TV Tome
Encyclopedia
TV Tome was a U.S.
based website
devoted to informational guides for English-language
television shows and the people involved in their production. It was run mainly by volunteer editors, with the assistance of user contributions. The site was founded by John Nestoriak III, who gave the founders of epguides
meta editor status at TV Tome, they were; George Fergus, Dennis Kytasaari and John Lavalie.
The site had over 2,500 complete television series guides, over 3,500 developing television series guides and filmographies for 250,000 actors and crewmembers moderated by a five member crew. TV Tome also appointed forum moderators on TV Tome who moderated four of six TV Tome General Forums and the television show forums. In addition to the television series guides, TV Tome had a rich forum for each television series with a wealth of information regarding episode interpretation and discussion.
A spin off site, Movie Tome
, was established in August 2003. Originally, a video game tome and a music tome were planned as well, but with the purchase of TV Tome and Movie Tome, and seeing as how GameSpot
and MP3.com
equate to those sites, neither came into existence.
On April 22, 2005, TV Tome officially announced its absorption by CNET
, much to the dissent of many members. CNET announced plans to relocate the site to its TV.com
domain, which was acquired in 1996 for use in conjunction with the short-lived syndicated television series of the same name. A preliminary version of the new site launched on June 1, 2005 and on June 13, 2005, the site was permanently redirected to TV.com with an entirely new layout. CNET bought TV Tome for US $5 million in January 2005.
Additionally, each episode could be voted upon by users, thereby creating an aggregate rating on a scale of 1 ("awful") to 10 ("awesome"). All episodes' ratings were displayed on their respective pages, as well as on a separate page that featured the entire series, listed episode-by-episode (in order of highest to lowest TV Tome rating).
Also linked to, was a message board (a forum dedicated to discussion of the person and his/her projects), moderated by the person's TV Tome editor[s].
was created July 11, 1999, by George Fergus, Dennis Kytasaari and John Lavalie. The three creators were given meta editor status at TV Tome and Movie Tome. epguides gradually moved most of its guide data to TV Tome, continuing to maintain its episode list pages primarily as an alternative portal into the TV Tome database. It is in many ways a "no frills" site, giving basic episode titles and airdates, and very basic notes for some shows, leaving more extensive coverage to other websites. Following the sale, it maintained the same relationship with TV.com
for a time, operating as a simplified ad-free front end into their episode guide database. It eventually began a relationship with alternative database TVRage.
forums, who were unhappy about TV Tome after its acquisition decided to rebuild the content and created The TV IV in July 2005. The TV IV runs MediaWiki
software, but has disabled anonymous
editing and has licensed the content under the Creative Commons license (cc-by-2.5)
.
as of June 10, 2010,http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=tvrage.com.
(which also runs on MediaWiki
). Unlike The TV IV, it is open to anyone without registration. Wikia mandates the use of the GNU Free Documentation License
.
EPW is open to anyone after a free registration to discuss episodes (in all languages the episodes are available in), adding episodes and their information in all languages (episode names, plots, cast, writer, director, air dates, news about the show, notes, music) and to keep track of "bookmarked" (favourite) shows (upcoming seasons and new shows) and actors' and artists' appearances (including their songs listed by episode and in music guides).
As of April 24, 2010 EPisodeWorld lists more than 6000 international shows with 352079 episodes (of which 62814 are non-English (17.84%)),http://www.episodeworld.com/stats.php.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
based website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
devoted to informational guides for English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
television shows and the people involved in their production. It was run mainly by volunteer editors, with the assistance of user contributions. The site was founded by John Nestoriak III, who gave the founders of epguides
Epguides
epguides is a website dedicated to English language radio and television shows. George Fergus, the owner of epguides, began it in 1995 as a personal site at www.xnet.com/~fergus with fan-compiled episode guides and lists for several hundred shows...
meta editor status at TV Tome, they were; George Fergus, Dennis Kytasaari and John Lavalie.
The site had over 2,500 complete television series guides, over 3,500 developing television series guides and filmographies for 250,000 actors and crewmembers moderated by a five member crew. TV Tome also appointed forum moderators on TV Tome who moderated four of six TV Tome General Forums and the television show forums. In addition to the television series guides, TV Tome had a rich forum for each television series with a wealth of information regarding episode interpretation and discussion.
A spin off site, Movie Tome
Movie Tome
Movie Tome was the sister site for TV Tome, now the CNET website TV.com. Whereas TV Tome had TV shows and people pages, Movie Tome had movie guides. The website was created no later than August 2003 by John Nestoriak III, and was owned by Collaborative Content, LLC which was acquired by CNET in...
