community tv show essay

The Meta, Innovative Genius of Community

It's one of the most inventive shows in sitcom history. But can it make us care about the characters?

Community is the most innovative sitcom of all time.

Wait! Hold on. Don't pummel the comments section with rants about All in the Family and Cheers just yet. "Most innovative" doesn't necessarily mean the best. It doesn't mean the NBC show, which airs the conclusion of its two-part season finale tonight, is the funniest sitcom ever, or has the most memorable characters. Community 's protagonist Jeff Winger, played by Joel McHale, is no charming scamp like Sam Malone. Jeff and Britta, played by Gillian Jacobs, are certainly not a classic sitcom couple that audiences will root for like Sam and Diane. Or Ross and Rachel. Or Jim and Pam, Niles and Daphne, Dave and Maddie, Mulder and Scully, Jeannie and Major Nelson, and so on.

Jeff and Britta, in fact, are an appalling pair. Deliberately so, and that's one of the things that makes Community so unique. Jeff and Britta aren't a "real" sitcom couple at all—if such a thing can even be said to exist. They are a satire of sitcom couple. Their courtship is a plot device that Community creator Dan Harmon uses to satirize the whole, done-to-death will-they-or-won't-they sitcom premise.

On the literal level, Community is about Jeff Winger. A smarmy attorney disbarred for faking his undergraduate degree, he enrolls at fictional Greendale Community College to get one. There he finds a motley bunch of students played by a very talented group of actors, including Jacobs, Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Pudi, and future mother to my children, Alison Brie. The crew forms an unlikely study group, and an even unlikelier family dynamic ensues.

Figuratively, however, Community is about something else entirely. The show's real subject is mass media, especially the conceits, tropes, and conventions of TV and movies. Just as Jeff and Britta aren't a real TV courtship, Community isn't actually a sitcom—not any more than The Onion is an actual news-gathering organization. Community , instead, is a weekly satire of the sitcom genre, a spoof of pop culture in general, and an occasionally profound critique of how living in mass media society can mess up human relationships in the real world. It's also funny, too. Some of that "profound critique" comes disguised in the form of boob jokes.

Sure, All in the Family was innovative for its time, tackling issues like Vietnam and Watergate that no other show would touch. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was groundbreaking, too, not only for its feminist message, but for being the first sitcom to have truly ensemble cast. Virtually every one of those talented actors went on to star in shows of their own. Ed Asner in Lou Grant . Valerie Harper in Rhoda . Gavin MacLeod captained The Love Boat for ten years. Ted Knight's Too Close for Comfort ran six. Cloris Leachman is still on TV an amazing 30 years later, playing a delusional grandma on Raising Hope . The Great Betty White , of course, has never stopped working, from Mama's Family and Golden Girls to this year's appearance as special guest star on Community 's season premiere. When Dan Harmon, previously head writer for The Sarah Silverman Program , talks about not wanting to make a "template sitcom," he's talking about breaking the template Mary made.

Other than worshipful respect for Betty White, however, Community has less in common with Mary than with another 1970s classic: M*A*S*H . The sitcom set in the Korean War that lasted far longer than the war itself never stopped finding new ways to tell a story. Ignore for a moment the show's moralizing drumbeat, especially in later years. Ignore, too, that some of that famously sparkling dialogue was cribbed from the Marx Brothers. If there was a new camera angle, an untried lighting effect, or an experimental plot device, M*A*S*H would give it a go. Think of an innovation in TV storytelling over the last 40 years, and M*A*S*H probably tried it first. Decades before The Office and Modern Family , they shot fake-documentary episodes, with handheld cinema verite feel and characters making confessional asides. They shot an episode in real time, 24 -style, complete with ticking clock onscreen, another that covered an entire year in the life of the camp, and "Point of View," in which all the action is seen through the eyes of a wounded soldier.

In the 1980s, the sitcom changed. When Baby Boomers started having kids, they turned away from broad social issues, worrying less about saving the world, and more about personal relationships at home and work. Television reflected that Reagan-era cultural retrenchment, and the socially-conscious, experimental sitcom fell out of favor. It was replaced by straightforward family or pseudo-family comedies, typified by Cheers , Newhart , and, of course, The Cosby Show . Other than an occasional—and usually lamentable—"Very Special Episode," '80s sitcoms avoided any problem in the world bigger than Vanessa Huxtable wanting to quit the clarinet.

These shows were sealed off from each other, too, and from the rest of pop culture. Beyond that TV staple, the wildly implausible guest star appearance, like when Dizzy Gillespie plays Vanessa's music teacher, '80s sitcoms were loathe to acknowledge other mass media, too. The characters never went to movies or rock concerts like the rest of us. They never wore t-shirts emblazoned with advertising for shoe companies and soft drinks. With the notable exception of Roseanne , they also never showed characters doing something that most Americans, then and now, enjoy for several hours a day: watching television.

In 1989, The Simpsons exploded into pop consciousness and changed everything. Marge and Homer, working class Baby Boomer parents with three Generation X kids, were the first family on TV to address the problems of living in a mass society. The Simpsons were first to capture how it feels to live in an America utterly saturated by mass media, where kids are casually obsessed with hyper-violent cartoons, and someone you will never meet, like a local anchorman, plays an intimate role in your daily life. The Simpsons , in essence, were the first characters on TV to be as dramatically affected by pop culture as the rest of us.

By the mid-1990s, the first wave of Generation X was hitting 30. Bart and Lisa's cohort, the first generation to never know a world without TV, was old enough to start writing TV shows of their own. References to pop culture started pouring into the once hermetically sealed sitcom world. On Buffy the Vampire Slayer , characters would casually mention movie stars and rock bands. Jerry Seinfeld got in trouble for making out with his girlfriend during Schindler's List . Eric on That '70s Show imagined himself as Luke Skywalker.

By the 2000s, shows were doing more than just incorporating pop culture. They were making fun if it. South Park and Arrested Development , the only real rivals to Community 's meta-comedy crown, mocked the conventions of film and TV. A whole wave of "backstage" shows, including The Flight of the Conchords , Entourage , and Curb Your Enthusiasm , satirized the entertainment industry from the inside. Maybe the best of them, premiering in 2006, is 30 Rock .

Tina Fey is a brilliant innovator—Lisa Simpson all grown up—and there is no question 30 Rock built the road Community drives on. Still, for all of 30 Rock 's meta-humor and nods to the audience, it's a fairly conventional workplace comedy at heart. Essentially it's a reworked version of Mary Tyler Moore , with Tina Fey in Mary's role, Alec Baldwin as the Lou Grant-like figure, and Tracy Morgan reprising Ted Baxter.

Community is Something Completely Different, and its relationship to 30 Rock is more than a little like that of The Colbert Report to The Daily Show .

Where Jon Stewart's show makes fun of pundits, The Colbert Report is, in itself, a spoof of punditry. In the same way, Dan Harmon, Bart Simpson all grown up, isn't making a sitcom. He's making a parody of them.

