Wikipedia:Naming conventions (television)

As is the general practice across Wikipedia, the article title for any topic related to television should be simply the most common word or phrase used to describe that topic. In particular, if the title of a television program is sufficiently unambiguous compared to any other topics or is considered to be the primary topic, then let that also be the title of the article; for example, The Prisoner or Guiding Light.

If the common title of the show is ambiguous, an alternate article title will need to be used to distinguish it from other similarly named programs, series, movies, books, terms, or other topics. Natural disambiguation may be used if the show has an alternate title that is also commonly used to refer to it. Failing that, then parenthetical disambiguation may be needed – use the most appropriate method as described in the sections below.

For guidelines relating to television broadcasting (networks, channels, stations, etc.), see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (broadcasting).

Television programming

Series television

Episodic, serial, or limited series television shows are made of episodes which may relate part of an unfolding story, feature recurring settings or characters, or express a unifying narrative theme. These shows are typically aired only part of the year, and are produced as a set or cycle of episodes usually called a "season" or a "series".

• For a TV series article whose name does not conflict with any other article, use the TV series title.
• When disambiguation is required, use TV series name (TV series).
• Do not disambiguate by genre or format, i.e. "sitcom", "telenovela", "soap opera", etc., unless further disambiguation is required (see Additional disambiguation below).
• For the special case of episodic television known as "miniseries", when disambiguation is required, use: (miniseries) or (serial) according to common usage in reliable sources.

Examples

• Breaking Bad – No other article with this name exists.
• Revenge (TV series)
• Portlandia (TV series)
• Fixer Upper (TV series)
• Life on Earth (TV series)
• Taken (miniseries)

Non-series television

Non-series television shows tend to be produced on either an on-going basis (airing daily or weekly) or as a one-time event. Each episode of an on-going show usually is self-contained with little connection to other episodes, other than title, format, hosts, and other on-air personalities. These shows generally lack on-going narrative or story elements.

• For a non-series television article whose name does not conflict with any other article, use the TV program title.
• For game shows, use TV program name (game show).
• For talk shows, use TV program name (talk show).
• For all other programs use TV program name (TV program) or TV program name (TV programme) according to common usage in reliable sources.

Examples

• Password (game show) – Password, is considered to be the primary topic so the game show is disambiguated.
• My Generation (talk show) – "My Generation", the song, is considered to be the primary topic so the talk show is disambiguated.
• The Hub (TV programme) – The Hub is a disambiguation page because there is no primary topic. Originated in the United Kingdom and uses the British term "programme".
• Extra (American TV program) – Extra is a disambiguation page because there is no primary topic. Extra (TV program) redirects to section Extra#Television to disambiguate from Extra (Australian TV program) and other topics. Originated in the United States and uses the American term "program".

Season articles

TV shows are typically aired only part of the year, and are produced as a set or cycle of episodes usually called a "season" or a "series". A season can be numbered in order or can have a unique name for each season. A consistent naming scheme should be used for all season articles of a TV show – if one season is named something special, this should be noted through redirects and in the article's WP:LEAD, but the article should be named in the same fashion as the other season pages. Redirects should be created for ease of searching by the end user. Similar names should continue even if one version of the show has several more seasons than the other; for example, the U.S. version of The Apprentice has had four more seasons than the UK version, but the naming continues up through all of them, including "The Apprentice (U.S. season 11)". Hatnotes should be used to provide links to the other shows' existing season pages if needed. For further disambiguation see Additional disambiguation below.

Examples

• 24 (season 1), 24 (season 2), 24 (season 3), ... – Originated in the U.S. and uses the American term "season".
• Doctor Who (series 8) Doctor Who (series 9), Doctor Who (series 10), ... – Originated in the UK and uses the British term "series".
• Survivor: Borneo, Survivor: The Australian Outback, Survivor: Africa, ... – Each season had a distinctive name and uses that name instead of the season numbers.
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Vengeance, Spartacus: War of the Damned – Each season had a distinctive name and uses that name instead of the season numbers.
• The Amazing Race 6, The Amazing Race 7, The Amazing Race 8 – The Amazing Race 8 was known as "The Amazing Race: Family Edition", but maintains the naming format as other seasons with the season's distinctive name being a redirect to the consistently named season page.

Additional disambiguation

Additional disambiguation is needed when there are two or more television productions of the same type and name.

• Prefix with the country of broadcast using the country adjective. Generally the preferred disambiguation when additional disambiguation is needed. Used to distinguish shows with the same title from different countries. Only one country should be used.
  • For TV series articles, use TV series name (Country-adjective TV series) as in (American TV series), (Argentine TV series), (British TV series), and (Canadian TV series).
  • For TV season articles, use TV series name (Country-adjective season/series x) as in (American season x), (British series x), and (Canadian season x).
• Prefix with the year of release or program debut. Generally used when there are shows with the same title within the same country.
  • For TV series articles, use TV series name (year TV series) as in (1997 TV series).
  • For TV season articles, use TV series name (year TV series, season/series x) as in (1997 TV series, season x), (1997 TV series, series x).
• Prefix with the year of release or program debut and country of broadcast using the country adjective.
  • For TV series articles, use TV series name (year Country-adjective TV series) as in (1997 Canadian TV series).
• If the year, country, or a combination of both is still insufficient to disambiguate the topic, an appropriate genre or format word ("sitcom", "telenovela", "soap opera", "animated" or "anime", etc.) can then be considered for use via a page move request.

Disambiguation using television network identification is deprecated, but in certain cases, when programs air in the same region within a few years of each other, it may be advisable to create redirects in order to aid searching, linking, and prevent duplicate articles from being created (e.g. The Frank Sinatra Show (CBS TV series) for The Frank Sinatra Show (1950 TV series) vs. The Frank Sinatra Show (ABC TV series) for The Frank Sinatra Show (1957 TV series)).

