# Are future guest stars considered spoilers in Cafe Society? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 19, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195 "2011-10-19T22:17:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/1 "2011-10-19T22:17:18Z")
[Here is the thread that got me thinking. It’s regarding Supernatual and contains spoilers up to last week’s show.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=627894) We discussed this awhile back when dealing with Steve Carell leaving the office. We had a slew of posts about Will Ferrell guesting(at the time, possibly replacing) Carell. People considered that spoilers and we tried to decide what constituted spoilers. For next week’s Supernatural, I spoiled that(and I’ll spoiler-code it here): James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter will appear together [It was only shown in the “next time on” section of the show, as a preview for the next week. In reponse to this, TBD wrote:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14374623&postcount=9) > [@](#): > > For heaven’s sakes, it’s not a spoiler to say Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters from Buffy and Angel guest star in the next episode. That doesn’t give a single plot point away so stop being paranoid and silly. I’m not trying to attack TBD, but I am wondering: 1. Aren’t future guests spoiler info., especially when they are well known in the genre and may provide a neat surprise to people? 2. Is TBD right in calling me paranoid and silly? I was just trying to be nice. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/2 "2011-10-19T23:45:27Z")
My opinion is that I don’t think guest starts are necessarily spoilers, but I don’t think it hurts to spoiler tag the info. I wouldn’t call you silly or paranoid. On a more general note, when it comes to “next time on…” - I generally go out of my way \*not \* to watch those on shows I like, so I definitely wouldn’t consider info contained in them to be “not spoilers” just by virtue of being aired. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/3 "2011-10-19T23:53:47Z")
There’s no hard and fast rules about what’s a spoiler and what’s not. One person’s spoiler is another person’s tuna salad sammich. We all do our best to avoid obvious spoilers but people who interpret “spoiler” more broadly should avoid reading threads about shows they don’t want spoiled. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/4 "2011-10-20T17:35:17Z")
I would say it depends. Saying that the guest star who plays a recurring character is coming back could be a spoiler for sure. If it’s a one-off thing and you don’t reveal who the actor is playing, that’s not much of a spoiler. But spoilering the info doesn’t cost you much of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/5 "2011-10-20T18:36:59Z")
I don’t understand why everybody can’t just be polite and spoiler everything (for upcoming shows/movies). Some people like to know everything they can about an upcoming show. Me, I hate even getting a glimpse. i like it to be all new to me. I admit I lean to the spoiler side, but I think it’s just politeness. That being said, I avoid those threads like the plague, if I think I will be spoiled on something I don’t want. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/6 "2011-10-20T19:22:19Z")
As an aside, the tagged spoiler in the OP of this thread is kind of silly, given that the quote shortly after it contains the same information. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/7 "2011-10-29T21:12:32Z")
It’s TBG, not TBD, and a guest star is only a spoiler if it gives away a plot point in an episode. Someone who’s never been on the show before, playing a new, never before seen (or talked about) character, NOT A SPOILER Someone who used to be on the show but was killed off 3 seasons ago, SPOILER > [@](#): > > ``` > I don't understand why everybody can't just be polite and spoiler everything (for upcoming shows/movies). > > ``` because it’s [/spoiler] annoying to have to keep clicking spoiler boxes over and over just to follow a discussion [spoiler] where you aren’t even spoiling anything. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/8 "2011-10-30T00:21:14Z")
I got bitched out pretty severely for [revealing the news](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=613946) that James Spader was going to have a permanent role on The Office. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-future-guest-stars-considered-spoilers-in-cafe-society/600195/9 "2011-11-08T04:01:30Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I got bitched out pretty severely for [revealing the news](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=613946) that James Spader was going to have a permanent role on The Office. I remember, hence the careful consideration I give to these things.