How do I add a missing TV Show?

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By default, we use TMDB as the primary data source for TV show information.

If you find a listing that has an outdated or missing external ID or link, please submit them to support by opening a ticket.

Here’s how to import a TV show:

  1. Make sure the TV show exists on TMDB with English information filled out. The more complete the TMDB entry is, the better it is for Trakt and all the other apps that use TMDB as well.
  2. On the Trakt website, click the Import TV Show link in the footer.
  3. Type in the TMDB ID and click the Import button.

If you get a 404 error, that could mean a few things:

  • There is no English translation.
  • TMDB has too much blank or invalid data.
  • The TV show is a duplicate (usually indicated in the title).

Behind the scenes, here is what we do during a TV show import.

TMDB as the primary:

  1. All main English TV info is imported from TMDB.
  2. Aliases, translations, genres, language, and actors are imported from TMDB.
  3. The highest rated English or “No Language” poster, season posters, episode screenshots and fanart are also imported from TMDB. 1080p (or larger) is preferred for fanart and we’ll only use 720p if nothing better is available.
  4. All English season and episode info is imported from TMDB.
  5. Supporting images are imported from Fanart.tv for the show (logo, banner, thumb) and seasons (poster, fanart, thumb, banner).

Some TV shows use TVDB as their primary data source. We’re in the process of moving those shows to use TMDB, but here is how TVDB shows are currently updated.

TVDB as the primary:

  1. All main English TV info is imported from TVDB.
  2. Aliases, translations, genres, language, and actors are imported from TMDB.
  3. The highest rated poster and fanart are also imported from TVDB. 1080p (or larger) is preferred for fanart and we’ll only use 720p if nothing better is available. If no image exists on TVDB, we import from TMDB with the same 1080p preference.
  4. All English season and episode info is imported from TVDB. If any info is missing, TMDB is used to fill in the gaps.
  5. The highest rated season posters are imported from TVDB. If no season poster exists, we import from TMDB.
  6. The highest rated episode screenshots are imported from TMDB since they support 1080p+ resolutions. If no screenshot exists on TMDB, we import from TVDB.
  7. Supporting images are imported from Fanart.tv for the show (logo, banner, thumb) and seasons (poster, fanart, thumb, banner). If the no show banner exists, we import from TVDB.

Note: Some TV shows have locked poster and fanart (indicated on the left sidebar). This means we have specifically set those images and they won’t be auto updated with a refresh.

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