@jungwirth said:
of course maybe it’s just that I refuse to move off PMS 1.1.4 because I’m too scared Plex is going to fall in a steaming heap
Matching issues seem to escalate with versions after 1.27. My guess is something changed after that point in the process Plex uses to match TV shows, but that is pure speculation. But for those using alternate agents that do use the TVDB to gather info, or have issues with posters and other metadata even with the default TVDB agent, reverting back to an older version of PMS corrects the problem. I haven’t tried reverting back to 1.27 to see if that “fixes” this particular instance - The Flash vs The Flash (2014) - where the old rules of using the title exactly as listed at the TVDB seemed to have worked, and I don’t suspect I will.
Is it possible that this is just a case of the devil being in the details, requiring (YEAR) in folder and file names but not everyone doing that?
Heh-heh - as a test when I was trying to get the old version of the Flash to match, I found that the folder name was the only requirement. After the folder name was set to The Flash (1990) I could name the episodes with or without the year. Worked every time, either way. And that included doing the complete Plex Dance for the series with each and every test on two different servers. In fact, right now on my main server, The Flash (2014) and the Flash (2009) both have the individual episodes as just “The Flash - S01E01.mp4” - no year in either. I should probably fix that… 