That difference was made vivid a few weeks back when both shows aired a "clip show," TV's version of a victory lap, where characters recall past events as a pretext for cutting to highlights of past episodes. 30 Rock , celebrating five years on the air , wove their clips around the wafer-thin premise of Tracy wanting to destroy his own credibility.

Community 's clip show, ladies and germs, was a new whole different kettle of fish ball wax. First we see the study group making yet another diorama for Anthropology class. This one, though, depicts the study group in the act of making a diorama—just a hint of the Charlie Kaufman-ish weirdness to come.

The cast starts reminiscing and flashing back, but there's something odd about the clips we flash back to. They aren't highlights. They are all-new, shot to look like highlights, and we are "remembering" events that never aired. We weren't shown crucial stuff, apparently, too. Like during the Halloween episode. We flashback to the cast wearing the same costumes on the same set, but this time see that Jeff and Britta's "Will they or won't they?" has been an "already did" for months.

Then it gets really weird. We start genre-hoping, jumping from template to template. We see the cast jump from a "memory" of mocking Glee , to another where they visited a Scooby-Doo -style ghost town, to another of being held at gunpoint by a drug lord, to finally wearing straight-jackets in a padded cell. The scenes flicker at a ever faster pace, all the while Jeff's valedictory, what-did-we-learn today speech effortlessly adapts to each.

Community , it seems, didn't a make a clip show after all. They made a spoof of clip shows, and there's a good reason Harmon ended it in a padded cell. Too much media consciousness will make anyone go crazy.

In Jorge Luis Borges' fable "On Exactitude in Science," a map made on a scale of one to one replaces the territory it's supposed to represent. For theorist Jean Baudrillard, that map is a metaphor for postmodern life. On Community , that map represents mass media: the depictions of human experience in pop culture that have become the standards by which our flesh and blood lives are judged.

In Community 's pilot, Pudi's character tells Jeff, "I thought you were like Bill Murray in any of his films, but you're more like Michael Douglas in any of his films." The audience only gets the joke if they have seen Bill Murray play a wise-cracking slacker hero and Michael Douglas playing a creep. But real human beings, like Greendale's mascot, are more complicated than fictional characters. Real human relationships take more than 22 minutes of witty banter a week. In an age when even the simplest human interaction is colored by media-created expectations, when our flesh-and-blood romantic relationships are judged against the standards of TV and movie love affairs, Community asks if it's even still possible to make an authentic connection?

Probably not. But we shouldn't quit trying. Neither should Community . The danger, for people, and for this remarkable TV show, is in no longer trying to authentically connect. Consider a very different kind of sitcom. How I Met Your Mother , nearing the end of a hugely successful run, hasn't been on the air for nearly a decade because it wittily critiques life in the mass media consumerist simulacrum. How I Met Your Mother thrives because audiences feel emotionally connected to the characters on it.

If Community forgets that, they're in trouble. No matter how inventive they may be, if the sight gags, puns, one-liners, pop culture name-drops and media-on-media meta-critique overwhelm the relationships between characters, Community will take a one-way trip to Flash-in-the-pan-ville. If the show, in a gargantuan irony, stops offering viewers a sense of community, all the innovation in the world won't keep us watching.

Community and the Love of Storytelling

Dan Harmon’s Community is a revel of nerdom. It began as a sitcom about six classmates in a community college Spanish class, and it became so much more. 

Over six seasons viewers were gifted with a stream of gloriously indulgent pop culture homages, quilted together into what might be described as a genre-of-the-week format. The show blended sitcom with western, mafia, murder mystery, dystopia, road trip, animation, documentary, and more. More than just giving a coy glance over them, the show understood why viewers love genre fiction—genres provide us with a playground, and that’s exactly how the episodes treat them. You want slow-mo walking shots and Mexican standoffs ? You got ‘em. Think a Synthetic Plague won’t work in a sitcom about college students? Think again. As much as it is about friendship, coming of age, and (excuse me) community, Community is largely a story about stories, and why we love to tell them.

“If I wanted to learn something, I wouldn’t have come to community college” – Jeff Winger, ‘Pilot’

In recent times the phrase ‘ main character syndrome ’ has become something of a buzzword on social media. Possibly no main character has a worse case of main character syndrome than Jeffrey Winger—Mr “This has been about me the whole time” himself (‘Contemporary American Poultry’)—and not in an endearing meta-fictional way. It’s ironic that he believes himself to be the hero, but doesn’t act like one; instead he is rude and selfish, and not the kind of protagonist a viewer would aspire to be. Community does not allow for idolatry, since core members of the study group will become villains for standalone episodes (such as Shirley in ‘App Development and Condiments’). Perhaps sentimentality wasn’t on the writers’ minds, and yet the joy of the story is we are reeled into these characters’ hearts anyway.

In the series finale (the aptly named ‘Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television’) Jeff imagines a future in which he and Annie have settled down together—make-believe Annie turns to him and asks: “is this really what you want?” This is significant, since one season earlier (in ‘Basic Story’) Jeff had said to the real Annie: “I’m not dreaming about settling down”. The skeleton of any character arc is the tension between what a character wants and what a character needs. We love storytelling because the this dichotomy promises that in the end we will get what we really need. But Jeff’s story is left unusually open; his ‘want’ is deliberately ambiguous, and his ‘need’ is to be okay with this.

“I’m a storyteller not a preacher” – Abed Nadir, ‘Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples’

One of the demands of the comedy genre is a happy ending for the heroes, and suitably jocular punishment for the villains. Ken Jeong’s character, Ben Chang (otherwise known as ‘Kevin’ or ‘El Tigre’) has several villainous incarnations over the course of the show, however he is last seen happily toasting to the future with the remaining core cast… perhaps only free to betray the group another day. In the fate of its major antagonist, the show abandons didacticism for a ‘the friends we made along the way’ type resolution. In fairness, to see Chang locked away in jail would probably have put a dampener on the overall tone, and the creator’s desire to continue milking Jeong’s comedic ability no doubt contributed to the narrative flexibility of the character. If this was real life, there would be rules to follow; if this was even a different genre, or a less creative show, there would have been rules there too. What good would storytelling be, if it had to abide by the rules?

“Everything’s a story, Jeff. Getting out of bed is a story. Certainly this is a story. […] You’re literally dragging me across a threshold demanding there be no story, which puts me into a whole new world that I’m gonna have to adapt to” – Abed Nadir, ‘Basic Story’

Season 5 brought us the episode where the story is “there is no story”: ‘Basic Story’. Jeff makes the self-aware comment that Greendale “is addicted to crisis” as Abed struggles against his storytelling instincts, making several references to the Hero’s Journey (“call to adventure!”). After Jeff chastises Abed for trying to find a story where there is none, the lingering shot on a random student drinking soup emphasises the complete lack of relevant plot information in this non-plot. Abed will go on to fabricate dramatic beats, complete with jump-cuts, swelling music, and exaggerated sighs. In defence of television, sometimes things have to be contrived, or else there wouldn’t be a show.

