TV Show Scraper (TVMaze)

Type breking bad into TVMaze's show search and Breaking Bad still comes back first. The match is fuzzy on purpose, so a half-remembered title is enough. Three lookups run against that API: shows by name, people by name, and the full episode list for one show. TVMaze is free and there's no key to request. Summaries arrive as plain text with the HTML already stripped out.

Mode 1 — search shows

{ "mode": "shows", "query": "breaking bad", "maxItems": 10 }

{
  "ok": true,
  "id": 169,
  "name": "Breaking Bad",
  "type": "Scripted",
  "language": "English",
  "genres": ["Drama", "Crime", "Thriller"],
  "status": "Ended",
  "runtime": 60,
  "premiered": "2008-01-20",
  "ended": "2013-09-29",
  "rating": 9.2,
  "network": "AMC",
  "country": "United States",
  "imdb": "tt0903747",
  "officialSite": "http://www.amc.com/shows/breaking-bad",
  "summary": "Breaking Bad follows protagonist Walter White, a chemistry teacher...",
  "image": "https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/original_untouched/0/2400.jpg",
  "url": "https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/169/breaking-bad"
}

network covers both broadcast networks and streaming services. If a show is on a web channel, that name lands in the same field. imdb gives you a join key to anything else you already have.

Mode 2 — search people

{ "mode": "people", "query": "bryan cranston" }

{
  "ok": true,
  "id": 13,
  "name": "Bryan Cranston",
  "country": "United States",
  "birthday": "1956-03-07",
  "gender": "Male",
  "image": "https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/original_untouched/0/13.jpg",
  "url": "https://www.tvmaze.com/people/13/bryan-cranston"
}

This searches TVMaze's people directory by name. It does not return a given show's cast list. That's a different endpoint and this actor doesn't call it.

Mode 3 — episodes

{ "mode": "episodes", "showId": 169, "maxItems": 100 }

{
  "ok": true,
  "showId": 169,
  "episodeId": 12285,
  "name": "Pilot",
  "season": 1,
  "number": 1,
  "airdate": "2008-01-20",
  "runtime": 60,
  "rating": 8.7,
  "summary": "Walter White, a struggling high school chemistry teacher...",
  "url": "https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/12285/breaking-bad-1x01-pilot"
}

showId is TVMaze's numeric ID, not IMDb's. Run shows mode first and take it from the id field.

Input

Field	Default	Notes
mode	shows	shows, people or episodes.
query	empty	Show name or person name. Ignored in episodes mode. The Console prefills breaking bad as an example; an API call has to send its own.
showId	—	Required for episodes mode. Numeric TVMaze ID.
maxItems	50	1 to 2,000. Deduplicated on ID before the cap is applied.
proxyConfiguration	off	The API is open with no anti-bot. Off is right.

Limits

• Cast lists aren't returned. People search is a directory lookup by name, not "who was in this show".
• Episodes mode takes one showId per run. For several shows, run it several times.
• rating is null when TVMaze has too few votes to publish an average, which is common on obscure shows and on individual episodes.
• ended is null on a running show. That's how you tell one is still going.
• Search returns TVMaze's ranked matches for your text. A vague query returns loosely related shows, and you pay per row, so keep maxItems tight while you're figuring out the right query.
• An unknown showId produces a NOT_FOUND diagnostic row. Not billed.

Billing

$2.00 per 1,000 rows, so $0.002 each, with no run-start fee. Shows, people and episodes all cost the same. Diagnostic and empty rows are free.

Delivery

Dataset export as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML. Optional Notion delivery through notionConnector and notionParentId, once you've authorized a connector under Settings → API & Integrations → MCP connectors. Leave them empty to skip.

Two common jobs

Backfilling a media library that only has titles. Search each one in shows mode and you get genres, network, premiere date, poster and an IMDb ID, which is enough to join onto whatever ratings data you already have.

The second is release calendars. episodes mode returns the show's whole run, and TVMaze includes episodes that haven't aired yet, so filtering airdate to future dates gives you the upcoming schedule.