IMDb Contributors Blog

Actor Names in Plot Summaries

For a very long time we’ve kept actors’ names out of plot summaries, preferring to refer only to the characters they play. We asked around and found that many people would actually prefer that we allowed them – it makes…

You Are Watching Big Brother

With the new season of Big Brother well under way in the UK (BB11) we need your help adding release dates, cast, nominations for evictions… all the usual stuff to this iconic series. Don’t be afraid, just click the Update button…

Talk Shows, Chat Shows and Guests (oh my)

For a very long while we’ve been distinguishing the episodes of chat shows by their broadcast date or episode number but it occurred to us (as it had to a great many of you) that a far better way would…

Update forms updated

We’ve made some minor changes to the Update forms, to make them a little bit less daunting for new users. The bulk of the form is exactly as before – we’ve only changed the explanatory text at the top of…

Clarifying Chat Show Release Dates

Tricky blighter, Johnny Chat Show. With the USA being wide enough to contain several time zones it’s possible for the same TV show to be shown on different dates if it’s aired in different time zones either side of midnight.…

Movie & TV connections – not so trivial after all

Just a quick reminder that the correct place to submit information noting connections between movies and/or TV shows is to a title’s Movie Connections list, not to its Trivia list. Any submission regarding links between titles sent to Trivia will…

Awards list – temporary closure

Our Awards list is one of the oldest and most complex parts of the database and it’s long overdue for an overhaul. Everything about the list, from the way you send us the information, the way we check it, the…

Man and Superman

We view Superheroes and their alter-egos as two separate characters (as opposed to one character with two different names).

Sometimes, Superheroes and their alter-egos are manifestly distinct personalities – bumbling, clumsy Clark Kent vs. Self-assured, confident Superman, for example, and most…

Certificates

Although it seems like the perfect place for it, there’s no need to put the MPAA reasons for a movie’s rating in the “attribute” section of the certificates form. We get that info direct from the MPAA so you can…

What’s in a name?

We list people on the site by their professional name (stage name, best-known public name, what have you) and this, obviously, isn’t necessarily their real name. If you happen to find out someone’s real name, please don’t try to change…