Though he wouldn’t put it in so many words, Jeff is as desperate for a story as Abed is. At the prospect of having to leave Greendale (how many times is that now?) he is plunged into anxiety. “This is what matters, isn’t it?”—he asks Britta—“this is what keeps this all from being pointless”. He’s referring of course to his Season 1 objective: to sleep with Britta. And since he achieved that by the 23rd episode, his story, in theory, should have been complete long ago, and now he is at a loose end. So Jeff and Britta tell themselves a new story: that they were meant to be together all along, so that they can round off their joint arc and say ‘mission accomplished’. The desire for closure is relatable, but it’s also a lie. As Annie will go on to point out, storytelling can be self-destructive.

The episode ‘Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking’ exemplifies Harmon’s ability to play with form. The plot of the episode is fairly simple, consisting mostly of conversations between two characters in Pierce’s hospital room. But the writers have taken advantage of the format. It works well for a story concept such as this, which runs on promises, lies, and manipulation, as the documentary format allows us to take an overhead view at the information that the characters will withhold from each other but not the camera. It even goes so far as to have Shirley orchestrate her own talking-head, the act of which is crucially symbolic to her particular arc in this episode. Thus it becomes more about the way that the story is told than the story itself.

A crucial function of storytelling is to provide escapism. The Pilot opens with the legend “Greendale Community College, three blocks from your home”, boasting a mundane familiarity that suggests it wants to be a ‘this could be you and your classmates’ kind of story. Indeed, the concept for the Pilot was inspired by creator Dan Harmon’s profound experience getting to know a group of strangers in the study room of his own community college. In an interview for The Independent , Harmon said:  “ the two thoughts I had were: I’ve been really distorted in my view of the universe and this is the kind of pilot networks are always wishing I would write.”

But as much as it is about bringing together ‘real’ and flawed characters, the world of Community is much better than reality. It has to be, or there would be no story. There certainly wouldn’t be spontaneous detours into stop-motion animation. The episode in question (‘ Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas ’) represents escapism for Abed in the same way that the show represents escapism for the audience. This is again how the show manages to exploit the best facets of genre and storytelling.

“If we were going to fabricate a delusion, why would we fabricate a community college?” “Ah yes, this fantastical community college, where everything that happens is unbelievably ridiculous, and it all revolves around you as a group”  – Jeff Winger & Dr. Heidi, ‘Curriculum Unavailable’

Community is a show with alternate selves. Where a sci-fi or drama series might use fiction’s paradoxical relationship with truth for existential ends, Community finds yet more opportunity to play. A clear example would be the multiple timelines in ‘Remedial Chaos Theory’, which spawns the Evil Doppelgangers, who return to meddle with reality in ‘Advanced Introduction to Finality’. The montages in ‘Paradigms of Human Memory’ give glimpses of speeches that we never heard Jeff make, and those in ‘Curriculum Unavailable’ include shots of a black-and-white ’20s gangster paintball episode that never happened. The latter episode also includes multiple ‘Greendale doesn’t exist, oh wait it does’ fake-outs, including a posited “shared psychosis”. Garett as a doctor in the asylum sequence acts rather like a show writer, commenting “I want to see what happens if we confiscate one of their pens” (a reference to ‘Cooperative Calligraphy’). Other alternate realities include that Greendale is purgatory, shows within shows (‘History 101’) and the uncanny fictional night school (‘Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design’). In yet another schism of reality, in ‘Mixology Certification’ the same bar has two names—L Street and The Red Door—and two personalities, representing respectively to Jeff and Britta the bar that they want it to be. Alternate timelines present the ability to explore and play without doing any damage—this says as much what watching TV is as writing it.

“Either I’m God, or truth is relative” – Jeff Winger, ‘Pilot’

‘Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design’ delights in peeling the onion on fake realities—as much as it skewers conspiracies, it is also amusingly meta about the nature of truth in the show as a whole. What is objectivity if not a collection of subjectivity? Returning to ‘Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas’—here Abed’s subjective experience is of a claymation world. Is it real? Doesn’t matter, it’s all fiction anyway. 

Through the character of Abed, meta-storytelling is opened up. In true postmodern style, the show likes to remind us frequently that the characters are characters. In ‘Contemporary American Poultry’, on Abed’s whiteboard, the other characters are reduced to lists of ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’—much as they might be in the primitive stages of writing (or maybe building a D&D campaign). One can both celebrate and lament the simplicity of storytelling in this sense, because it is both useful and sad to admit that the characters aren’t real people.

“Things have a certain structure to them, you know? If we stray from it we’re weird, if we stick to it, we’re boring” – Abed Nadir, ‘Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television’

In the show’s finale we are shown glimpses of alternate futures as the characters each ‘pitch’ their own Season 7. That is perhaps the gift of an ending, that we never find out which, if any, are close to coming true, because there is always a conflict between what the audience wants, what can be justified by the writers, and what will be commissioned by the studio. The hardest lesson that TV teaches us is that sometimes people are only in our lives for a season. Justin Roiland ’s cameo character in ‘Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television’, Ice Cube Head, has the perfect finale superpower—one zap to the chest with cool blue light and the characters’ problems are solved. But that’s not the point of a finale. The point of an ending is not necessarily to provide all the answers— Community gives us no ‘ten years reunion’ epilogue, no guarantee that the study group remains friends. What we are given instead is enough to hope for our own personal Season 7. 

The melancholy tone of the finale begs the question—why do we want so much for them to have a happy ending? And at what point over the last six years did this happen? Is it a crime to treat characters like real people? That’s the danger of television—it always manages to trick us into thinking we have made friends, and there are always emotional consequences when it ends.

In the finale Abed gives a monologue spelling out why he (and we) love TV. “It has to be joyful, effortless, fun”. Check, check, and check. Community exists to be playful and make people laugh, and partly to exorcise a need to be childish. Good sitcoms can get the self-contained 20 minute story down to an art form, and the art is the courage to go “crazy-town banana pants” (‘Curriculum Unavailable’).

“TV defeats its own purpose when it’s […] being proud or ashamed of itself for existing”—this is reassuring for a fan of TV to hear. Abed’s love of fiction propels him to be a hero on several occasions (such as sacrificing himself to the zombies so that Troy can get away in ‘Epidemiology’). We all probably wish we could be more like Abed.

“It’s TV; it’s comfort. It’s a friend you’ve known so well, and for so long you just let it be with you”. There is comfort in TV. We can re-watch it in a way that we wish we could rewind our lives. And maybe we wish we had the ability to “spin-off into something safer” (‘Basic Sandwich’).

