TVShows for Mac

Summary

Keeping up with torrents for your favorite TV series can be time-consuming. TVShows simplifies that by locating and downloading torrent files on your behalf — it does not fetch the episode data itself because it is not a BitTorrent client. You can, however, configure it to automatically hand off those torrent files to your own BitTorrent application so downloads start without manual intervention. This removes the need to hunt for individual torrent files or maintain separate RSS feeds for each program.

How it works

TVShows installs as a preference pane where you pick the shows you want to follow and set your options. A lightweight helper process runs in the background at intervals you choose to check for new episodes. You can pick preferred quality tiers (Normal, High, Very High), and the app will choose the closest match it finds; recent releases add HD sourcing when available.

Syncing and remote management

TVShows can synchronize your subscriptions with Miso. To enable this, sign in and grant TVShowsHelper access (twice on setup). Once linked, followed shows and watch status can be shared across machines, used as a backup, or updated remotely. Check-ins can be created when an episode is discovered, and items you mark as watched on the web will be skipped by downloads. You can also add a show to your list before it appears in TVShows’ local database.

If you use multiple Macs, you can keep subscriptions synced and only disable automatic episode downloads on any machine without removing the subscription entirely.

File handling and naming preferences

• Option to switch between S01E01 and 1x01 naming styles (currently cosmetic).
• Episodes can be organized by season folders within a show's directory.
• Torrent URLs gathered from multiple sources are consolidated so a faulty file from one source can be replaced by a working copy from another.
• Custom RSS feeds are accepted, and empty feeds are now tolerated.

User prompts, notifications, and automation

• If an HD torrent isn’t available when you manually request a download, the app can offer the SD alternative; this prompt can be dismissed and remembered.
• Growl notifications for completed downloads now include the show artwork.
• The background checker accounts for sleep: when the Mac wakes, the timer is recalculated and may trigger immediately if needed.
• Downloaded files are validated to ensure they are valid torrent files; the system will accept items even if filenames lack typical episodic tags.

Interface and usability

The subscriptions view received a visual overhaul with an integrated search filter to make finding and managing shows faster and cleaner.

Fixes and stability improvements

• Resolved a critical PPC issue that prevented episodes from being discovered.
• Fixed cases where torrents from specific trackers (for example, BT-Chat) failed to download correctly.
• Corrected a bug that blocked initiating a download when an episode row was selected.
• Addressed Core Data conflicts between the preference pane and helper that could lead to data loss.
• Restored missing translation strings and updated localization files.
• Fixed several crashes and increased overall reliability by moving more tasks off the UI thread into background processing.

Practical notes

• Remember that TVShows only obtains torrent files; you still need a BitTorrent client to fetch the actual episode content. The integration that launches your preferred client automatically helps bridge that gap.
• If you plan to sync across devices, use the account link to avoid duplicate downloads and to allow remote management of subscriptions.

If you want, I can condense this into a quick checklist for setting up TVShows and connecting it to your BitTorrent client.