Preface: the problem is technically the original broadcast scheduling for The Muppet Show itself, and not Plex:
There is no set broadcast order for the episodes, as they were shown in varying order in different regions. For the Season One DVD box set that was released in 2005, Buena Vista Home Entertainment placed the episodes in the order in which they were produced, rather than aired, for this reason. - Wikipedia
The end result is a hot mess. If you compare episode lists on Wikipedia, TMDB, IMDb and the TVDB, they all have a different release order to some extent. I’d prefer to go with the TVDB since it’s based on CBS’ air dates in the US, and selected that as the default scanner for the entire TV library. After un-matching and a re-scan, none of the episodes have titles at all, they’re just called Episode 1, 2, 3 etc.
All I really want is for Plex to title the episodes with the correct guest-star names. Since it’s a variety show instead of a series with a defined story arc, the date or broadcast order doesn’t much matter – I just want the guest’s name shown in Plex’s episode list to match the corresponding file.
I think the answer lies in here somewhere, but the directions to force Plex to ID files as specified by a specific online DB aren’t entirely clear: https://support.plex.tv/articles/plexmatch/#toc-2
My structure: Television/The Muppet Show (1976)/Season 0x/S0xExx Guest Star’s Name.ext
I’m fine with renumbering the entire series if needed, as long as each episode’s displayed title in Plex matches the correct guest-star when played. I just don’t want to do all that if it’s not going to give me the desired result.
Plex doesn’t know about Wikipedia or other websites.
Plex knows only 2 sources for tv show meta data: TheMovieDB.org and TheTVDB.com
Plex defaults to TheMovieDB.org, but you can switch to one of three different “Episode orderings” on TheTVDB.com as well: Aired Order, DVD Order, or Absolute Order.
So look up your show on these websites only.
Find the one which closest matches your files. Adapt the numbers and file names of those files which don’t fit.
Add them into Plex.
If you need a different episode ordering, edit the show at its highest level and pick a different ordering on the “Advanced” tab.
Then Refresh Metadata of the whole show.
Both TvDb and TmDb have CBS (US Broadcast) ordereing.
Try to change between them to see if metadata is pulled
Personally i have most success with The Movie Db.
Huh, your structure looks perfectly correct. Aside from me using a dash to separate the “SxxExx” from the guest-star-name/Episode-Name, that’s PRECISELY the format I use for my shows. I… *sniff* I’ve never seen something so beautiful.
*cough*
Ummm. All I can think of is that the show might not be matched correctly. I use TVDB for my library as well, and I would exactly expect your setup to work. I don’t have that particular show, so I don’t know if there was anything special you needed to do to make it work. Double check that it is matched to the correct show, then refresh metadata for the entire show.
Right, I only cited Wiki for the explanation of why it’s such a disorganized mess.
This right here is what finally did it, with a server stop/restart after a bit of filename renumbering, then specifying which display order to use after the re-scan. All of that may not have been necessary, but I did it anyway.
I’ll keep that trick in mind the next time I have a TV scan issue. Movies almost never have a problem, but scanning TV shows can have odd results sometimes.
The show itself was to blame here, not Plex. Since episode lists and dates are apparently all over the map due to syndication, it was a matter of picking exactly the right combination to make it read properly. I doubt it would happen on a show with a more normal release scheme.
Yes, the episodes are almost always different between wikipedia, IMDB, and TVDB/TMDB. Thankfully, the only number ordering system you need to care about is TVDB or TMDB, and even then you only need to care about one of them at a time. Since you mark an entire library (or over-ride the library setting on a show-by-show basis) to use one specific DB source, THAT is the only source that matters. I used to use Wiki’s episode numbering system, but once I found out Plex uses TVDB, I haven’t loaded up Wiki’s pages ever since.
I’ll keep that trick in mind the next time I have a TV scan issue. Movies almost never have a problem, but scanning TV shows can have odd results sometimes.