Finally, if there’s one thing to take away from the show it’s that the right way to wrap anything up is with a heartfelt and self-congratulatory monologue…

“People can connect with anything. We can sympathise with a pencil, we can forgive a shark” – Jeff Winger, ‘Pilot’

You don’t need to study anthropology to know that storytelling is in our nature. We as human beings have been compelled to tell stories since we first developed language. Why do we love storytelling? Jeff Winger spins a good yarn, because— in the least charitable interpretation—he likes to be able to control people with his words. He used to make a living doing it as a lawyer. Jeff needs to control the “machine” (‘Contemporary American Poultry’) i.e. the narrative. But he repeatedly uses this power for good (though arguably it is never unselfish), bringing the group together just in time to save the day. For Pierce Hawthorne, storytelling is important, because in a story he is the hero. He craves an underdog story. It’s ironic that his major conflict (that with his deceased father) has to be enacted in a video game, a secondary fictional plane (‘Digital Estate Planning’). For Troy Barnes, stories allow him to shake off his ‘cool’ persona and indulge his imagination; he also uses storytelling to exercise his compassion for Abed. For Abed Nadir, story means order, structure, and the ultimate comfort; in many ways he is the voice of the viewer. Annie Edison loves storytelling because she too wants to be the hero, but because she is young and hasn’t decided what she wants to do with her life, stories allow her to be all kinds of people.

“I pretended to be a different person […] I did it because I’m not sure who I am” – Annie Edison, ‘Mixology Certification’

Television makes us believe that life can be weekly pockets of adventure. Each story represents one cycle or another of humanity. The hero faces a challenge, the hero makes a mistake, the hero seeks guidance, the hero learns. And at the end, the hero moves on. Greendale may be a fantastical place, not quite something that you’d really find “three blocks from your home”, but it is significant that the Dreamatorium is powered by nothing more than cardboard tubes and duct tape. There is magic amongst the mundane. Magic is other people.

Written by Christopher Lieberman

Writer, actor, John Webster appreciator. Talks about The X-Files a lot.

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A Sense of Community: Essays on the Television Series and Its Fandom

Ann-gee lee  ( editor ).

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2014

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Community was one of the most inventive shows in TV history. It just started streaming on Netflix.

Across six seasons and two networks, the terrifically funny comedy took on nearly every genre and pop culture trope.

by Emily St. James

Few TV shows have changed my life like Community has.

That sounds like hyperbole, I realize, but it’s really not. The sitcom about a group of study buddies at a community college, which very quickly became a free-wheeling parody of nearly all pop culture, was one of my favorite shows of its era, and when I was a young critic, it helped me codify many of the ways I think about TV.

I reviewed every episode of the show’s first five seasons in my old job at the A.V. Club, and doing so caused my career to explode. It’s 100 percent true that I would not be sitting here, writing these words to you right now, if it weren’t for Community . Deep inside the show’s story about broken but good people trying to make each other whole was a story that I — and then lots and lots of other people — sparked to, and in trying to capture the joy it made me feel, I found my critical voice.

But I realize that “I want to better understand Emily VanDerWerff’s career” maybe isn’t the greatest hook to get you to watch a TV show. So let me explain — let her explain! — why Community holds up as something more than a cult sitcom, as something funny and bruised and real that you should absolutely check out between your other sitcom binges .

(And if you’re already sold, it’s newly available on Netflix , while it remains available on its original streaming home of Hulu as well.)

Community celebrated the sheer, unbridled freedom of the network sitcom with 22-plus episodes to fill

Community aired from 2009 to 2014 on NBC, with its sixth and final season airing on Yahoo Screen in 2016. (Remember when Yahoo was going to make television ?) In that time, it became famous for three things: concept episodes (where the show would ditch its basic premise in favor of a satirical spin on some other genre entirely), a rabid cult fanbase, and low ratings. (The show was perpetually scheduled against mega-hit The Big Bang Theory , and the two shows’ numbers ... did not compare.)

The concept episodes were the reason I fell so hard for Community . The show’s first season is its most sitcom-like, spinning 25 episodes about the characters learning to love Greendale Community College (a fictional school in Colorado). But late in that first season, the show unleashed “Modern Warfare,” an action movie parody about a paintball game spreading across the Greendale campus that simultaneously revealed two characters hooking up for the first time.

And the internet (or at least the parts of the internet I hung out on) exploded. The show’s pitch-perfect evocation of ’80s action cinema was something you weren’t supposed to be able to do in a TV sitcom.

In Community ’s second season — the show’s best, even if it was a little more all over the place than the first — “Modern Warfare” became its new template. Even in episodes ostensibly about on-campus shenanigans, Community would offer up some prime silliness, as when one episode took a left turn and abruptly tossed in a dramatic chase scene through a blanket and pillow fort . There were stop-motion Christmas specials and Dungeons & Dragons games and homages to the film My Dinner With Andre . It was amazing TV.

Subsequent seasons — especially season four, whose disappointing nature we’ll get to in a minute — never quite reached that high level, but there is amazing stuff in seasons three and six, especially. And even when the show had an off episode, an ensemble cast that included Joel McHale right as he was starting to blow up, Donald Glover right before he blew up, and Alison Brie at the very start of her career — and that’s honestly just for starters — meant that at the very least, you’d get some funny line readings to take home.

Community ’s creative team was vital to its reputation for innovation. Creator Dan Harmon was not always a champion human being , but he’s as good as anybody in TV history at coming up with oddball riffs on pop culture and sitcom tropes . When he was fired ahead of Community ’s fourth season (he was rehired for the final two), it played almost as an object lesson in how tied some shows are to the voices of their creators.

And in its first three seasons, the show’s chief directors were Joe and Anthony Russo — a.k.a. the guys behind two Captain America movies and two Avengers movies (who keep working Community alums into their films). Their ability to ape big-budget movies on a network TV budget landed them the Marvel gig.

There are elements of Community that play differently to modern eyes, particularly the attraction between grown-ass adult Jeff (McHale) and actual-18-year-old-when-the-show-starts Annie (Brie). It drew plenty of criticism when the show aired, but it plays differently in light of revelations about Harmon’s sexual harassment of a young staffer in his writers’ room. (He has since apologized , in one of the few genuinely exemplary apologies of the #MeToo era.) And the show’s attempts to tell jokes about race could be ... a little tone-deaf, to be generous.

But Community ’s handful of misfired jokes and one romantic plotline that never really went anywhere don’t negate it from being one of the all-time great TV sitcoms. Don’t just watch Community because I love it. Watch it because, if literally anything I wrote above — even just the words “Donald Glover” — makes you think you might love it, you almost certainly will.

Community is available to stream on Hulu and on Netflix . We’re still waiting on that movie .

One Good Thing is Vox’s recommendations feature. In each edition, find one more thing from the world of culture that we highly recommend.

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Comfort Viewing: 3 Reasons I Love ‘Community’

This cult favorite comedy had a simple premise, but its mission was more complex: to deconstruct the modern sitcom.

