TVSquad

Well, this is a rather cool feature for a TV fan: IMDb pages for TV and movie characters.

Now, it's one thing to have a page for a character that has only been seen on one TV show. But what about characters that have appeared on several TV shows? I decided to test IMDb and see how thorough it is. I typed in "Mike Bauer," a character that used to be on Guiding Light. The character has not only been played by a bunch of characters over the decades, he also appeared on another soap, Another World (on another network!), and damn, the IMDb caught that too.

I think that The Internet Movie Database is a fantastic resource. Really, it's invaluable when you write for a television blog. But they've made some changes recently that I just hate.

They started adding a ton of info for specific episodes of TV series and for each season of a TV series, which on the surface sounds like a good idea. But in the process of doing that they've buried the main cast list for the TV shows! You used to be able to go to a TV show, say a show like Outlaws that I did a story about recently, and see the cast list right there on the front page. But no more. I spent about an hour trying to find the damn cast list, but got various dead ends, including "Full Cast and Crew" and "Episodes Cast." You'd think the main cast list would be there, but you'd be wrong. You have to click on "Season" and then the episode title. It's not like that for every show, but it is for many of them.

To quote Nancy Kerrigan, why, why, why??

So I'm surfing around The Internet Movie Database, getting some info about the NBC show from the 1990s called Something So Right (Jere Burns, Mel Harris, kids and step kids - funny show), and while I'm on the page for the show, I see their "Recommendations" section. For Something So Right, they say "If you like this title, we also recommend ... Survivor."

Yup, if you like family comedies, you'll love a reality show about people on an island backstabbing each other to win a million bucks! I know that family life can be hectic, but it's not that bad.

Curious, I went over to the Survivor page, and the recommendation for people who like Survivor is...The Apprentice. Now that actually makes sense, but why isn't the recommendation Something So Right? (Oh, and Survivor is also recommended for people who like Newsradio and American Gothic too).

How do they pick the recommendations? Is it actual people picking them, or is generated by what shows users are looking at? Very weird.

Anyone with an eye for detail knows that the Internet Movie Database isn't always accurate in its bio or trivia sections. This isn't so much the fault of the site as it the fault of people who submit information, but in the case of My Name is Earl creator Gregory Thomas Garcia, he has only himself to blame. It seems that Garcia actually submitted some information about himself for his IMDb page which stated he was the grandson of Cantinflas, a Mexican comedian who passed away over ten years ago. The thing is, it's not true. Garcia was just having a bit of fun, but that little tidbit has made it's way into a few news stories about him. I've always found the truth to be overrated, anyway.

[via TV Barn]