As mentioned in the documentation, the default values for the shortcodes are:
*id=655 *type=movie
So this means that when you want to display a movie you don’t need to set the type parameter.
The default values for rest of the available shortcode parameters are taken from whatever is selected in your ‘my-movie-database’ option page settings. In other words you should set these parameters only if you wish to override the ‘global’ plugin settings. We”ll look at these again later.
Now why would anyone put in a default id?
Basically, the default id is set is for demonstration purposes. I figured if you do not enter an id, it’s then better to get something back instead of some ugly warning message.
The choice of 655 corresponds to an a old favourite tvshow of mine Star Trek TNG. When I saw the 655 id for a movie happens to correspond to “Paris Texas” (which I have yet to see but that’s beside the point), then the ‘quality assurance’ test was passed, and 655 became default.
So then, if you post the shortcode tag with the ‘tvshow’ type parameter, but do not include your choice of id, then you will get Star Trek TNG.