Wikipedia:WikiProject Television/Television programs

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This is a WikiProject Television guide towards writing articles concerning television programs, series and shows. Remember that Wikipedia is foremost an Encyclopedia and that articles therefore should try to be prosaïc instead of lists of arbitrary information that you can pull out of TV.com. Articles should be verifiable and notable. Please cite your sources wherever possible. Your articles should be written from an out-of-universe perspective.

Contents

[edit] Structure of a TV program article

[edit] Articlename

When creating a new article, bear in mind the Naming conventions concerning television articles.

[edit] Infobox

Show

Look, it's Jimmy Wales.
Genre Comedy-drama
Creator(s) Person
Starring John Doe
Jane Doe
Jim Doe
Jill Doe
Narrated by Person
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 1 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Person
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel TNT
Picture format 1080i HDTV
Original run July 2, 2000 – July 3, 2000
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The standard infobox for television articles is the {{Infobox Television}} template. The box to the right is an example. We also have {{Infobox Television Film}}. Use this on films made for television.

[edit] Code

For convenience a copy, with some of the options that we advise to be used, is shown here; refer to {{Infobox Television}} for more optional fields and the latest version; its talk page has usage details, including information on the numerous optional fields. Note that entirely filling the Infobox with all it's various optional fields is not a goal in itself. Many options are simply not relevant to many television shows. If the cast list gets to large you might consider linking to a section of the article instead.

{{Infobox Television
| show_name          = 
| image              = 
| caption            = 
| genre              = 
| camera             = 
| picture_format     = 
| runtime            = 
| creator            = 
| developer          = 
| executive_producer = 
| starring           = 
| narrated           = 
| country            = 
| network            = 
| first_aired        = 
| last_aired         = 
| num_episodes       = 
| list_episodes      =
| website            = 
| imdb_id            = 
| tv_com_id          = 
}}

[edit] Introduction

The first sentence should explain the premise, genre, setting and significance of the show. A good example of an introductory paragraph is seen in the M*A*S*H television series article.

"Inspired by the 1970 20th Century-Fox film of the same name, M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American television series about a team of medical professionals and support staff stationed at the 4077th MASH in Korea during the Korean War."

It should be noted that the title of a television show is styled with italics (e.g. M*A*S*H) while the title of an episode is styled with quotation marks (e.g. "Pilot").

Depending on the length of the article and the complexity of the show, the introductory paragraph(s) can contain several more sentences which elaborate on the series. The following information can be included in the introduction:

  • What made the show unique
  • Years on the air
  • Premiere date
  • Channel of original airing/production
  • Production companies
  • Principal characters
  • Influence
  • Place in popular culture
  • Major Awards
  • Spin-offs
  • Music or Theme

This section is usually reserved for "original-run" information, sometimes with additional US/UK information in case the series is not of US/UK origins. Lists with International broadcasting information, or syndication information is often not desired here.

References to the show should be in the present tense since shows no longer airing still exist.

[edit] Characters

Remember to follow the notability guidelines when creating lists and articles of characters. Not every fictional character ever created deserves to be listed and even fewer will deserve an individual article. When appropriate, split up into a list of "Main characters", "Recurring characters" and "Special appearances". An example of a typical description section follows:

  • Character, general description, usually contains profession, habits, psychological; character may be explained more indepth later. Played by First Name Last Name

[edit] Plot

This section should be relatively brief, only discussing important plot elements that steered the course of characters lives, or the course of the show, or at least were popular with audiences (ie Seinfeld's Soup Nazi). Remember to add {{spoiler}} before you get into any details of the plot. Careful sentences structure can also suggest to users upcoming spoilers so try and keep bigger plot points towards the ends of paragraphs.

Further information: What Wikipedia is NOT

[edit] Episode listing

A good plot description covering major story arcs is much more important than a list of episodes. For most TV shows, creating separate articles for each and every episode is not desired (see the previous discussion on this). Expansion of episodic information should be proportional to the series' noteworthiness, and progress as follows:

  1. A short list of episodes is sometimes appropriate in the main article. The list should be a table with the episode title, airdate, and a one- or two-sentence summary.
  2. The list of episodes can be moved to a separate page when it grows too large for the main article. Please follow the conventions of our Lists of episodes TaskForce. A good example of an episode list is List of Firefly episodes.
  3. The main episode list can be split further grouped by season (24 (season 3)) to allow room for longer episode summaries and production information. A summary of the season's main story points should be included as an introduction.
  4. Individual episodes which are particularly noteworthy can be split from the season lists into their own pages.

[edit] Impact of show on society

If the show created a craze, popularized a word (Seinfeld with "yada, yada, yada", etc.), revolutionized the medium (Sesame Street in children's television, or the mini-series Roots), or something else (many stores and businesses closed early on Mondays for allowing employees to get home on time to watch I Love Lucy). When this resulted in merchandise, movies, books or computer games be sure to name those.

[edit] Critical reviews

Preferably from major syndicates (Associated Press, REUTERS, Canadian Press) and major newspapers (USA Today, The Toronto Star, The Times [London]) and major periodicals (TV Guide, TIME), these quotes can either critique the show, or comment on its impact. They should not just be descriptions of the shows, and preferably should not exceed three or so sentences.

[edit] Production notes

Any behind the scenes information is encouraged. This includes things like Running gags and important Trivia, but also Emmy, Golden Globe, and similar nominations and awards. Keep in mind though that Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information and that where possible you should use prose instead of creating long lists of trivia.

[edit] External links

Links to the Official Website and TV.com or IMDb profile pages, should go in the infobox and should NOT be repeated in the External links. Linking to one or two (at the most) major fansites may be appropriate, but keep it limited to those that really do matter. Things like forums or blogs should not be linked to.

[edit] Categories

Please categorize your TV articles appropriately. Try looking at similar shows as an example and use Category:Television programs as your starting point for finding the right categories.

TV series should avoid network categories when they were not originally produced for that network. Exceptions to this include co-productions (such as The 4400), or when a show changes networks during its original run.

Categories for a network that doesn't actually air original programming shouldn't be made.

[edit] Templates

[edit] Featured articles

This is a list of articles on television shows that have reached featured article status. You can use it as a reference to get an idea of what a well written article should look like.

[edit] See also

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