Category talk:Special

I did my best to find some sort of method for distinguishing between "TV Movie" and "Special," but I'm not 100% sure I agree with the line I drew. Where should we draw the line? Is there a difference at all—even an overlapping one? If not, maybe we should merge these two categories. If so, what's the difference? Note that any definition which requires a Lexis-Nexis search for every movie or special ever made is probably pretty useless. -- JCaesar^talk 22:27, 20 August 2006 (EDT)

I've already mentioned this on AIM, but this is how I look at the line between TV Movie and Special: A TV movie is a standalone narrative film that has no ties to any pre-existing show. Comedy Central's The Hebrew Hammer is a TV movie. A special is tied to a pre-existing show or does not have a narrative story. Specials include award shows, reunion shows, movies that act as almost an extended episode of the series (in this case it would be both a special and a TV movie). --IndieRockLance 01:54, 21 August 2006 (EDT)

I see where you're going. Is there a way to make that distinction clear to thousands of users, though?

The problem I'm running into here (and I want to have a category—even if it proves to be a merged one—for this type of programming) is that there is no "industry standard" (my usual dividing line) for the distinction between the two. "Special" is not a term used by filmmakers, producers, etc., generally. It's a term used by networks—more often than not broadcast networks—and it basically refers to any program which is not part of their programming grid. So all sporting events, awards ceremonies, concerts, and, yes, most movies—excluding those movies which air in a pre-scheduled time slot for a "movie of the week" or "MOW"—are "specials." Cable channels without rigid grids tend to use the word less frequently, but when they do, it typically refers to any one-shot programming. Filmmakers and writers often use the term "MOW" (even if it's not a true Movie of the Week) for made-for-broadcast-television movies. For premium channel movies, they just say "movie" or "TV movie," and for everything else, they just call it a "show" or "documentary," depending on how they think of it.

I guess I'm just wondering if there's a more specific, clearly explainable method. Even the "narrative" part of the definition is difficult to define to many people and is frequently misused. Since we only have a small handful of entries, I'd like to clearly delineate (or, if necessary, agree to merge) this now before it becomes problematic. -- JCaesar^talk 02:41, 21 August 2006 (EDT)