TV Show Metadata Providers Completely Non-Functional - Jellyfin 10.11.2 Mac

[ElectricBurgers]

## System Information

• - **Jellyfin Version**: 10.11.2 (Mac Homebrew)
  
• - **Installation Method**: brew install jellyfin
  
• - **macOS Version**: macOS Sequoia 15.3.1 (24D70)
  
• - **Hardware**: MacBook Pro 13-inch (2016), Intel Core i5-6267U, 16GB RAM
  

## Problem Description

TV show metadata providers are completely non-functional. Manual identification through the UI returns zero results, and log analysis reveals that **metadata providers are never being invoked** - there are no search attempts, no API calls, no provider operations logged.

**Movies work perfectly:** TMDB successfully provides metadata for movies using the same API keys.

## Critical Evidence: Provider System Not Being Called

I performed a controlled test with real-time log monitoring using only built-in providers:

**Test Procedure:**

• 1. Configured library with only TheMovieDb and The Open Movie Database providers enabled
  
• 2. Restarted Jellyfin
  
• 3. Started log monitoring: tail -f ~/.local/share/jellyfin/log/log_*.log
  
• 4. Attempted manual identify on "Boardwalk Empire" via UI
  
• 5. Searched for the show name and clicked Search
  
• 6. Monitored logs during entire process
  

**Result:** Zero log activity related to the metadata search.

**Expected log entries** (none appeared):

• - Remote search initiation
  
• - Provider queries 
  
• - HTTP requests to tvmaze.com or any metadata API
  
• - Series lookup operations
  
• - Search results (success or failure)
  

**Only unrelated log entries appeared:**

• - SSDP device discovery errors (network protocol, unrelated)
  
• - Trickplay file generation (background task, unrelated)
  

This proves the TV metadata provider system is not being invoked at all.

## Library Configuration Tested

**TV Shows Library Settings:**
- Library Type: TV Shows (dedicated, not mixed)
- Metadata providers tested:
  - TheMovieDb + The Open Movie Database (built-in) → No results, no log activity
  - TheMovieDb only → No results, no log activity 
  - The Open Movie Database only → No results, no log activity
- File naming: Standard ShowName/Season 01/ShowName - S01E01.mkv
- "Automatically refresh metadata" - Enabled
- "Replace existing images" - Enabled

## Network Testing Confirms APIs Work

Manual API testing proves network and APIs function correctly:

bash
# TMDB TV API works 
curl "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/search/tv?api_key=MYKEY&query=boardwalk%20empire"
# Returns: Full JSON with show data

# TMDB Movie API works (and Jellyfin uses this successfully)
curl "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/search/movie?api_key=MYKEY&query=inception"
# Returns: Full JSON with movie data


This confirms:

• - Network connectivity functional
  
• - All metadata APIs accessible
  
• - API keys valid for both TV and movies
  
• - No firewall blocking
  

## Movie Metadata Works Perfectly

Logs show successful TMDB operations for movies:


[INF] Jellyfin.Plugin.TMDbBoxSets.TMDbBoxSetManager: The movies "Paddington (2014),
Paddington 2 (2017), Paddington in Peru (2024)" is/are already in their proper box set


Movies get metadata, images, and collections from TMDB using the same API keys that fail for TV shows.

## Troubleshooting Attempted

• 1. **Provider isolation**: Tested TMDB and Open Movie Database individually and together - all fail identically
  
• 2. **Library recreation**: Deleted library completely, recreated from scratch
  
• 3. **File verification**: Confirmed standard naming conventions
  
• 4. **Service restart**: brew services restart jellyfin after each config change
  
• 5. **Fresh installation test**: Installed on different machine - same behavior
  
• 6. **Log level verification**: Confirmed logging is functional (other events appear)
  
• 7. **Provider configuration**: Used only built-in providers (TheMovieDb, The Open Movie Database)
  
• 8. **Firewall Exception Added**: Verified that Jellyfin.app was explicitly added to Lulu.app's AllowList
  

None of these resolved the issue.

## Questions for Community

• 1. **Core issue**: What would cause TV metadata providers to not be invoked at all? The system appears to skip the entire metadata provider layer for TV content.
  
• 2. **Movie vs TV**: Why do movie providers work perfectly while TV providers don't even get called? They should use the same provider infrastructure.
  
• 3. **Diagnostic steps**: What additional logging or debugging can I enable to see why providers aren't being invoked?
  
• 4. **Known issues**: Are there reported issues with TV metadata in Jellyfin 10.11.2 on macOS Homebrew?
  
• 5. **Config file inspection**: Should I examine or share specific configuration files? Where would TV provider initialization be logged?
  

## System Context

- **Timing**: Stopped working recently (was previously functional)
- **Scope**: ALL TV shows affected (zero metadata for any show)
- **Consistency**: Persists across:
  - Multiple library recreations
  - Different provider configurations 
  - Service restarts
  - Fresh Jellyfin installations
- **Partial functionality**: Movies work flawlessly, only TV broken
- **Manual search UI**: Returns empty list (not "no matches" but zero results)
- **Automatic scans**: New TV files added never trigger metadata downloads

## Summary

This appears to be a fundamental issue with TV metadata provider initialization or invocation in Jellyfin 10.11.2 on macOS. The provider system for TV content is completely non-functional - not failing, but never being called at all - while movie metadata works perfectly.

Any guidance on diagnosing why the TV provider system isn't being invoked would be greatly appreciated.