Movies and Podcasts are not set as watched on the second generation Apple TV I have a little problem with my new second generation Apple TV. TV episodes and podcasts remain unseen/unheard status even if I did watch/hear them.
So the list of unwatched shows stays pretty much the same. I have to set the status manually in iTunes.

Is it just me or is the the way it works? Do I need to change some settings?
This is a known issue.

You can try holding down the Play/Pause button and then selecting "Mark as watched". The Apple TV sometimes crashing when you select "Mark as watched" is also a known issue.

Apple TV owners are awaiting a fix.