Prime Suspect

So Prime Suspect is supposed to be the first of 7 mini-series consisting of two 100min-long episodes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098898/
But someone went and added every episode from all the 7 under the first title while the rest remain as mini-series.
What gives?

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Will

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9 years ago

Thanks for highlighting this Andru, I've cut a ticket to clean up the series listing. We'll let you know once this has been completed.

Regards,
Will

rebecca_7350282

172 Messages

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2.6K Points

8 years ago

Hi Andru,

Sorry for the delay. I have gone ahead and fixed the series and taken internal steps to stop the incorrect episodes being added again.

Thanks,

Bex

adrian

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Hi Rebecca,

I just started watching Prime Suspect but I have to wonder if it should be 7 seasons of a single title instead of 7 different mini-series. Wikipedia, TV Guide, Hulu and Amazon Video list it as 7 seasons (each with 2 episodes except season 4 which has 3 episodes). Is there a reason this is listed as 7 different 1 season Mini-Series?

Even reviews, read like it should be consider a single series.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/tv/2992500/prime-suspect-original-tv-cast-helen-mirren/

"The British police drama series Prime Suspect ran from April 1991 to October 2006."

8 years ago

andru_xion

36 Messages

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1.1K Points

Adrian, I think the fact that each season is self-contained except maybe the one that's a continuation of season 1's plot thread, the non-annual serie release behavior and the accumulation of votes on mini-series over the years all strongly contribute to the decision that it should be left as is. I don't see any solid reason why it should be (or rather have been) lumped together.

8 years ago

adrian

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Andru, I think the fact that IMDb is the only place I could find that doesn't consider it a series points to the fact it is actually a series. The non-annual release behavior is pretty common (from my limited knowledge) of British TV. Sherlock, Luther and others weren't released on an annual basis but are still considered seasons of a single series.

Tradition, i.e. that it has been listed as a mini-series with lots of votes, really shouldn't be a compelling reason to keep it that way. It could just mean whoever entered the data (which was someone like you or me) didn't get it correct to begin with.

I'm not sure I see a compelling reason to leave it as because no other source treats it as individual mini-series. I haven't looked at all 7 series but I'm pretty sure they share fairly similar casts and characters. That points toward an actual series with seasons not individual mini-series.

8 years ago

Peter_pbn

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Prime Suspect won several awards as best drama serial, single drama or mini-series.

I think the convention is that mini-series have sequels, not seasons.

Of course you can call it a TV series, but IMDb tends to put a lot of weight on original release and how it was seen then.

The fact that the series have been listed like this for many years does also mean you have to consider the existing data and how to preserve it if a change were to be made. Votes, reviews, plots, etc.

8 years ago

adrian

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Peter, I believe awards for "series, serial or mini-series" has to do with number of episodes, at least if it is an American award. I remember Secrets & Lies (the American version) was entered in that category despite having a second season announced. I would have to imagine Sherlock, Luther, etc also have awards or at least have been nominated in this category.

I, for one, don't find tradition a compelling argument for the stars quo, especially if it is wrong. I looked at a few sites and literally, only IMDb considers it separate mini-series as opposed to a single series with multiple seasons. Even the review of the new prequel series in the Guardian refers to it as a single series.

8 years ago

andru_xion

36 Messages

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1.1K Points

Even if everyone else's doing it, doesn't mean it's correct. Look at their boxes. They say Prime Suspect 2, or 3. It's still a series, but of tv movies, not episodes.

8 years ago

adrian

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Andru,

I'm not sure the point you are trying to make. They are definitely not "TV movies" as they have individual episodes. The numbers after the title could indicate just about anything, season, series number, etc.

I'd just like to see some consistency. Sherlock (another British series) is considered to have "seasons". In general, I think for British TV, "series" is synonymous to the American "seasons".

Also, I find it hard to believe everyone else is wrong, but this is the right way to list it. I find it easier to believe that whoever enter it into IMDb who knows how long ago, made a mistake with series 2 of Prime Suspect as separate mini-series and that error was propagate through all subsequent series. Just my opinion.

8 years ago

andru_xion

36 Messages

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1.1K Points

http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?titletypes
2 episodes (parts of the same whole), less than 4 hours = tv movie
(also, note: "And it's often not so easy to decide whether a big TV production that airs on two or more separate evenings should be considered a "mini series" or a multi-part TV movie or something else."
and
"we reserve the right to change and adapt our rules as required by circumstances and may decide to make exceptions for certain special cases or when we lack sufficient evidence to make a final determination.")

By your reasoning, Blackadder 1,2,3,4 should be joined as well (bad idea, too).
Sherlock doesn't have particularly self-contained seasons as I recall. But the episodes are mostly self-contained. Splitting it into seasons would serve little purpose.

IMDb is not very consistent unfortunately as too many editors make mistakes. But in these cases, the original decision was correct.
(f.e. what about new X-Files under the old series, and new Twin Peaks under the new series? maybe there's some reasoning behind this inconsistency, can't see one.)

8 years ago

Michelle

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8 years ago

Hi Adrian and Andru -

Thanks for both of your feedback on how the series is listed on the site, we handle these on a case-by-case basis, as such, I have forwarded your comments to our title editors who will take a look to confirm if the listings should be combined or are correctly listed separately. As soon as I get a confirmation from them I will let you know here.

andru_xion

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I think you can close this thread

8 years ago

adrian

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Was anything actually determined?

8 years ago

Michelle

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8 years ago

Hi Adrian -

A ticket is still pending regarding a policy discussion regarding these title listings and for future similar cases. I have inquired a status update on the ticket, as soon as I have information from the editorial team about the policy outcome I will let you know here.

Will

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8 years ago

Hi everyone,

Apologies for the delay. In this case we have the titles correctly listed as independent mini-series to align with how they were marketed and viewed on their original release as sequels, not as new seasons much like the Blackadder example. They also won and were nominated for independent awards for each mini-series, see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098898/awards?ref_=tt_awd and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106104/awards?ref_=tt_awd. I appreciate that in the past we have been inconsistent across certain cases on the site but we are limited to our existing title types and each case is judged in relation to the criteria it most aligns to in order to reflect its initial release and the content in the best way possible for our users. As a general rule we would prefer to list 2 part titles as mini-series not TV movies so that we can capture the individual credits associated to the individual parts especially if there are independent credit rolls aligned to each. Please see https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/titles/title-formatting/G56U5ERK7YY47CQB?ref_=helpsrall#

One Series or Two?
On occasion some titles warrant a second series listing though this is subjective and each case has to be judged on its own merits i.e Arrested Development (one), 24 and 24: Live Another Day (two) etc. Here are some of the criteria to consider when trying to define whether a series should be listed as one or two titles: the length of time that has passed between the seasons, significant changes to the credits including production details, how the series is marketed when released and perceived by the public and if there were any changes to the primary title.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Will

andru_xion

Prime Suspect

Will

rebecca_7350282

adrian

andru_xion

adrian

Peter_pbn

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andru_xion

adrian

andru_xion

Michelle

andru_xion

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