Special episodes for TV shows?

I have a series with special episodes. I made a Specials folder under the TV show name, and named the show with a episode number of 00. So I have

Top Gear

  • Specials
    • Top Gear - s00e38 - India Special.mkv
  • Season 1
  • Season 2

Does Plex not find Special episode metadata ? I scanned the show folder and it doesn’t provide any info about the special episodes.

Am I missing something? I got the episode number from the TVDB

That looks right at a glance. but lately a lot of shows that have multiple versions seem to require a year in the file-name even though the TVDB doesn’t list it. I’m not sure that’s the case with this; or it’s just a hiccup in connecting with Tvdb servers.
Gonna try a test file to see if it comes up. . . will post back.

Just tried it. Figured I’d try first with just the title on the folder and title/season/episode on the file first. If that didn’t work; I was gonna try it with the year added.
It matched first try without the year in the name; so it may have just been a blip in the TVDB servers.You might want to try refreshing the episode and seeing if it will match for you.


If that doesn’t get it to work, I’d check to see if the file has any metadata ( I’m not sure if Mkv files have it) that could be messing with it matching.
Barring all that; try the Plex Dance. :expressionless:

After I did a refresh of the metadata, the shows showed up just fine. Thanks for the suggestion

When things don’t work as expected - and I’ve checked and double-checked the names and structures, I always employ…:

The Plex Dance®:

  1. remove show/movie from library
  2. update library
  3. empty trash
  4. clean bundles
    https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions <— update library, empty trash, clean bundles
  5. bring names and structures into compliance/ or the ultimate bundle reboot operation
  6. replace corrected show/movie into library
  7. update library

All Steps. In Order. No Shortcuts.

1 Like

@JuiceWSA said:
When things don’t work as expected - and I’ve checked and double-checked the names and structures, I always employ…:

The Plex Dance®:

  1. remove show/movie from library
  2. update library
  3. empty trash
  4. clean bundles
    https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200392106-Library-Actions <— update library, empty trash, clean bundles
  5. bring names and structures into compliance/ or the ultimate bundle reboot operation
  6. replace corrected show/movie into library
  7. update library

All Steps. In Order. No Shortcuts.

I need to copy that and save it as an attachment. I’m always afraid to write down the steps in case I forget one or get the order wrong. It’s weird; I’ve tap dance with Plex enough to do all the steps, but telling someone how. . . :expressionless:

Click the time of my post above - that will isolate that post - drag it to your bookmarks.
and/or
Copy and paste to notepad.

A Plex user that can’t Plex Dance® is seriously compromised.
I’ve danced about 5 times - TODAY!

The Plex Dance was invented many years ago due to the Plex Bug that prevents the re-writing of a bundle - no matter what you do. For YEARS, Plex has been either unwilling, or unable to fix that bug, so The Plex Dance® is one of the few Plex Work-Arounds that:

  1. is able to draw social security
  2. enjoys a registered trademark

Case file:
Every time I have a moment I have to Plex Dance a few music artists due to another bug Plex let ferment into a giant steaming pile - Popular Tracks. Well, we finally found out how to stop them, but a simple ‘Refresh’ does nothing to eradicate them. Yep, you guessed it - a full blown Plex Dance® is the only thing that cures that sickness.

… and a one and a two…