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By Calum Marsh

In the early days of the pandemic, when everyone was bored at home, I took an extremely comprehensive online personality quiz designed to determine your similarity to more than 1,600 fictional characters from TV, literature and film. My closest counterpart, with a 96 percent match, was Jeff Winger, the charismatic lead character played by Joel McHale on NBC’s cult sitcom “Community.”

The question of whether someone should aspire to be like Jeff — a conceited, silver-tongued attorney forced to slum it at a third-rate community college after his law degree is revealed to be bogus — is a matter for me and my therapist. But I can’t say I was surprised by the comparison. I’ve watched “Community” more than other series, by a factor of about a hundred.

I watched its first five seasons during their original run on NBC, between 2009 and 2014, and I watched its sixth and final season the following year on the short-lived streaming service Yahoo! Screen . I still watch it all the time, in bed on my iPad, on long flights, on the sofa over meals. I watch it when I’m anxious or stressed out or need something to buoy my spirits. I watch it when I can’t think of what else to watch. I rewatched the whole thing from beginning to end at the start of the pandemic, and I recently started it all over again.

So of course a bit of Jeff’s trademark Winger charm bled through. Given all that exposure, some osmosis was inevitable.

“Community” is the ultimate postmodern sitcom. The premise is deceptively ordinary: Jeff, smitten with his fellow student Britta (Gillian Jacobs), hastily assembles a motley study group made up of outcasts in their Spanish class, then convinces her to sit in. He plans to cheat his way to a legitimate law diploma — the school’s drunken psychology professor, Duncan (John Oliver), owes him a favor — but when Duncan refuses to cooperate, Jeff realizes he’ll actually need the study group’s help. The crew bonds and flourishes, with Jeff as their de facto leader, and as the series progresses, we follow their journey from classmates to friends.

That’s the elevator pitch. The elevator pitch is a misdirect.

Dan Harmon, the creator, used “Community” to deconstruct the mainstream sitcom. Looking back at the series now, a decade after it debuted, it’s not surprising that NBC had creative conflicts with Harmon and his writing staff. (Harmon was fired by the network after the third season , then brought back for the fifth after the fourth faced vociferous criticism.)

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How to Write the Community Essay – Guide with Examples (2023-24)

September 6, 2023

Students applying to college this year will inevitably confront the community essay. In fact, most students will end up responding to several community essay prompts for different schools. For this reason, you should know more than simply how to approach the community essay as a genre. Rather, you will want to learn how to decipher the nuances of each particular prompt, in order to adapt your response appropriately. In this article, we’ll show you how to do just that, through several community essay examples. These examples will also demonstrate how to avoid cliché and make the community essay authentically and convincingly your own.

Emphasis on Community

Do keep in mind that inherent in the word “community” is the idea of multiple people. The personal statement already provides you with a chance to tell the college admissions committee about yourself as an individual. The community essay, however, suggests that you depict yourself among others. You can use this opportunity to your advantage by showing off interpersonal skills, for example. Or, perhaps you wish to relate a moment that forged important relationships. This in turn will indicate what kind of connections you’ll make in the classroom with college peers and professors.

Apart from comprising numerous people, a community can appear in many shapes and sizes. It could be as small as a volleyball team, or as large as a diaspora. It could fill a town soup kitchen, or spread across five boroughs. In fact, due to the internet, certain communities today don’t even require a physical place to congregate. Communities can form around a shared identity, shared place, shared hobby, shared ideology, or shared call to action. They can even arise due to a shared yet unforeseen circumstance.

What is the Community Essay All About?             

In a nutshell, the community essay should exhibit three things:

• An aspect of yourself, 2. in the context of a community you belonged to, and 3. how this experience may shape your contribution to the community you’ll join in college.

It may look like a fairly simple equation: 1 + 2 = 3. However, each college will word their community essay prompt differently, so it’s important to look out for additional variables. One college may use the community essay as a way to glimpse your core values. Another may use the essay to understand how you would add to diversity on campus. Some may let you decide in which direction to take it—and there are many ways to go!

To get a better idea of how the prompts differ, let’s take a look at some real community essay prompts from the current admission cycle.

Sample 2023-2024 Community Essay Prompts

1) brown university.

“Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)”

A close reading of this prompt shows that Brown puts particular emphasis on place. They do this by using the words “home,” “College Hill,” and “where they came from.” Thus, Brown invites writers to think about community through the prism of place. They also emphasize the idea of personal growth or change, through the words “inspired or challenged you.” Therefore, Brown wishes to see how the place you grew up in has affected you. And, they want to know how you in turn will affect their college community.

“NYU was founded on the belief that a student’s identity should not dictate the ability for them to access higher education. That sense of opportunity for all students, of all backgrounds, remains a part of who we are today and a critical part of what makes us a world-class university. Our community embraces diversity, in all its forms, as a cornerstone of the NYU experience.

We would like to better understand how your experiences would help us to shape and grow our diverse community. Please respond in 250 words or less.”

Here, NYU places an emphasis on students’ “identity,” “backgrounds,” and “diversity,” rather than any physical place. (For some students, place may be tied up in those ideas.) Furthermore, while NYU doesn’t ask specifically how identity has changed the essay writer, they do ask about your “experience.” Take this to mean that you can still recount a specific moment, or several moments, that work to portray your particular background. You should also try to link your story with NYU’s values of inclusivity and opportunity.

3) University of Washington

“Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the UW. (300 words max) Tip: Keep in mind that the UW strives to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, values and viewpoints.”

UW ’s community essay prompt may look the most approachable, for they help define the idea of community. You’ll notice that most of their examples (“families,” “cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood”…) place an emphasis on people. This may clue you in on their desire to see the relationships you’ve made. At the same time, UW uses the words “individual” and “richly diverse.” They, like NYU, wish to see how you fit in and stand out, in order to boost campus diversity.

Writing Your First Community Essay

Begin by picking which community essay you’ll write first. (For practical reasons, you’ll probably want to go with whichever one is due earliest.) Spend time doing a close reading of the prompt, as we’ve done above. Underline key words. Try to interpret exactly what the prompt is asking through these keywords.

Next, brainstorm. I recommend doing this on a blank piece of paper with a pencil. Across the top, make a row of headings. These might be the communities you’re a part of, or the components that make up your identity. Then, jot down descriptive words underneath in each column—whatever comes to you. These words may invoke people and experiences you had with them, feelings, moments of growth, lessons learned, values developed, etc. Now, narrow in on the idea that offers the richest material and that corresponds fully with the prompt.

Lastly, write! You’ll definitely want to describe real moments, in vivid detail. This will keep your essay original, and help you avoid cliché. However, you’ll need to summarize the experience and answer the prompt succinctly, so don’t stray too far into storytelling mode.

