode he should be credited.

What it would mean is that either that all cast is listed on a single page where it shows with check boxes in what episodes they are in, you could still have them divided into regulars and guests and the cast page per episode. Or that a pure cast edit page is made with the sole purpose to be able to add actors to several episodes at once.

I prefer the first since it would be both easier to manage and to browse through cause of a better overview instead of having to go from episode to episode to see who appears where.

I'm quite sure that an approach like that to the list of cast would both end up in more correct listings and more people adding cast to individual episodes, as it is now it seem to be skipped quite often and I guess the amount of time it takes is part of the cause to that. I know it is for me. I'd rather just skip the ones that's not in all episodes than going through the time consuming process to add them to all but one episode.

Should I take the lack of response as a response that no one cares and that it's TMDBs official statement that it's better to add actors/characters to to many episodes then no episodes at all thanks to lack of a user friendly UI? Might as well update your guidelines then since no one seems to following them about this anyway.

Apologies for the late response. The page you describe with the check boxes would need to be built and I'm not too sure about how feasible it would be to implement in the database. Only Travis, the admin, could answer that question. He built TMDB from the start, so he would be the best person to answer the question about totally overhauling how television cast members are handled.

So have he had the time to think about it yet so I know if it's on the to-do-list or not? Don't see how it would be any different regarding the database, it's just a different way for the input where everything is added at once and not episode by episode.

Have a bunch of shows I want to add but it's kind of pointless to add them without actors.

@InzZzomnia said:

So have he had the time to think about it yet so I know if it's on the to-do-list or not? Don't see how it would be any different regarding the database, it's just a different way for the input where everything is added at once and not episode by episode.

Have a bunch of shows I want to add but it's kind of pointless to add them without actors.

One hand I understand, one hand I do not.

Because if you're just copying from another database im like yeah, just not add it. But you watch the credits yourself, why not add them episode by episode, you watch the credits ep by ep too..

That's what I do at least. Sure, you could keep track in a spreadsheet, and then bulk add it. But that's not a functionality on TMDb, so yeah. Episode by episode!

Honestly? I think if all the TV series that were added here were seen by the people who added them, then we would hardly have any here, because even moderators have added shows from the 40s or 50s that they hardly saw themselves, so I don't think this is the best argument here. Sometimes or almost we have to trust other sources

I think it's a terrific idea to have just one edit page for an entire series! I got lost trying to figure out how to add cast members and had to look up how to do it because it's in no way obvious to the user. Having everything on one page would make it all easier to find and edit. The check boxes... doubly so.

@rfl0216 said:

The page you describe with the check boxes would need to be built and I'm not too sure about how feasible it would be to implement in the database.

hello ! jumping in as I got redirected here from a post I made. What about a "coding" system ? Instead of boxes, we could use a system like this : let's take the exemple of series with 2 seasons and each have 10 episodes ; we could use a format like this S1E3-S1E6, S2E1, S2E4-S2E8. For this exemple is not that helpful, because we can manage to go manually for 10 ep, but imagine a 25 or a 50 episodes season... we could use this system for a range (here it would credit the person for S1E3 S1E4 S1E5 S1E6 S2E1 S2E4 S2E5 S2E6 S2E7 S2E8). ive seen this system on some other website before, and it's right in between boxes (which can be hard to code yes) and some freedom and easier use of the website