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Sunday, February 19th, 2023

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Another bogus TV series: "As Aventuras de Mickey e Donald"

I'm writing to report a TV series which could not possibly existed as described in IMDb: "As Aventuras de Mickey e Donald" (1940). The photos and episode titles suggest that this is some kind of compilation of Walt Disney cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and others.

However:

  1. There was no such program being released to television in 1940, before television came into common use and before any series consisting of Disney cartoons was made available to U.S. television.
  2. The show's title is in Portuguese, yet the only language listed for the series is English and its only release dates are from the USA.
  3. The first release date for this series is February 8, 1940, with the attribute (re-release). Not only is the re-release attribute not generally applicable to TV series, but nothing can be re-released unless it has been released for the first time before that.
  4. The episode guide claims that all 76 episodes of this series were released on the same day, March 2, 1940, which would have been a very odd release pattern at least before the invention of binge-watching many decades later.
  5. The only crew member listed for this series is a director, Joseph Barbera, the famed animator who co-created Tom & Jerry, but who was working for MGM in 1940. As far as I can find, Barbera never worked for Walt Disney Productions at all, much less did he direct any Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck cartoons, and thus would never have been credited on this series even if it had existed.

Nothing in this TV series entry makes sense. There may well have been at some point a TV series called "As Aventuras de Mickey e Donald", but if there was, it would have been shown in Portugal, Brazil, or some other Portuguese-speaking country, not the USA, and not in 1940.

This once again shows the need for the IMDb staff to scrutinize data submissions of alleged TV series from the very early days of television, to ensure that shows like these are not accepted.

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3 years ago

The good news is that I submitted a deletion for this title through the Help Desk, and it actually has been deleted. 

In addition to my request for additional scrutiny of TV series from the early days of television, I would like to request that the software be programmed not to accept a (re-release) attribute for a Release Date when the title has no earlier Release Date in the same country. 

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3 years ago

Hi @gromit82 -

Thanks for reporting this invalid series title and for your system improvement suggestion.  I have filed a ticket for the appropriate team to review improvements/rules regarding release dates and attributes, specifically, with the example you provided.

Thanks again!