Gotta tip my hat to Mech_Man for that! Always nice to see people willing to help out others.
The reason TV rename doesn't recognize the file names is because it's just not a feasible way to manage TV Shows globally. In most cases people start out with downloaded files which have a thousand different variations of names like Twilight_Zone_-_Sxxexx_-_TO.SERVE.MAN_-_PREAIR.TVRip.NozalaRox.XviD.NoGrp.avi. Those kinds of files are what the "rename" function of TV Rename is mostly directed at. Trying to create a RegEx that could figure out what the file name is in a mess like that, and all the thousands of variations like it, would be impossible.
Plus, multi-episode files and DVD Rips would be especially nightmarish. For example, That '70s Show S1D1 DVD would be named "That '70s Show - S01E01E02E03E04E05E06E07 - That '70s Pilot + Eric's Birthday + Streaking + Battle of the Sexists + Eric's Burger Job + The Keg + That Disco Episode.iso". If TV Rename used names, it wouldn't even be able to handle shows like Animaniacs as the overall episodes names are so long they break Windows. Add to that the way people are constantly futzing with the way shows are listed on the TVDB and other databases, and using names becomes a massive headache.
So TV Rename, and most media players like XBMC, use season and episode numbers to identify files because it's just the most reliable way to do it in most cases. There's specific cases like yours where using the file name could work and using the numbers doesn't work in all cases (Mythbusters for example). But overall, season and episode numbers is far more reliable and convenient.
A couple tips/suggestions for the future (feel free to ignore them
):
When you have a show like that, add the show to TV Rename and edit the setting to have it use a folder per season, run a scan, let TV Rename create the season folders, and then put the files into their respective season folders. In some (rare, but always worth trying) cases, even if TV Rename can't identify the files when they're out in the wild, the added info gained from them being in their show folders is enough for TV Rename to then recognize them for what they are.
Another tip is to download and learn how to use
RenameMaster. For example, assuming the way they were originally named was that 001 was S01E01 and they continued in the proper order, you could have broken the files up into folders of their respective seasons and then used RenameMaster with "add to Beginning" rules like "S01E?n02? - " and "S02E?n02? - " which would have renamed them to S01E01 - 001 - show 1.avi and S01e02 - show 2.avi at which point TV Rename would have had enough info to pick them up and then rename them correctly. Just make sure you preview everything and check the results carefully so you don't make a bigger mess by clicking apply too hastily (I speak from sad experience
). Another similar tool is Bulk Rename Tool which is a lot more robust and can do some amazing things, but its more geared to people with some knowledge of programming and is a lot harder to learn how to use and is definitely a "take you to the moon but can't turn a screw" kind of program
And lastly, consider using a media center app like XBMC or Boxee. That way you don't have to deal with episode names at all. I use TV Rename to strip the names off my files entirely and just have them named "Twilight Zone - S05E03.avi" because once XBMC scrapes them, it'll tell me that the episode is named "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", what the plot of the episode is, that it stars William Shatner, what codecs the file uses, and all kinds of other info I could never fit into the file name.