, was established in August 2003. Originally, a video game tome and a music tome were planned as well, but with the purchase of TV Tome and Movie Tome, and seeing as how GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
and MP3.com
MP3.com
MP3.com is a web site operated by CNET Networks providing information about digital music and artists, songs, services, community, and technologies. It is probably better known for its original incarnation, as a legal, free music-sharing service, popular with independent musicians for promoting...
equate to those sites, neither came into existence.
On April 22, 2005, TV Tome officially announced its absorption by CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
, much to the dissent of many members. CNET announced plans to relocate the site to its TV.com
TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
domain, which was acquired in 1996 for use in conjunction with the short-lived syndicated television series of the same name. A preliminary version of the new site launched on June 1, 2005 and on June 13, 2005, the site was permanently redirected to TV.com with an entirely new layout. CNET bought TV Tome for US $5 million in January 2005.
Pages
TV Tome was made up of three main types of pages, which can be comparable to TV.com's pages.Main show page (summary)
Contained overall information about a television series, divided into six sections:- Intro — contained a description of the program's premise (and sometimes other details, such as character profiles, series history and telecast schedules)
- Information — contained specific details about the show, such as its network, status (New Series, Returning Series, Hiatus/To Be Determined, or Cancelled/Ended) and country of origin
- Cast — a list of the show's regular cast members, with their roles and links to their information pages
- Crew — a list of the show's regular crewmembers, with their positions and links to their information pages
- News — a section for current news items regarding the show
- DVDs — a section for DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s of the show that had been or were scheduled to be released to the public
Episode page
Contained information about one installment of a series, divided into seven sections:- Information — contained specific information about the episode, such as its original air date, its producer and director, and a list of its guest stars
- Synopsis — a brief summary of the episode's plot
- Subsequently added was the recap subsection, which provided a full synopsis of the episode, including the ending. (Users had to click on the "recap" link to access this information, as it usually contained spoilersSpoiler (media)Spoiler is slang for any element of any summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot element which will give away the outcome of a dramatic episode within the work of fiction, or the conclusion of the entire work. It can also be used to refer to any piece of information...
that fans wouldn't want to read until after viewing the episode.)- Notes — trivia about the episode, or any information that doesn't belong in the other sections
- Quotes — memorable dialogue from the episode
- Goofs — technical, factual, or continuity errors contained within the episode
- Analysis — an examination or critique of the episode
- Cultural References — lists and explanations of real-life events and/or media that were indirectly or directly referenced within the dialogue and action of the episode
Additionally, each episode could be voted upon by users, thereby creating an aggregate rating on a scale of 1 ("awful") to 10 ("awesome"). All episodes' ratings were displayed on their respective pages, as well as on a separate page that featured the entire series, listed episode-by-episode (in order of highest to lowest TV Tome rating).
Person page
Contained information on a person associated with television, divided into five sections:- Biographical Information — contained standard information about the person, such as his/her name, birthdate, death date, etc.
- This section often featured a link to a separate biography page, containing in-depth information on the person's career and/or personal life.
- Notes — trivia about the person, or any information that doesn't belong in the other sections
- News — a seldom-used section for current news items regarding the person
- Crew Credits — a list of links to TV Tome and Movie TomeMovie TomeMovie Tome was the sister site for TV Tome, now the CNET website TV.com. Whereas TV Tome had TV shows and people pages, Movie Tome had movie guides. The website was created no later than August 2003 by John Nestoriak III, and was owned by Collaborative Content, LLC which was acquired by CNET in...
pages that credit the person for crew work - Acting Appearances — a list of links to TV Tome and Movie TomeMovie TomeMovie Tome was the sister site for TV Tome, now the CNET website TV.com. Whereas TV Tome had TV shows and people pages, Movie Tome had movie guides. The website was created no later than August 2003 by John Nestoriak III, and was owned by Collaborative Content, LLC which was acquired by CNET in...
pages that credit the person for on-screen appearances, divided into subsections:- Starring Roles — a list of links to the main pages of shows in which the person regularly appeared, along with their roles
- Guest Starring Roles — a list of links to television installments in which the person was billed as a guest star
- Co Starring Roles — a list of links to television installments in which the person was billed as a co-star
- Movie/Mini-Series/Special Roles — a list of links to Movie TomeMovie TomeMovie Tome was the sister site for TV Tome, now the CNET website TV.com. Whereas TV Tome had TV shows and people pages, Movie Tome had movie guides. The website was created no later than August 2003 by John Nestoriak III, and was owned by Collaborative Content, LLC which was acquired by CNET in...
pages of movies, miniseries and television specials in which the person appeared
Also linked to, was a message board (a forum dedicated to discussion of the person and his/her projects), moderated by the person's TV Tome editor[s].