Examples

• Prefixing the series with the country adjective:
  • Big Brother (American TV series), Big Brother (British TV series), and Big Brother (Dutch TV series)
  • Blockbusters (American game show), Blockbusters (Australian game show), and Blockbusters (British game show)
  • Coma (American miniseries) and Coma (South Korean miniseries)
• Prefixing the season with the country adjective:
  • Dancing with the Stars (American season 1), Dancing with the Stars (Australian season 1), and Dancing with the Stars (Irish series 1)
• Prefixing the series with the release year:
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series)
• Prefixing the season with the series release year:
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series, season 1), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series, season 1) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series, season 1)
• Prefixing the series with the country adjective and the release year:
  • Hunter (1984 American TV series), Hunter (1984 Australian TV series) as there are both Hunter (1977 TV series) (American) and Hunter (1967 TV series) (Australian) TV series

Television films

Main page: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films)

• For television films whose names conflict with other uses, use TV film name (film).
• For television films whose names conflict with other films, use TV film name (year film), where year corresponds to the year in which the film first aired on TV.
• For television films whose name conflicts with a theatrical film released in the same year, use TV film name (year TV film) and TV film name (year theatrical film) respectively.

Examples

• Their Eyes Were Watching God (film) – Their Eyes Were Watching God, the novel, is considered to be the primary topic so the film is disambiguated.
• Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (film) – "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", a song, is considered to be the primary topic so the film is disambiguated.
• The Challenge (2003 film) (television film) and The Challenge (1938 film), The Challenge (1982 film) – None of the films are the primary topic so they are all disambiguated.
• Savage (1973 TV film) and Savage! (1973 theatrical film) – Neither of the films is the primary topic so they are both disambiguated.

Character, element and episode articles

• For an article about a character, element or episode whose name does not conflict with any other article, use its name as the article title. For characters, typically the full name is used, if known, except when an alias or other name is much more common.
• For an article about a character, element or episode that belongs to a TV series, use Title (TV series name).
• For an article about a character, element or episode that belongs to a shared universe or franchise, use Title (Shared universe name) or Title (Franchise name).
• If the character's name is the same as the show's title or if the character appears in many different titles, use Character name (character).
• Where the title is the same as an episode, character, or other element from the same show,, use Title (TV series name episode/character/element).

Although editors should avoid preemptive disambiguation, they are encouraged to create extra redirects to help with internal linking and avoid creation of duplicate articles. For example, for the Lost episode, "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues", one could create the following redirects:

• All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues (Lost)
• All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues (Lost episode)

TV character articles primarily focused on appearances in other media (film, books, comics, video games, etc.) should follow those respective naming conventions.

Examples

• Bart the Genius – episode title; no other article with this name exists.
• The Sting (Futurama) – episode title; disambiguated from the 1973 film of the same name.
• Norm Peterson – full name used frequently, not Norm (Cheers), no further disambiguation needed.
• The Mother (How I Met Your Mother) – alternate name used primarily, not Tracy Mosby.
• Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – common name used, disambiguated from other uses and characters in other works.
• Claire Temple (Marvel Cinematic Universe) – Claire Temple, the comics version, is considered to be the primary topic, so the article is disambiguated with Marvel Cinematic Universe, the shared universe the character is a part of.
• Quark (Star Trek) – Quark, the elementary particle, is considered to be the primary topic, so the article is disambiguated with Star Trek, the franchise the character is a part of.
• Samurai Jack (character) – The character name is the same as its TV series name, Samurai Jack, so the article is disambiguated with the word "character".
• Serenity, is a disambiguation page because there is no primary topic, and in addition it has has several different usages in the Firefly series. This requires disambiguation with the TV series and type:
  • Serenity (Firefly episode)
  • Serenity (Firefly vessel)

Media franchise

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) § Media franchise

When the content presented in a TV program or series spans other media formats such as radio, film, video game, or print, then an associated overview page (an article describing and summarizing the items of the franchise) should occupy the primary article title .

• For franchise articles whose name does not conflict with any other article, use the franchise title.
• For franchise articles that need to be disambiguated, use Series name (franchise).

Examples

• Star Trek – A franchise article that does not share a name with any other article.
• Chicago (franchise)
• Dragnet (franchise)

List articles

Disambiguation for list articles related to television productions should be used where necessary to make clear which title is being discussed. If the main TV series page title was disambiguated from other entertainment properties (e.g. other TV series, films, novels, etc.), related list pages may or may not need to be further disambiguated, depending on whether other list articles exist. Otherwise, the series title is sufficient.

Examples

• NCIS: New Orleans and List of NCIS: New Orleans episodes
• Fargo (TV series) and List of Fargo episodes
• The Flash (1990 TV series) vs. The Flash (2014 TV series) and List of The Flash episodes and List of The Flash characters (as no list articles exist for the 1990 series)
• MacGyver (1985 TV series) and List of MacGyver (1985 TV series) episodes vs. MacGyver (2016 TV series) and List of MacGyver (2016 TV series) episodes
• Mistresses (American TV series) and List of Mistresses (American TV series) episodes vs. Mistresses (British TV series) and List of Mistresses (British TV series) episodes
• List of Oz characters vs. List of Oz (TV series) characters

Articles about television

Articles which relate to general concepts related to television technology, terminology, and industry (but not programming) should use (television).

Examples

• Ghosting (television)
• Revival (television)

See also

• Wikipedia:Naming conventions (broadcasting), for additional guidelines relating to television broadcasting (networks, channels, stations, etc.)
• Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)#Fictional cities