How To Adapt Your Community Essay

Once your first essay is complete, you’ll need to adapt it to the other colleges involving community essays on your list. Again, you’ll want to turn to the prompt for a close reading, and recognize what makes this prompt different from the last. For example, let’s say you’ve written your essay for UW about belonging to your swim team, and how the sports dynamics shaped you. Adapting that essay to Brown’s prompt could involve more of a focus on place. You may ask yourself, how was my swim team in Alaska different than the swim teams we competed against in other states?

Once you’ve adapted the content, you’ll also want to adapt the wording to mimic the prompt. For example, let’s say your UW essay states, “Thinking back to my years in the pool…” As you adapt this essay to Brown’s prompt, you may notice that Brown uses the word “reflection.” Therefore, you might change this sentence to “Reflecting back on my years in the pool…” While this change is minute, it cleverly signals to the reader that you’ve paid attention to the prompt, and are giving that school your full attention.

What to Avoid When Writing the Community Essay  

• Avoid cliché. Some students worry that their idea is cliché, or worse, that their background or identity is cliché. However, what makes an essay cliché is not the content, but the way the content is conveyed. This is where your voice and your descriptions become essential.
• Avoid giving too many examples. Stick to one community, and one or two anecdotes arising from that community that allow you to answer the prompt fully.
• Don’t exaggerate or twist facts. Sometimes students feel they must make themselves sound more “diverse” than they feel they are. Luckily, diversity is not a feeling. Likewise, diversity does not simply refer to one’s heritage. If the prompt is asking about your identity or background, you can show the originality of your experiences through your actions and your thinking.

Community Essay Examples and Analysis

Brown university community essay example.

I used to hate the NYC subway. I’ve taken it since I was six, going up and down Manhattan, to and from school. By high school, it was a daily nightmare. Spending so much time underground, underneath fluorescent lighting, squashed inside a rickety, rocking train car among strangers, some of whom wanted to talk about conspiracy theories, others who had bedbugs or B.O., or who manspread across two seats, or bickered—it wore me out. The challenge of going anywhere seemed absurd. I dreaded the claustrophobia and disgruntlement.

Yet the subway also inspired my understanding of community. I will never forget the morning I saw a man, several seats away, slide out of his seat and hit the floor. The thump shocked everyone to attention. What we noticed: he appeared drunk, possibly homeless. I was digesting this when a second man got up and, through a sort of awkward embrace, heaved the first man back into his seat. The rest of us had stuck to subway social codes: don’t step out of line. Yet this second man’s silent actions spoke loudly. They said, “I care.”

That day I realized I belong to a group of strangers. What holds us together is our transience, our vulnerabilities, and a willingness to assist. This community is not perfect but one in motion, a perpetual work-in-progress. Now I make it my aim to hold others up. I plan to contribute to the Brown community by helping fellow students and strangers in moments of precariousness.    

Brown University Community Essay Example Analysis

Here the student finds an original way to write about where they come from. The subway is not their home, yet it remains integral to ideas of belonging. The student shows how a community can be built between strangers, in their responsibility toward each other. The student succeeds at incorporating key words from the prompt (“challenge,” “inspired” “Brown community,” “contribute”) into their community essay.

UW Community Essay Example

I grew up in Hawaii, a world bound by water and rich in diversity. In school we learned that this sacred land was invaded, first by Captain Cook, then by missionaries, whalers, traders, plantation owners, and the U.S. government. My parents became part of this problematic takeover when they moved here in the 90s. The first community we knew was our church congregation. At the beginning of mass, we shook hands with our neighbors. We held hands again when we sang the Lord’s Prayer. I didn’t realize our church wasn’t “normal” until our diocese was informed that we had to stop dancing hula and singing Hawaiian hymns. The order came from the Pope himself.

Eventually, I lost faith in God and organized institutions. I thought the banning of hula—an ancient and pure form of expression—seemed medieval, ignorant, and unfair, given that the Hawaiian religion had already been stamped out. I felt a lack of community and a distrust for any place in which I might find one. As a postcolonial inhabitant, I could never belong to the Hawaiian culture, no matter how much I valued it. Then, I was shocked to learn that Queen Ka’ahumanu herself had eliminated the Kapu system, a strict code of conduct in which women were inferior to men. Next went the Hawaiian religion. Queen Ka’ahumanu burned all the temples before turning to Christianity, hoping this religion would offer better opportunities for her people.

Community Essay (Continued)

I’m not sure what to make of this history. Should I view Queen Ka’ahumanu as a feminist hero, or another failure in her islands’ tragedy? Nothing is black and white about her story, but she did what she thought was beneficial to her people, regardless of tradition. From her story, I’ve learned to accept complexity. I can disagree with institutionalized religion while still believing in my neighbors. I am a product of this place and their presence. At UW, I plan to add to campus diversity through my experience, knowing that diversity comes with contradictions and complications, all of which should be approached with an open and informed mind.

UW Community Essay Example Analysis

This student also manages to weave in words from the prompt (“family,” “community,” “world,” “product of it,” “add to the diversity,” etc.). Moreover, the student picks one of the examples of community mentioned in the prompt, (namely, a religious group,) and deepens their answer by addressing the complexity inherent in the community they’ve been involved in. While the student displays an inner turmoil about their identity and participation, they find a way to show how they’d contribute to an open-minded campus through their values and intellectual rigor.

What’s Next

For more on supplemental essays and essay writing guides, check out the following articles:

• How to Write the Why This Major Essay + Example
• How to Write the Overcoming Challenges Essay + Example
• How to Start a College Essay – 12 Techniques and Tips
• College Essay

Kaylen Baker

With a BA in Literary Studies from Middlebury College, an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and a Master’s in Translation from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Kaylen has been working with students on their writing for over five years. Previously, Kaylen taught a fiction course for high school students as part of Columbia Artists/Teachers, and served as an English Language Assistant for the French National Department of Education. Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others.

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A Sense of Community: Essays on the Television Series and its Fandom Paperback – 30 May 2014

Television's Community follows the shenanigans of a diverse group of traditional and nontraditional community college students: Jeff Winger, a former lawyer; Britta Perry, a feminist; Abed Nadir, a pop culture enthusiast; Shirley Bennett, a mother; Troy Barnes, a former jock; Annie Edison, a naive overachiever; and Pierce Hawthorne, an old-fashioned elderly man. There are also Benjamin Chang, the maniacal Spanish teacher, and Craig Pelton, the eccentric dean of Greendale Community College, along with well-known guest stars who play troublemaking students, nutty professors and frightening administrators.

This collection of fresh essays familiarizes readers not only with particular characters and popular episodes, but behind-the-scenes aspects such as screenwriting and production techniques. The essayists explore narrative theme, hyperreality, masculinity, feminism, color blindness, civic discourse, pastiche, intertextuality, media consciousness, how Community is influenced by other shows and films, and how fans have contributed to the show.

