NOVA seasons 48/49 episode number problem

Just to be clear, PBS has started season 49. :-)

Hi therichmeister -

The episode air dates for season 48 and 49 of "Nova" have now been corrected.  However, there are two episodes that I was unable to identify order numbers for:

Search Engine Breakdown

Predicting My MS

Do you know where the above episode titles belong?  Were they featured episodes outside of the season, or do they belong to a different season?

Lastly, for the season 50 episode 1 listing, "Ultimate Space Telescope", to clarify, does this episode belong under season 49?

Michelle!

Wow!

Thanks for taking the time to fix this.

I'll answer your questions about the 3 episodes, but there is one episode that caused problems for PBS. And because of those PBS problems, it will still need some more work from IMDb. It's NOVA episode 48.8, High-Risk High-Rise. It has a low number, but it hadn't been broadcast by September. It was then scheduled for September and several dates in January until it was finally broadcast on 5 January 2022. So it should be re-numbered 48.19. And 48.9 to 48.19 should go to 48.8 to 48.18 to make room [I think I got that right]. :-)

"Search Engine Breakdown" and "Predicting My MS" are shorts that don't have NOVA episode numbers but were broadcast after Picture a Scientist and Augmented respectively. They are not directly related to the numbered episodes, but go well with them. They also fill the special 2-hour broadcast slot (the numbered episodes were 93 min. and 85 min.). Another contributor had numbered "Search Engine Breakdown" as 48.101 and I admit that I'm the one who followed that example in numbering "Predicting My MS". I wasn't sure if that was the best way to handle the situation, but I didn't have a better solution. My thought was that it wasn't a separate episode and didn't have a NOVA episode number. There are instances where NOVA broadcasts two 1-hour episodes back-to-back on the same evening (Dinosaur Apocalypse: The New Evidence and Dinosaur Apocalypse: The Last Day).

After all of that seriousness, I'm still amused by the numbering of "Ultimate Space Telescope" as 50.1 [life sure is funny :-)]. To clarify, I think that the episode belongs under season 49.

As always, thank you Michelle. You are the best (your number of points doesn't lie).

Rich

Hi Michelle,

I'm sorry to report this news, but I discovered some missing NOVA episodes that were moved from NOVA to a separate mini-series. By their broadcast dates, they belong to season 48.

Here's part of my "IMDb update receipt #210204-030605-575000" email [I save all of my IMDb receipts :-)]. It shows that this episode was under NOVA as "parent" and that I submitted this episode as 48.2.

Contribution Details

• "Nova" (1974) {Beyond the Elements: Reactions}
  • Release Dates - Replace

    • Old -
      Country: USA
      Date: 2021
      New -
      Country: USA
      Date: 3 February 2021

  • Episode Title / Number - Correct

Old -
Parent: "Nova" (1974)
Title: Beyond the Elements: Reactions
New -
Parent: "Nova" (1974)
Title: Beyond the Elements: Reactions
Number: 48.2

I have "IMDb update receipt #210820-151818-345000" (later in the year; I had to correct the release date). It shows the next episode as having NOVA 48.3:

"Nova" (1974) {Beyond the Elements: Indestructible (#48.3)}

• • • Release Dates - Replace

      • Old -
        Country: USA
        Date: 11 February 2021
        New -
        Country: USA
        Date: 10 February 2021

There is a third episode to which I didn't contribute.

The episodes are currently:

Beyond the Elements with episodes:

Reactions

Indestructible and

Life

They have NOVA episodes in season 47, but they were broadcast after NOVA (and IMDb) episode 48.1

Here are the NOVA season 47 episodes (just to show that they have NOVA episode numbers):

https://www.pbs.org/show/nova/episodes/season/47/

 Here's the NOVA web page for the first episode to show that it was broadcast in the normal NOVA time slot of 9 pm:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/beyond-the-elements-reactions/

So...

I think that all season 48 episodes (except 48.1) should be bumped up 3 episode numbers but with current 48.8, High-Risk High-Rise, placed in broadcast order.

Perhaps you have a way of just giving them the correct number without having to "make room".

If you have to do it step-by-step, here's what I think it looks like:

The last episodes

NOVA episodes 48.20, 48.21, 48.22 bumped by 3 to 48.23, 48.24, 48.25

to start making room for the 3 inserted "Beyond the Elements" episodes

Episode 48.8, "High-Risk High-Rise" moved to 48.22

Episodes 48.9-48.19 should go to 48.11-48.21 (just before "High-Risk High-Rise" which is now 48.22)

NOVA episodes 48.2-48.7 can now be bumped by 3 to 48.5-48.10 and then:

"Nova" (1974) {Beyond the Elements: Reactions (#48.2)}

"Nova" (1974) {Beyond the Elements: Indestructible (#48.3)}

"Nova" (1974) {Beyond the Elements: Life (#48.4)}

Hi @therichmeister -

My sincere apologies for the delayed reply, our staff are working through a backlog of threads to help resolve any outstanding issues.

Can you confirm if these series episodes still need fixing?