How to Organize Your Streamers With Ticket Booth

No more guessing where your favorite series lives—Ticket Booth lets you keep your database of titles up to date.

The FOSS Force Linux App of the Week — Ticket Booth

Ticket Booth helps you keep track of your ever-growing list of shows and films you watch

I’m a fan of several TV series that span several streaming platforms. One of the most frustrating things about that is knowing which streaming service houses the shows I want to watch. Sure, there are some I always know, such as The Great British Bake Off is on Netflix, all Star Trek shows are on Paramount+, and Down Cemetery Road is on Apple TV. Beyond that, I’m not sure what I’m watching and where it lives.

Thankfully, there are ways to mitigate that confusion. One way is with the open-source Ticket Booth app that’s released under GPLv3+.

Essentially, Ticket Booth allows you to create a watchlist of TV shows and movies. You can add to your watchlist manually or from an online database. If you add an entry manually, you’ll want to have a thumbnail image for that series, as it makes it easier for you to find information about a specific show. This is especially true if you have a ton of entries in your database.

One thing to keep in mind is that Ticket Booth does not allow you to actually view content: it’s strictly for keeping a database of the shows you want, so you have the information for each at your fingertips.

Speaking of information, what exactly can you keep track of with Ticket Booth?

• Title
• Release date
• Genres
• Tagline
• Overview
• Status
• Original language
• Original title
• Created by (TV series only)
• In production (TV series only)

One thing you’ll notice in the list above is that it’s missing an entry for the streaming platform. For that, I add the service in the Notes field in the series overview section.

Another really handy feature found in Ticket Booth is its notifications for new releases, which integrates into your desktop notification system. There’s also a drop-down to expand each season so you can mark which episodes you’ve watched.

Ticket Booth aggregates listings from TMDB (The Movie Database — the user-driven, community-built database offering extensive information about movies, TV shows, actors, directors, and crew members) without requiring an account, which means you don’t have to hand it login information.

Installing Ticket Booth

Ticket Booth is installed via Flathub, so all you need is a Linux distribution that includes Flatpak. With Flatpak available, the installation is as simple as issuing this command:

flatpak install flathub me.iepure.Ticketbooth

Immediately after installation, you should then see an entry for Ticket Booth in your desktop menu. If not, log out and log back in, and it should appear.

Once you see the launcher in your desktop menu, click it to fire up Ticket Booth.

Using Ticket Booth

Personally, in most cases I prefer to use the online route of adding TV shows and movies, mostly because it means I don’t have to search for a thumbnail image, look up release dates, and find out how many seasons each show has (which is actually required).

To add a TV show or movie from the TMBD, click the type (Movie or TV Series), click + in the upper left corner, and then select “From The Movie Database.” In the resulting window, type the name of the series you’re looking for.

When you find the show you’re looking for, click “Add” and Ticket Booth will begin the process of adding it to the watchlist. You only have to add one season/series to the watchlist, and Ticket Booth will add them all.

If you’d rather go the manual route, select either Movie or TV Show, click +, and then click “Manually.” In the resulting window, type all of the necessary (and required) information about the show to be added.

If a TV series or Movie can be associated with different genres, you can add them as comma-separated values, which will make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for.

One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot edit entries that have been added via TMDB. On the other hand, if you add an entry manually, it can be edited. For me, if there’s only one or two seasons of a series, I’ll add them manually, even though you also have to add each episode — or at least one — in order to save the entry.

Although Ticket Booth might not make you a more productive person, it can certainly make your entertainment life a bit easier. If you’re a fan of TV and/or movies, I highly recommend you start using this app, so you can better keep track of what you’re watching, what you’ve watched, and where those shows can be found.