• Print length 240 pages
• Language English
• Publisher McFarland & Co
• Publication date 30 May 2014
• Reading age 18 years and up
• Dimensions 15.24 x 1.22 x 22.86 cm
• ISBN-10 0786475900
• ISBN-13 978-0786475902
• See all details

Product description

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ McFarland & Co (30 May 2014)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786475900
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786475902
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 1.22 x 22.86 cm
• 2,534 in Television History & Criticism
• 56,643 in The Performing Arts

About the author

Joseph s. walker.

Joseph S. Walker is an Edgar-nominated writer of crime and mystery short fiction. His work has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, The Front Line, Flash, and a number of themed anthologies. He lives in Indiana. Follow him on Twitter (@JSWalkerAuthor) and visit his website at jswalkerauthor.com.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, writing about a tv show for college essay—too trivial.

I've had this profound experience related to a TV show and its themes, and I'm contemplating using this as the central theme of my college essay. Is it okay to talk about a TV show, or does it seem trivial to admissions officers?

Absolutely, discussing a TV show in your college essay can be both appropriate and compelling, provided that you tie it back to personal growth, values, or lessons learned. Admissions officers appreciate essays that are reflective and provide insight into your character, not just your academic abilities. If the TV show truly had a profound impact on you and you can write about it in a way that highlights your critical thinking skills, self-awareness, or other positive personal attributes, then it can be a great topic.

For example, if a student were influenced by the themes of justice and community portrayed in a show like 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine,' they could discuss how this interest led them to volunteer at a local non-profit, thereby demonstrating their commitment to these values in real life. It’s important to focus on the depth of the reflection rather than the source. So long as the essay is well-written and reveals something meaningful about you, it won't be seen as trivial. Go for it, but be sure to get some feedback from trusted teachers or mentors to ensure your message comes across clearly!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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The Seven Ways To Write About Television

Linda Holmes

Perhaps it's the combination of Sunday night's Mad Men finale and the flurry of Sopranos discussion that followed the death of James Gandolfini, but it's hard not to be struck by the explosion of writing about television that's occurred in the last 15 years or so, facilitated (of course) by the ability to go from rolling credits to publication in an hour (if necessary). After any major episode, there will be a flurry of commentary, and even after minor episodes of minor shows, there are write-ups here and there.

But while these pieces — whether you call them recaps, reviews, essays, commentaries, whatever — may look the same, there are a bunch of different ways to do them, and understanding the kinds that are out there might help you find the kind you like. So here they are: the seven ways people commonly write about television.*

The Craft model . In a lot of ways, this is the kind of criticism with which people are most familiar. It's focused on the quality of work that goes into a show — how strong is the directing, writing, acting, lighting, scoring, and so forth. The higher-brow the show is, the more Craft writing there is; nobody spends a lot of time writing about the direction on NCIS or The Big Bang Theory , even if they like those shows.

That doesn't mean there is no craft — it just means either writers are usually not interested in writing about it or they don't have the familiarity with the form to analyze it effectively. Craft writing probably requires the most background knowledge and the most experience, and it's where you're most likely to fall into a hole if you don't actually know which pieces of a show's quality are the result of direction, for instance, versus writing. To give you an example of Craft done well, Matt Zoller Seitz is a Craft writer, mostly. (Although, I should note, everyone I know who's a good writer incorporates elements of all these models. But Matt is a Craft guy.)

The Ethical model. It's almost a subspecies within the Craft model, but it deserves its own section, I think. The Ethical model is where writers address the sociological implications of how the show is made. In the reality setting, this is pretty obvious — were people subjected to terrible conditions, and so forth. But Ethical writing also tends to incorporate issues of gender, race, sexuality, politics, and so forth. Perpetuating stereotypes, representation behind and in front of the camera — this is where Ethical writing gets its strength. Alyssa Rosenberg does a lot of Ethical writing at Think Progress; she's probably the only writer I can think of where that's what she sees as her primary beat (perhaps unsurprisingly).

The Puzzle model. This is the writing that tries to uncover hidden meanings and explain symbolism. The idea is to take your sharp eye, as the writer, and note things that other people perhaps wouldn't notice. The absolute best Puzzle writing I'm aware of at the moment is Mad Style , the weekly column breaking down the costuming of Mad Men , found at the fashion site Tom and Lorenzo . Most costume commentary, other than this, is part of the Craft model — admiring the sheer beauty of wardrobe choices or the skill in matching them to the period. But Mad Style treats fashion like other writing treats any other kind of messaging and applies specialized knowledge to surface pieces of the storytelling that aren't obvious.

But whenever writers are pointing out callbacks, metaphors, symbolism, lines that have double meanings — that's all Puzzle stuff. In many, many episode recaps, you'll find bullet points at the end, some of which will be Puzzle content that doesn't fit anywhere else.

The Maker model. These are the pieces of writing that focus on the relationship between a show and its creator, in spite of the fact that lots of people's work go into the final product. It's kind of like auteur theory in film, although it tends to be a little more from-the-hip with television, and it doesn't necessarily indicate that anyone is sophisticated enough to be considered an auteur. These are things like Emily Nussbaum's marvelous New Yorker piece on Ryan Murphy, "Queer Eyes, Full Heart." There are makers who attract much more Maker writing than others — Shonda Rhimes, oddly enough, attracts less of it than you might expect, given her massive impact on the ABC lineup, while Lena Dunham attracts outrageous tons of it, despite her relatively small audience. (Aaron Sorkin gets more of it the more he complains about it, which is sweet justice for someone, but I'm not sure who.)

The Riff model. This is writing that sees television primarily as a jumping-off point for jokes. It's what Television Without Pity was when I worked there, it's what Previously.tv is, and it's what a lot of Vulture recaps are, including (for instance) Dave Holmes writing about American Idol .

The Vignette model. On a personal note, this is probably the model I use the most. Monday's piece about the Mad Men finale falls into this category; on a less serious note, so does the Scandal piece I wrote about how everyone in the world should dump Fitz. In the Vignette model, you look at a piece of television as a little story, and then you address a bunch of discussion questions. Can Don be saved? Is Megan misunderstood? Can Walter White turn his life around? Should Alicia Florrick get back together with her husband? These aren't really about the quality of the product, exactly, they're questions the product provokes . The episode, in this case, just exists — it's like an essay question on a test. "Discuss."

A lot of people are completely baffled by Vignette writing. This is where you get the "What are you talking about THESE ARE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS!" stuff, as if you'd never talk about what the people in a story did unless it was true. The irony is that Vignette writing freaks people out, but it was the first literary analysis most of us ever learned: Why does this character lie? What should this person have done? What motivated Iago?

Vignette writing is also what animates just about everyone who likes writing about reality TV, because while there's a lot of craft involved in differentiating good reality from bad, that's not what most of the writing is about. Most of the writing, whether serious or funny, is about the people in the story and what their behavior says about the way people act. I don't remember ever having an incredibly fascinating conversation about the crafting of reality shows except with people who make them or appear on them, but I've had many, many great discussions about (for instance) the distinction between the kinds of men who win Survivor and the kinds of women who win, or why The Bachelor contestants act like being divorced is scandalous, or why you can't have alliances on The Amazing Race . Again, you just take the story as a story. Discuss .