Other pages
The summary page and the individual episode pages featured links to other sections, including:- Episode List — all of the program's episode titles and air dates (arranged chronologically), with links to individual episode pages
- Episode Guide — a page (viewable for the entire series or season-by-season) that listed the information, short synopsis, and notes sections from the individual episode pages
- Goofs Guide — a page that listed all of the program's goofGoofIn filmmaking, a goof is a mistake made during film production that finds its way into the final released picture. Depending upon the film and the actual scene, the goof may have different effects: a loss in realism, an annoyance, or it could just be funny. It is often a type of continuity error...
s (also contained within the individual episode pages) - Episode Reviews — reviews written or approved by the program's TV Tome editor[s]
- Features — a compilation of articles pertaining to the series and/or the people involved
- Cast Guide — a thorough list of cast members, divided under the headings Stars, Recurring and Guest Stars
- Crew Guide — a thorough list of crewmembers, including writers, directors, producers and others
- Forum — a message board (dedicated to discussion of the series and the people involved), moderated by the corresponding TV Tome editor[s]
epguides
epguidesEpguides
epguides is a website dedicated to English language radio and television shows. George Fergus, the owner of epguides, began it in 1995 as a personal site at www.xnet.com/~fergus with fan-compiled episode guides and lists for several hundred shows...
was created July 11, 1999, by George Fergus, Dennis Kytasaari and John Lavalie. The three creators were given meta editor status at TV Tome and Movie Tome. epguides gradually moved most of its guide data to TV Tome, continuing to maintain its episode list pages primarily as an alternative portal into the TV Tome database. It is in many ways a "no frills" site, giving basic episode titles and airdates, and very basic notes for some shows, leaving more extensive coverage to other websites. Following the sale, it maintained the same relationship with TV.com
TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
for a time, operating as a simplified ad-free front end into their episode guide database. It eventually began a relationship with alternative database TVRage.
The TV IV
Several people on the Something AwfulSomething Awful
Something Awful, often abbreviated to SA, is a comedy website housing a variety of content, including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website, but as it grew, so...
forums, who were unhappy about TV Tome after its acquisition decided to rebuild the content and created The TV IV in July 2005. The TV IV runs MediaWiki
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a popular free web-based wiki software application. Developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, it is used to run all of its projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikinews. Numerous other wikis around the world also use it to power their websites...
software, but has disabled anonymous
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
editing and has licensed the content under the Creative Commons license (cc-by-2.5)
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
.
TVRage
TVRage was bought June 14, 2005 and went public October 26, 2005. It uses a custom-made software base. The website uses a simple design that attempts to recreate the original TV Tome concept. TVRage contains both television show guides (episode guides, show cast, show crew, show forums, character guide, news about the show, awards, show tidbits, merchandise and links), people guides (biography, galleries, picture, links, trivia, list of credits), and Network Guides (history, shows, etc.). Several former TV Tome/TV.com editors have since adopted show guides there. The site is currently ranked 5,563 on AlexaAlexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
as of June 10, 2010,http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=tvrage.com.
TV Friends
Independently from TV IV another community effort has begun to rebuild what was lost through the TVTome acquisition. Since, August 2005 the TVFriends project is hosted by WikiaWikia
Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
(which also runs on MediaWiki
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a popular free web-based wiki software application. Developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, it is used to run all of its projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikinews. Numerous other wikis around the world also use it to power their websites...
). Unlike The TV IV, it is open to anyone without registration. Wikia mandates the use of the GNU Free Documentation License
GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...
.
EPisodeWorld
EPisodeWorld (short EPW) was created after TV Tome's acquisition in 2005 and went public on September 25, 2005. The founders were equally unhappy with the loss of TV Tome and what it had to offer and independently started this project to rebuild what was lost and more and offer information beyond informational guides for English-language television shows by also listing guides for the same and more shows in other languages (including German, French, Italian, Japanese, Finnish, etc.). The goal is to offer information to the often international fanbase and not to limit it to English speaking fans and officials.EPW is open to anyone after a free registration to discuss episodes (in all languages the episodes are available in), adding episodes and their information in all languages (episode names, plots, cast, writer, director, air dates, news about the show, notes, music) and to keep track of "bookmarked" (favourite) shows (upcoming seasons and new shows) and actors' and artists' appearances (including their songs listed by episode and in music guides).
As of April 24, 2010 EPisodeWorld lists more than 6000 international shows with 352079 episodes (of which 62814 are non-English (17.84%)),http://www.episodeworld.com/stats.php.
External links
- Archived versions of TV Tome at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- TV.com, the successor to TV Tome
- epguides