# Pilot episodes not showing on plex

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317>\
**Category:** Metadata & Adding Files\
**Tags:** server-mac\
**Created:** [August 18, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317 "2021-08-18T19:47:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/1 "2021-08-18T19:47:24Z")

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Server Version#: 4.59.2  
Player Version#: Web Player

Hi all,

For the life of me I cannot get the pilot episodes of DCI Banks to show on Plex. I have tried every which way of naming the folders and episodes including following the Plex guide and using separate folder to the main series folder and including it in the main series folder, but I can’t get anything to work. The main seasons work fine with no problems.

Parent folder: DCI Banks (2010)  
Pilot folder: DCI Banks S00  
Season folder: DCI Banks S01

Can anyone help please?

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**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/2 "2021-08-18T20:10:19Z")

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Let’s go with the Plex’ naming schema…

```nohighlight
TV Shows <- the folder linked to your tv-show library
  DCI Banks (2011)
    Season 00
      DCI Banks (2011) - s00e01.ext <- 1st episode/part of the pilot
      DCI Banks (2011) - s00e02.ext <- 2nd episode/part of the pilot

```

_Where `.ext` is the file extension of your pilot episode._  
If you’ve got the full pilot in a single file, you can use `DCI Banks (2011) - s00e01-e02.ext` instead.

PS: I’m using `2011` as that’s the year mentioned on both TVDb and TMDb – sometimes they take the 1st actual episode instead of a pilot as the 1st air date.

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**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/3 "2021-08-18T20:32:49Z")

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> [@tom80H](#):
>
> `DCI Banks (2011) - s00e01`

Thank you mate, but not working, still not showing

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/4 "2021-08-18T20:33:29Z")

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Exact names and folder structure please.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:37pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/5 "2021-08-18T20:37:27Z")

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TV Shows  
DCI Banks (2011)  
Season 00  
DCI Banks (2011) - s00e01.mp4  
DCI Banks (2011) - s00e02.mp4

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/6 "2021-08-18T20:40:50Z")

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Do those mp4s have embedded metadata that could throw your server off?  
You can display your tv-show library by `Episodes` and filter it for `Duplicates` to rule out the episodes have been added but mismatched as something else. If you find duplicate episodes, showing the episode info should contain a reference to the different files linked together.

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**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/7 "2021-08-18T20:44:04Z")

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No embedded metadata as far as i know mate.

Seasons 1 to 5 have no problem with, just these two pilot episodes

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**Author:** ![Blkbyrd](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/blkbyrd/32/251758_2.png) [@Blkbyrd](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Blkbyrd)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/8 "2021-08-18T20:46:41Z")

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Did you check to see how TheTVDB has them listed and try that? I always check TheTVDB when I add new shows. I’ve had the best luck with matching to the aired order, but I know sometimes with anime and other shows absolute order can work better.

[DCI Banks - TheTVDB.com](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/dci-banks)

You may also need to do the [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064) to make it happy again. This happens all the time to me when I add media to my server and a quick fix of the files followed by the dance fixes it right up.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/9 "2021-08-18T20:52:17Z")

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Just changed it to what it says on TVDB and still the same mate

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/10 "2021-08-18T21:00:49Z")

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Just finished the [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064) still not showing.

Thank you guys for helping

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/11 "2021-08-18T21:29:46Z")

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Can you share your [server logs,](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) please?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/12 "2021-08-18T21:45:47Z")

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Yeah no worries mate

[Plex Media Server.1.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/6FscLk1AoahqbbQIygr9qyhVY8p.log) (2.6 MB)  
[Plex Media Server.2.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/cDtehcj56CQFBYLq7bicd0n9kC5.log) (267.5 KB)  
[Plex Media Server.3.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/nRAZpqXoNXCm6oUaYqJAMdv4zS8.log) (3.6 MB)  
[Plex Media Server.4.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/vzDu8ghH02sWt3Y3SfmACLTbf1J.log) (1.3 MB)  
[Plex Media Server.5.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/A00LS1mxtGnp9AnNFMkHEz6FYMA.log) (4.6 MB)  
[Plex Media Server.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/mYQTm3EsQ8Ig5G2MeoVf69SdjAJ.log) (8.1 MB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Blkbyrd](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/blkbyrd/32/251758_2.png) [@Blkbyrd](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Blkbyrd)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/13 "2021-08-18T21:45:53Z")

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I don’t know if you tried it but it looks like that show labels those pilot episodes as “Specials”. In my experience that has mattered when I name the folder. I would call the folder “Specials”, make sure the files are named correctly, and follow up with a [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064). Every time I have had a folder called “Season 00” and TheTVDB has it called “Specials” I end up with a similar problem.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/14 "2021-08-18T21:47:03Z")

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Yeah I done that mate

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/15 "2021-08-18T21:52:55Z")

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From your logs, you’ve kept your odd naming (`DCI Banks (2010)\DCI Banks S00\...`). I strongly recommend you stick with the naming schema. There’s no guarantee Plex will recognize your files otherwise – no matter if it did so in the past and it did work for other files in the same structure.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fishbloodstiffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@fishbloodstiffs](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fishbloodstiffs)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:25am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/16 "2021-08-19T07:25:18Z")

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@tom80H and @Blkbyrd, found the problem. I re done what you said @tom80H, but it was the naming of the episodes, I named the episodes  
DCI Banks - s00e01 - Aftermath (1).mp4.  
DCI Banks - s00e02 - Aftermath (2).mp4 When I should have named them

DCI Banks - s00e01 - Aftermath - Part 1.mp4  
DCI Banks - s00e02 - Aftermath - Part 2.mp4

Thank you so much for all your help guys

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 7:25am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pilot-episodes-not-showing-on-plex/737317/17 "2021-11-17T07:25:48Z")

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