TV Tome
|
|
Template:Mergeto TV Tome was a website devoted to informational guides for English-language television shows and the people involved in their production. It was run mainly by volunteer editors, with the assistance of user contributions.
The site contained over 2,500 complete television series guides, over 3,500 developing television series guides and filmographies for 250,000 actors and crewmembers.
A spin-off site, Movie Tome, was what established in the northern winter of 2003/2004.
On April 22 2005, TV Tome officially announced its absorption by CNET, much to the dissent of many members. CNET announced plans to relocate the site to its TV.com domain, which was acquired in 1996 for use in conjunction with the short-lived syndicated television series of the same name. A preliminary version of the new site launched on June 1 2005 and on June 13 2005, the site was permanently redirected to TV.com with an entirely new layout and TV Tome was considered by some to be officially dead.
| Contents |
Pages
TV Tome was comprised of three main types of pages, which can be comparable to TV.com's pages.
Main Show Page (Summary)
(See an example here (http://69.72.137.170/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-19/))Contains overall information about a television series, divided into six sections:
- Intro — contains a description of the program's premise (and sometimes other details, such as character profiles, series history and telecast schedules)
- Information — contains specific details about the show, such as its network, status (New Series, Returning Series, Hiatus/To Be Determined, or Cancelled/Ended) and country of origin
- Cast — a list of the show's regular cast members, with their roles and links to their information pages
- Crew — a list of the show's regular crewmembers, with their positions and links to their information pages
- News — a section for current news items regarding the show
- DVDs (Added northern autumn 2004) — a section for DVDs of the show that have been or are scheduled to be released to the public
Episode Page
(See an example here (http://69.72.137.170/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-10/epid-98/))Contains information about one installment of a series, divided into seven sections:
- Information — contains specific information about the episode, such as its original air date, its producer and director, and a list of its guest stars
- Synopsis — a brief summary of the episode's plot
- Subsequently added was the recap subsection, which provides a full synopsis of the episode, including the ending. (Users must click on the "recap" link to access this information, as it usually contains spoilers that fans don't want to read until after viewing the episode.)
- Notes — trivia about the episode, or any information that doesn't belong in the other sections
- Quotes — memorable dialogue from the episode
- Goofs — technical, factual, or continuity errors contained within the episode
- Analysis — an examination or critique of the episode
- Cultural References — lists and explanations of real-life events and/or media that are indirectly or directly referenced within the dialogue and action of the episode
Additionally, each episode can be voted upon by users, thereby creating an aggregate rating on a scale of 1 ("awful) to 10 ("awesome"). All episodes' ratings are displayed on their respective pages, as well as on a separate page that features the entire series, listed episode-by-episode (in order of highest to lowest TV Tome rating).
Person Page
(See an example here (http://69.72.137.170/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-88757/))Contains information on a person associated with television, divided into five sections:
- Biographical Information — contains standard information about the person, such as his/her name, birthdate, death date, etc.
- This section often features a link to a separate biography page, containing in-depth information on the person's career and/or personal life.
- Notes — trivia about the person, or any information that doesn't belong in the other sections
- News — a seldom-used section for current news items regarding the person
- Crew Credits — a list of links to TV Tome and Movie Tome pages that credit the person for crew work
- Acting Appearances — a list of links to TV Tome and Movie Tome pages that credit the person for on-screen appearances, divided into subsections:
- Starring Roles — a list of links to the main pages of shows in which the person regularly appeared, along with their roles
- Guest Starring Roles — a list of links to television installments in which the person was billed as a guest star
- Co Starring Roles — a list of links to television installments in which the person was billed as a co-star
- Movie/Mini-Series/Special Roles — a list of links to Movie Tome pages of movies, miniseries and television specials in which the person appeared
Also linked to, is a message board (a forum dedicated to discussion of the person and his/her projects), moderated by the person's TV Tome editor[s].
Other Pages
The summary page and the individual episode pages feature links to other sections, including:
- Episode List — all of the program's episode titles and air dates (arranged chronologically), with links to individual episode pages
- Episode Guide — a page (viewable for the entire series or season-by-season) that combines much (but not all) of the information contained within the individual episode pages
- Goofs Guide — a page that lists all of the program's goofs (also contained within the individual episode pages)
- Episode Reviews — reviews written or approved by the program's TV Tome editor[s]
- Features — a compilation of articles pertaining to the series and/or the people involved
- Cast Guide — a thorough list of cast members, divided under the headings Stars, Recurring and Guest Stars
- Crew Guide — a thorough list of crewmembers, including writers, directors, producers and others
- Forum — a message board (dedicated to discussion of the series and the people involved), moderated by the corresponding TV Tome editor[s]
Common Criticisms
TV Tome was criticized by those who felt that its format was less than ideal. Unlike a wiki-style guide, TV Tome's content was controlled entirely by specific editors who were assigned to the individual television shows and people listed on the site, which was changed by TV.com that allows any registered user to edit information.
While some editors were responsive to outside feedback, others tended to ignore such input. As a result, various errors (factual, spelling, grammatical, etc.) often went uncorrected, despite requests by users that they be addressed.
Some editors posted all/most outside submissions indiscriminately, thereby introducing the types of errors cited above, as well as redundancies and arguably weak information.
Relatively few editors had arbitrarily imposed standards contrary to the site's general policies and the prevailing consensus. Examples include the prohibition of spoiler-containing forum messages (despite the provision of spoiler warnings and irrespective of how long ago the pertinent episodes aired) and refusal to publish goofs, based upon the belief that this disparages the series in question.
The New Format
The new format has its own detractors. The program page is cluttered with several pieces of information unrelated to the show being accessed. The typeface is now smaller than before making it harder to read for some. While a user used to be able to go to one page to find summary, quotes, notes, etc., several pages now have to be waded through.
There is no acknowledgement of the editors who created the original pages for TV Tome and for those editors that took care to make sure that the information they entered was complete and correct the new site has more disappointments. It has eliminated almost all crew information previously entered except for director and writer. Its trivia section only transferred some of the notes entered. Neither the cultural references, the show update information nor the DVD information sections were transferred, in any form, to the new format. The links to IMDb and other related sites have also not been carried over. Especially missed are the links to items on eBay related to actors and crew
Wiki features such as access to the history of changes made and administrator oversight are also missing.
External links
- The "New" TV Tome, also known as TV.com (http://www.tv.com/)
- Movie Tome (http://www.movietome.com/)
- The old TV Tome site (http://69.72.137.170/list/all.html) (for the time being)de:TV Tome