"New Shows" Feature

[raymondjpg]

I like this feature, but I not sure when the yellow stars should be coming and going.

United States of Tara (ABC 30 June) is, I think, the second episode of Series 2. When are the stars scheduled to fade away? The third episode of a new series?

Lie to Me (SC Ten 30 June) is the third "new" episode (actually a continuation of Series 2), and doesn't have a star. Is this because it is a continuation of Series 2, or because the stars disappear after two episodes of a new series?

Packed to the Rafters looks like it is back with a new series, and yellow stars, on Channel 7, 29 June. However there are also stars against repeats of what look like an earlier series on tonight, Sunday 27 June. By "returning series" does this mean repeats of earlier series will be flagged with stars?

Grateful for clarification  ??? (I did try a scan of the help section, but couldn't find anything relevant.)

Edit: Spotted the Sticky, too late.

[Russell at IceTV]

Hi there. I'll see if I can help.

The "New Shows" page in Interactive displays two types of shows: 1) shows that are "Coming soon", and haven't been scheduled in the guide yet, and 2) shows that have been scheduled in the guide and whose first air date is either in the future or less than a week in the past.

So for example, if the next season of Survivor was starting on the 1st of July, it would appear in the New Shows list right away, and would stay there until the 8th of July -- one week after the first air date.  For weekly shows, the general idea is to mark it as new until the second episode.

United States of Tara (ABC 30 June) is, I think, the second episode of Series 2. When are the stars scheduled to fade away? The third episode of a new series?

Since United States of Tara started on 23 June, it'll stay in the New Shows list until the 30th, one week later.

Lie to Me (SC Ten 30 June) is the third "new" episode (actually a continuation of Series 2), and doesn't have a star. Is this because it is a continuation of Series 2, or because the stars disappear after two episodes of a new series?

Lie To Me wasn't marked as "new" by the guide team, so it doesn't appear in the New Shows list. I'm not up on the particulars of that show, so I can't say exactly why, but maybe because it's a continuation of series 2, as you said.

Packed to the Rafters looks like it is back with a new series, and yellow stars, on Channel 7, 29 June. However there are also stars against repeats of what look like an earlier series on tonight, Sunday 27 June. By "returning series" does this mean repeats of earlier series will be flagged with stars?

At the moment, when a series is marked as "new", all showings of that series get a yellow star next to them in the guide, even repeats. This probably needs a bit of work, for the case you mentioned, where repeats of earlier seasons are still being aired along with shows from the new season.

Thanks for the input,
Russell

[raymondjpg]

Thanks Russell. That makes sense.

In many, if not most, cases the second episode of a new series will follow one week after the first. So the stars should fade after that second episode.

The situation with Packed to the Rafters is more complex. I can understand why repeats of a new series should be flagged with stars while the new series carries them, and why the stars also appear against what looks like repeats of an older series being shown at around the same time. But it would be more helpful to users if stars did not appear against the older series. This would appear to require some manual work by Ice, maybe something lower on your list of priorities.

[Russell at IceTV]

We've changed it so that episodes of a new show that are repeats don't get the yellow star icon anymore. So for example if "Packed to the Rafters" is being aired for the new season as well as repeats from an old season, only the new, non-repeat shows will be marked as new. This has a potential problem of not marking repeats from the new season (such as if they do an encore presentation of the first episode, etc.), but we're working on a solution for that problem separately. At least now the repeats from the previous season won't be marked as new anymore.

We've also added the ability to sort the New Shows page by date.

Thanks,
Russell

[raymondjpg]

We've changed it so that episodes of a new show that are repeats don't get the yellow star icon anymore. So for example if "Packed to the Rafters" is being aired for the new season as well as repeats from an old season, only the new, non-repeat shows will be marked as new. This has a potential problem of not marking repeats from the new season (such as if they do an encore presentation of the first episode, etc.), but we're working on a solution for that problem separately. At least now the repeats from the previous season won't be marked as new anymore.

We've also added the ability to sort the New Shows page by date.

Thanks,
Russell

Thanks Russell.

This solution suits me much better, but may not suit those users who for some reason missed original presentations of a new series and would like to see repeats (particularly encore presentations) flagged with stars.

I find it difficult to see how repeats of a new series can be distinguished from repeats of an earlier series aired at around the same time without some manual intervention. Maybe others might know.

Regards