Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Television

Guidance on characters' names in the plot summary?

Hello all,

Recently was comparing MOS:FILMPLOT and the TV MOS guidance on plot sections and noticed that, while the movie MOS provides guidance on whether or not to include actors' names in the plot summary, this article does not. I don't mind either way, but was just look for some clarity.

Thanks so much! Have a great day!

JuxtaposedJacob (talk) | :) | 19:17, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

MOS:TVPLOT does include this guidance. ("Also avoid information that belongs in other sections, such as actors' names.") It is much less visible than the same sentiment in MOS:FILMPLOT though, and TVPLOT might benefit from emulating FILMPLOT's placement and wording. Dan Bloch (talk) 00:45, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

Ahh, I see.

I made the sentence more prominent, but not sure if it should stay exactly like I have it - change it if you feel it could be improved.

Thanks! Have a good day!

JuxtaposedJacob (talk) | :) | 01:21, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

Episode Count in Infobox

Quick question because a few of us have disagreed over on Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. Two episodes aired on Disney Channel on October 29. Six hours later the first 9 episodes released on Disney+. Two more episodes aired on DC the next day, and from here on out they'll air weekly. Once caught up, Disney+ is set to release additional episodes only after they air on DC. Most of us agree that DC is the sole original network, despite the early release on D+

The main question: should the Infobox list the 9 that have officially released overall on Disney+, or only the 4 that have broadcast on Disney Channel??? Thanks, TheDoctorWho (talk) 18:07, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

The episode count is based on episodes being released anywhere, not just the original network. The idea is that episodes being produced does not guarantee them being released, so we wait until an episode is released before increasing the count in the infobox. All of the episodes that have been released on Disney+ are confirmed, available, and should be counted in the infobox. - adamstom97 (talk) 18:14, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

Agreed with adamstom97 as those nine episodes are already available and can be watch on Disney+ via subscription, so it should be 9 not 4 in the infobox. 𝙹𝚒𝚢𝚊𝚗 忌炎 (𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔) 19:04, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

The point is they have been released and available to the public. Doesn't matter how. They should be counted. Geraldo Perez (talk) 19:19, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

I still say go by when it airs on Disney Channel as it is the only primary network. If not, a note should be included on the infobox next the episode count until all episodes have been aired on Disney Channel. — YoungForever^(talk) 22:07, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

I still fail to see the reason of only counting what's aired on the primary network. If the first 9 were released for free on YouTube before airing on DC, it's still undeniable that those episodes had released. There's also a precedence for this, High School Music: The Musical: The Series listed one episode having aired on the Infobox as early as November 9, when Disney+, it's "only primary network", didn't even launch until November 12. TheDoctorWho (talk) 21:17, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

Agree that it should be only Disne Channel as it is the primary network it started on. This has been done with Raven's Home and a few other shows that were released on Disney Plus later. Magical Golden Whip (talk) 20:44, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

Plot summaries for multi-part episodes/multi-episode serials

The plot section states that "Episode articles should have a prose plot summary of no more than 400 words," a standard also mentioned on WP:PLOTSUM. This handles standalone episodes fine enough -- however, it runs into problems when we account for articles that cover multi-episode stories. For instance, the first 26 seasons of Doctor Who consist of stories that typically span four to six episodes, with a couple more extreme cases encompassing ten and twelve. Similarly, Avatar: The Last Airbender has several multi-part episodes across its three seasons, such as the two-episode "The Secret of the Fire Nation" and the four-part "Sozin's Comet".

In cases like these, my approach up to this point was to consider each article's contents one "episode" despite being produced and aired as multiple interconnected ones; this resulted in a lot of trimming in order to fit the plots within 400 words, sometimes throwing out plot-relevant details that connect these episodes to other installments or elaborate upon things like character motives and backstories. However, another user sent me a message arguing that these articles would probably benefit from a higher word limit due to how the stories in question were put together and how this reflects on the plots. Given this, would it be a good idea to expand the word limit for articles on multi-story episodes (within reason of course -- I'm not suggesting that we need five thousand words to concisely summarize "The Daleks' Master Plan")? Game4brains (talk) 07:43, 23 December 2024 (UTC)

I think this may be best left to local consensus as it depends on the situation. If one article is about two episodes I don't think there is an issue with having two 400 word plot summaries in one article, but if it is more than that it makes sense to go with more of a high-level summary i.e. 500 words covering the plots of 10 or 12 episodes (I say 500 as that is the limit we have for a season-long summary so we shouldn't need to go above that for one story arc). - adamstom97 (talk) 09:13, 23 December 2024 (UTC)