Thanks for the report. I removed the duplicate.

 This alleged first episode of season 2 is actually a special, and should be listed at https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/62649-superstore/season/0/episode/1. The remaining 21 episodes in Superstore season 2 look OK, just incorrectly numbered because of this extra episode inserted at the beginning of the season.

It's the other way around. We always try to follow the official, original episode numbers used by the original network. You can see the episodes on the NBC website: https://www.nbc.com/superstore/episodes/season-2

I would recommend reading the TV Bible before making any major episode edits.

Let me explain why I think that NBC's numbering is wrong. It happens.

"Olympics" is set in the middle of season one, not at the beginning of season two. (The first season ended on a cliffhanger with "Labor", and "Strike" continues that story directly.)

Other TV listings and databases classify the episode a couple different ways (or not at all):

• IMDB: 2x00: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5911282/
• TVDB: 0x01: https://www.thetvdb.com/series/superstore/episodes/5698172
• TV Guide: "Olympics" is listed in neither S1 or S2, but S2 begins with "Strike" and contains only 21 episodes (through "Tornado"): https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/superstore/episodes-season-2/800949/
• Wikipedia: Not really a TV database, and not reliable on its own, but lists "Olympics" as a special: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superstore_episodes#Special_(2016)

The Wikipedia article for season two is useful, too, because it comes with citations. Deadline quoted producer Justin Spitzer saying "Olympics" would be a "bonus stand-alone episode", implying that it isn't part of any season.

And finally, the TV Bible you so kindly linked me to (which I have read, but admittedly not this month) states that: "Special episodes are any episodes that did not originally air as part of a regular, usually numbered season." I say "Olympics" fits that definition perfectly. It did not air as part of the season, but as a standalone promo during the Olympic Games. The second season proper didn't start until the following month.

Honestly, I have no horse in this race. It's not as if I work for NBC, or anything. I'm frustrated that you seem to have brushed off my concern without really doing any research into this series beyond looking at one page at NBC's site, which can be wrong if their VOD system isn't set up to do specials. I've seen the same issues at Amazon and Hulu, when an episode doesn't fit into the normal numbering but needs to be included in streaming options.

I don't make reports on a whim, and I certainly don't ask to change episode numbers unless I think there's a solid case for doing so. In this case, I think the case is quite solid.

Thanks for your time,
dgw

I'm frustrated that you seem to have brushed off my concern without really doing any research into this series beyond looking at one page at NBC's site, which can be wrong if their VOD system isn't set up to do specials.

I can reassure you that's not the case. I watch the series and I 100% agree the episode is a stand-alone special episode. You are not the first to ask about Olympics, so it's an episode I have extensively researched in the past.

NBC unfortunately chose to count the episode as 2x01 (the website does support special episodes). This is the official listing and we have to follow it.

And, while they are not the original network, all the VOD services I checked also have Olympic as the first episode of Season 2:

https://www.amazon.com/Superstore-Season-2/dp/B01KP52LF6
https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/superstore-season-2/id1139346990
https://www.hulu.com/series/superstore-727810b8-e54b-4f01-9381-a79ab5661bf7
https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Superstore-Season-2/798301?scrollPos=600

So I think it makes little sense to use an order that is different from (pretty much) all the official sources. Many series have special Christmas/Halloween episodes that are set in the past, but counted as regular episodes. That's why there is a an exception for special episodes that are part of the regular seasons.

Also, if you're not happy with the original seasons, there is a custom episode group with Olympics in the Specials.

You are not the first to ask about Olympics

I noticed that after posting earlier. Three other threads about this, at least, oof.

It must be frustrating for you, too, then! Having done the research yourself and agreeing that it's a special, but having your hands tied by NBC's official listing. I've been accessing VOD (Hulu, in my case) directly through Trakt, which has so far opened the correct episodes for me even though it uses TVDB's numbering and calls "Olympics" a special. (Sometimes that doesn't work properly—for example, Lost In Space (1965) 1x01 on Trakt links to 1x01 on Hulu, which would be fine if Hulu didn't think 1x01 was the unaired pilot.)

The only real downside is mismatched episode cover images at Trakt, because it pulls those from here by episode number, but I guess such issues aren't horrible. Not the first time I've seen it happen, and not the first instance caused by official VOD listings that appear out of order to those of us obsessed with "correct" TV listings either. But I suppose the nature of TV networks is to muck things up every so often. Things like Firefly, Dark Matter, Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse (almost), etc.

As an aside, I noticed that TVDB has entirely locked much of Superstore to editing. Maybe they have users who would like to put their listings the way TMDB has them, just as some TMDB users would like to make the listings here look like TVDB's…