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Part of Television actors: role categories, pace, and a character still being written
Television actors timeline: date types and record fields
A television actors timeline can include production, air, release, and local dates. Learn how to label each date with its type, market, and source.
A television actors timeline can give five honest answers to when a performance happened: when it was shot, when it first aired, when it aired where you live, when the whole season was released at once, and when the database last edited the entry. A timeline that does not say which one it is using is not a timeline.
This page treats dates as record fields, not as a list of television credits.
What to take away
- A television record has several dates, sometimes years apart. Store the type of date next to the date, every time.
- Air dates differ by country and platform. The original broadcast in the production's home market is the usual anchor; say so if you use it.
- Two timelines that disagree are often both right, about different dates.
The dates a record can carry
- Production dates.When the episodes were shot. The only date that says when the performer did the work.
- Original air date.When an episode was first broadcast or made available in the production's home market. One per episode.
- Premiere date.The first episode's air date, used loosely for the series or the season.
- Release date.For a season made available all at once, the day the whole set appeared.
- Local air date.When it reached a particular country or platform, which may be years later.
- Repeat and syndication dates.Later showings, sometimes recorded by mistake as premieres.
- Availability dates.When a platform added the series, and when it removed it.
- Announcement dates.Renewal, cancellation, casting. About the production, not the performance.
- The edit date.When the database last touched the entry. Frequently the only date shown, and the least useful.
Which date answers which question
When did this performer play this role? Production dates, and if those are unavailable, the air dates of the first and last episodes they appear in, labeled as air dates.
Which date answers which question
When did this performer play this role?
Production dates, or first and last air dates
When could an audience have seen it?
When could an audience have seen it? The air date in the market the question is about.
Which year does an award body count it in? The body's eligibility rule controls; that year may differ from the calendar year and from the production or air date. Check the body's published eligibility rules rather than inferring an award year from another date.
A career timeline built from air dates will shift every performance later than the work, sometimes by more than a year, because a season can be finished long before anyone sees it. That difference is the gap between the time a performer worked and the time audiences could see the performance.
Building the field
A single column headed "year" is where timelines go wrong. It forces one of the dates above to stand for all of them, and it does not record which one was chosen.
Four things to store together
- The date itself
- The type of date from the list
- The market it applies to
- The source it came from
Store four things together: the date, the type of date from the list above, the market it applies to, and the source it came from. The type is metadata about the value, and a value stored without it cannot be interpreted by anyone who did not choose it.
A role that spans time gets a range, with the same four things at each end. A performer's timeline is then derived from the role ranges, filtered by date type, and the derivation can be repeated by anyone who has the rows.
Why two timelines disagree
One source used production dates and the other air dates; one used the home market and the other the reader's. A series aired across a year-end; different editors filed it under different years.
Why two timelines disagree
Timeline A
- Date type
- Production dates
- Market
- Home market
- Year-end series
- One year
- Two-half season
- First half
- Repeat
- Premiere
- Series year
- Applied to all
Timeline B
- Date type
- Air dates
- Market
- Reader's market
- Year-end series
- Another year
- Two-half season
- Second half
- Repeat
- Repeat
- Series year
- Per episode
A season released in two halves was dated by the first on one timeline, by the second on the other. A repeat was recorded as a premiere; one database stored a series year and applied it to every episode.
Each of these is a different date type standing in for "the" date, and each is invisible unless the type was stored.
Reading an old broadcast date
Printed listings magazines, a broadcaster's own archive, and national library collections of moving images are where old air dates live. They record what was scheduled, which is not always what aired, and they record it for one region.
Treat an old date as an air date for a named market, from a named source, and expect to find a different one for a different market. Keep a scheduled listing distinct from evidence of what actually aired.
For a television performance, production dates and air dates answer different questions. Store the date type with each value so the timeline shows whether it marks when the work was done or when audiences could see it.
Common questions
Which date goes on a resume?
Either is defensible if it is consistent. Most performers use the year of first broadcast; if a production has not aired yet, say so rather than guessing a year.
A database gives a different year from the home video release.
They are different dates. Home video release is another type; record it as one, and keep the air date.
A role spans a gap between seasons. One range or two?
Two, if the gap matters to the reader; one, with the gap noted, if it does not. Either way, store the episode identifiers so that the choice can be reversed.
How do I date an unaired episode?
With its production dates and a status saying it did not air. It has no air date, and inventing one is the one thing the field must never do.
