Talk:ABC Afterschool Special

New Article
I've just created this article. A few comments: I welcome any editing assistance. There's probably a lot more to say about the show. JimVC3 (talk) 03:01, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Some writers use two words (After School) when referring to the show. And the DVDs were packaged that way as well.  But both Terrace (2009) and IMDb reference it as one word, which I've chosen to use.
 * Similarly, some sources (and again, the DVDs) use the plural (Specials) when talking about the show. Terrace (2009) uses the singular and I've used that form.
 * The infobox does not contain a lot of information, primarily because each episode was produced by a different production team. I was unable to confirm any single individual responsible for things like creating the series or composing the theme music.

Show Title
I've been obsessing about the exact name of this show. I've referred to Terrace's 2009 Encyclopedia of Television Shows, IMDb and actual promos and clips from YouTube. Here's what I've found.
 * Terrace indicates that the name begins with "The" but the actual clips show otherwise. I feel confident it's not "The ABC....."
 * Is it "After School" or "Afterschool" ? Some confusion probably exists because promos in the 70s graphically presented the title inside a round gumball machine, requiring that Afterschool appear as two words because of space limitations.  And the DVDs have been issued with two words.  But almost all official sources, including ABCs later promos, are in agreement that the second word is "Afterschool" as one word.
 * The greatest inconsistency is whether the last word is singular or plural (Special ?? Specials??). Terrace supports the singular while IMDb says it's plural.  The five or six clips/promos that I could find indicate that ABC used both: singular when the show started in the 70s, plural in the early 80s and then back to singular in the later 80s.  (There is, of course, some relationship to the context - singular when speaking of a single episode and plural when speaking of two or more.)  I've decided to go with Terrace on this one. JimVC3 (talk) 22:51, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I've just added a screencap of the original "Gumball Machine" title card from the early 1970s, and it's Special (singular). Complicating things further is that the ABC Weekend Specials title card lists the name of that show as plural (with an "s"), so it's understandable that there is confusion, even among relatively "reliable" sources.  And I believe the one-word spelling of "Afterschool" is correct.  Since the specials were independently produced by dozens of production companies and then licensed by ABC, the Martin Tahse DVDs are not "official" representations of ABC or the anthology series (there are actually a few Martin Tahse produced specials on that set that were actually aired as ABC Weekend Specials and/or CBS Schoolbreak Specials), so I take the packaging of the Martin Tahse DVDs with a grain of salt. --- Crakkerjakk (talk) 13:38, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Episode List
Sometime over the next few months I'm going to try to wikify the episode list and probably move it to its own page. I'm searching for an appropriate format that would allow me to include guest stars, director, writer and awards. If anyone has concerns or ideas, let me know. JimVC3 (talk) 00:52, 13 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I was just thinking the same thing. This series needs a more comprehensive (and easier to navigate) episode list.  My personal preference is the format that can be found on the List of Drake & Josh episodes page.  My reason for preferring that format is that each episode can be directly linked to with a link#subsection backlink.  Many of the episode lists I see will only allow you to #subsection link to the season, but not directly to a specific episode..  The List of Drake & Josh episodes format allows you to directly link to a particular episode, which is particularly desirable with an anthology series like the ABC Afterschool Special where most every episode featured a completely different cast of guest-stars.  For example, if I'm working on one of the guest-stars biography pages and I want to backlink directly to episode #56, I can just type [List of Drake & Josh episodes#ep56|Battle of Panthatar] inside a backlink and it will appear on the actor's page as Battle of Panthatar, but will take the reader directly to that specific episode when they click the link.  I would be willing to help out if you're serious about wanting to work on a comprehensive episode list for the series.  I'm more familiar with the 1970s and early 1980s years of the show, and I would be willing to help out if you wanted to split the list in half.  Just let me know on my talk page if you want help. --- Crakkerjakk (talk) 13:38, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The info about the book that the episode "The Secret Life of T.K. Dearing" is based on seems to be totally wrong. It says it's based on The Skating Rink, which sounds nothing like this episode. And the author listed didn't write The Skating Rink. Meve Stills (talk) 20:10, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

DVD Releases
BCI/Eclipse did release DVD sets of several Afterschool Specials on DVD. They were all productions of Martin Tahse. They also released a boxed set of these at teh same time. The box was in the shape of a small school bus that said Martin Tahse High School in bold letters. There was also an additional DVD of two never before released on DVD specials.

I thought that I would also add the boxed set of this as well.Frschoonover (talk) 03:20, 4 February 2012 (UTC)