[WikiEN-l] WP:EPISODE

[Steve Bennett]

On 12/21/07, Nathan Awrich <nawrich at gmail.com> wrote:
> them, let alone cite them for anything. Additionally, they present
> clear RS problems - how often do reliable sources publish a treatment
> of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode?

Well, that's about the worst example you could give, because Buffy
*does* get scholarly treatment. But anyway.

There's something very misguided going on here, perhaps as the result
of rather ugly notability guidelines being treated as axioms on which
to construct further guidelines. Does anyone really think it's a good
idea that *some* episodes of a given series have articles but not
*all* of them? Do we really think that it's smart to have articles
about the "notable" episodes 3, 4, 8, and 11 of season 2 of whatever
series, but not the rest? Would any "real" encyclopaedia do this?

Personally, I think we have often gone too far with details on
individual episodes of shows (particularly unscripted shows, such as
big brother, or game shows). But the answer isn't to chop all the
information altogether. The answer is restraint: a short article (or
paragraph in a list article) with the key information about the
episode, without the cruft. Summarise the plot. Don't give us a
blow-by-blow description. Tell us what makes it different from other
episodes. Don't give us pointless trivia.

But no, restraint, judgment and good taste don't often figure in
discussions of our treatment of popular culture.

Steve