Parse the ratings of a series from IMDB (see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898266/epdate?ref_=ttep_ql_4)

parseSeriesRatings.R

# NOTE: This code works with the HTML code existing in imdb.com as today (06-11-2013)
# The URL with the user ratings per episode always ends with "/epdate?ref_=ttep_ql_4", 
# so if the URL for Breaking Bad in IMDB is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/, the URL with 
# the ratings is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/epdate?ref_=ttep_ql_4
parseSeriesRatings <- function(url) {
	require(XML)
	
	# download the data
	rawData <- readHTMLTable(url, colClasses=c("character", "character", "character", "character"))
	
	# get the firs value of the list returned by readHTMLTable
	series <- rawData[[1]]
	
	# remove a colum full of noise generated by the stars available in the page
	series <- series[,-5]
	
	# convert the ratings column from factor to character
	series[,1] <- as.character(series[,1])
	
	# remove the weird character that appears at the end of each Season.Episode code
	series[,1] <- substr(series[,1], 1, nchar(series[,1])-1)
	
	# rename the column to facilitate its access
	names(series)[1] <- "Season.Episode"
	
	# get the number of season
	series$season <- trunc(as.numeric(series$Season.Episode))
	
	# get the number of episode
	series$episode <- as.numeric(substr(series$Season.Episode, 3, 5))
	
	return (series)
}