Let’s say you have to write a journal article or a blog post about a TV show that you love. Maybe you are a student who needs to cite a TV show as an example for your argumentative paper. Do you know how to indicate the name of the show correctly in this kind of citation?
As fewer and fewer of us need English skills that we learned in school, it has become more and more common for people to be uncertain about how to indicate the names of different kinds of content and books in writing. This is a really common question, and thankfully it has a very simple answer.
Do TV Show Names Need to be Italicized?
The simple answer to this question is that yes, you need to italicize the name of a TV show when you cite it for a paper or in something like a blog. You will need to italicize the entire name of the TV show, but you do not need to italicize the names of the creators or the channel itself.
The channel or network will need to be capitalized if you are writing about it. You will also capitalize the names of any of the creators or actors who are mentioned in your written work. If you are not sure about how to cite the names of people or how to create the citations that are necessary at the end of your current work in progress, there are guides that can help you.
MLA formatting is the most common way to indicate the names of these kinds of programs and content when you are writing, but you might also need to check out the APA style guide. If you are writing for a scientific purpose, the APA is the accepted citation standard in place of the liberal arts standard of MLA.
Italics for these kinds of names will be necessary for all kinds of writing unless you are being casual and just texting or writing to friends online. If you are just discussing this kind of content without the intention to publish the work or turn it into a teacher, you can skip the italics.
MLA and APA Formatting Apply to Movie and TV Show Names
If you are writing about a TV show, you will need to be sure that you do italicize the name of the show. This is the standard for published content that cites a source of any kind with a proper name. There are various style guides that you can use to create a paper or a blog post if you are not sure how to do proper citations of this kind. While the need to cite things correctly is not key for every kind of writing, or every kind of purpose, you should still be familiar with these rules.
MLA and APA formatting applies to so many kinds of writing, so it is important that you get familiar with these rules. Knowing about the style guides for formal writing is a great idea for anyone to be familiar with.
This article was last updated on July 28, 2023 .