The Service model. There are people who really do spend a lot of time just telling you what happened without comment, where the primary purpose of the piece is to fill you in if you missed it. This is basically a human taking the place of your DVR if you forgot to set it.

So there you have it: the seven ways to write about television. Of course, this is less a set of distinct areas with sharp boundaries and more a color wheel where one thing blends into another, because you'll usually see elements of all of them in a good and comprehensive piece of writing, but most of us are more interested in some of these kinds of writing than others, and it's good to have a sense of the landscape when you're looking for a home.

*These are ways, I should note, to write commentary. There is also a world of more traditional reporting, including profiles and breaking news, that's a separate issue entirely. That, in turn, is subdivided into business reporting (who's got a deal with which studio), show reporting (stories about production and creation), and the weird world of plot reporting (news stories about fictional characters — so-and-so will die, so-and-so will have an affair with so-and-so).

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126 TV Show Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Are you struggling to come up with a topic for your TV show essay? Look no further! We have compiled a list of 126 TV show essay topic ideas and examples to help inspire your writing. From analyzing character development to discussing social themes, there is a wide range of topics to choose from. Whether you are a fan of drama, comedy, or reality TV, there is something for everyone on this list. So grab your popcorn and get ready to dive into the world of television!

• Analyze the character development of Walter White in Breaking Bad.
• Discuss the representation of mental illness in the TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
• Explore the theme of power dynamics in Game of Thrones.
• Compare and contrast the relationships between the characters in Friends and How I Met Your Mother.
• Examine the role of technology in Black Mirror.
• Discuss the portrayal of race and ethnicity in Orange is the New Black.
• Analyze the impact of social media on reality TV shows like The Bachelor.
• Explore the theme of family in The Simpsons.
• Discuss the representation of gender in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
• Analyze the use of flashbacks in Lost.
• Compare and contrast the different seasons of American Horror Story.
• Discuss the role of religion in The Handmaid's Tale.
• Explore the theme of identity in The Good Place.
• Analyze the role of humor in The Office.
• Discuss the representation of LGBTQ+ characters in Modern Family.
• Explore the theme of survival in The Walking Dead.
• Analyze the use of music in Glee.
• Discuss the portrayal of mental health in BoJack Horseman.
• Compare and contrast the different generations of Doctor Who.
• Analyze the role of politics in House of Cards.
• Discuss the representation of women in Sex and the City.
• Explore the theme of friendship in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
• Analyze the use of symbolism in Twin Peaks.
• Discuss the portrayal of addiction in Shameless.
• Compare and contrast the different timelines in Westworld.
• Analyze the role of nostalgia in Stranger Things.
• Discuss the representation of disabilities in Breaking Bad.
• Explore the theme of morality in The Good Place.
• Analyze the use of animation in Rick and Morty.
• Discuss the portrayal of class in Downton Abbey.
• Compare and contrast the different settings in Game of Thrones.
• Analyze the role of technology in Black Mirror.
• Discuss the representation of race and ethnicity in Orange is the New Black.
• Discuss the portrayal of gender in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

With so many TV show essay topic ideas to choose from, you are sure to find the perfect topic for your next paper. Whether you are interested in analyzing character development, exploring social themes, or discussing the impact of technology, there is something for everyone on this list. So grab your remote, turn on your favorite show, and start brainstorming your next TV show essay topic!

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Essay Papers Writing Online

The impact of community service – a deep dive into the power of giving back to society.

Community service essays serve as a powerful tool for individuals to reflect on their experiences, values, and impact on the world around them. Through the process of writing about their volunteer work, students are able to articulate the positive changes they have made in their communities and explore the lessons they have learned along the way.

Community service essays also play a crucial role in highlighting the importance of giving back to society and fostering a sense of empathy and compassion in individuals. By sharing personal stories of service, students can inspire others to get involved and make a difference in their own communities.

Moreover, community service essays can help students gain valuable skills such as critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving, as they reflect on the challenges and successes of their volunteer experiences. By documenting their service work, students can also showcase their commitment to social responsibility and community engagement to colleges, scholarship committees, and potential employers.

Why Community Service Essays Matter

In today’s society, the importance of community service essays cannot be overstated. These essays serve as a platform for individuals to showcase their dedication to helping others and making a positive impact on their communities. Through these essays, individuals can share their experiences, insights, and perspectives on the value of giving back to society.

Community service essays also play a crucial role in raising awareness about different social issues and encouraging others to get involved in volunteer work. By sharing personal stories and reflections, individuals can inspire and motivate others to take action and contribute to the betterment of society.

Furthermore, community service essays provide an opportunity for individuals to reflect on their own values, beliefs, and goals. Through the process of writing these essays, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world, leading to personal growth and development.

In conclusion, community service essays matter because they have the power to inspire change, raise awareness, and promote personal growth. By sharing their stories and insights, individuals can make a difference in their communities and create a more compassionate and giving society.

The Impact of Community Service Essays

Community service essays have a profound impact on both the individuals writing them and the communities they serve. These essays serve as a platform for students to reflect on their experiences and articulate the lessons they have learned through their service work.

One of the primary impacts of community service essays is the opportunity for self-reflection. Students are encouraged to critically analyze their experiences, challenges, and accomplishments during their community service activities. This reflection helps students develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their values, and their role in the community.

Another significant impact of community service essays is the awareness they raise about social issues and community needs. By sharing their stories and insights, students can shed light on important issues and inspire others to get involved in community service. These essays can also help community organizations and stakeholders better understand the needs of their communities and how they can address them effectively.

Overall, community service essays play a vital role in promoting social responsibility, empathy, and civic engagement. They empower students to make a positive impact in their communities and contribute to creating a more compassionate and inclusive society.

Guidelines for Writing Community Service Essays

When writing a community service essay, it is important to follow certain guidelines to ensure that your message is clear and impactful. Here are some tips to help you craft a powerful and compelling essay:

• Start by brainstorming ideas and reflecting on your community service experiences.
• Clearly define the purpose of your essay and what you hope to convey to your readers.
• Organize your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
• Use specific examples and anecdotes to support your points and showcase your personal growth.
• Highlight the impact of your community service activities on both yourself and others.
• Showcase your passion and dedication to serving your community.
• Be authentic and honest in your writing, and avoid exaggerating or embellishing your experiences.
• Edit and proofread your essay carefully to ensure clarity, coherence, and proper grammar.

Examples of Effective Community Service Essays

Community service essays can have a powerful impact on the reader when they are well-written and thoughtful. Here are a few examples to inspire you:

1. A Well-Structured Essay:

This essay begins with a compelling introduction that clearly articulates the author’s motivation for engaging in community service. The body paragraphs provide specific examples of the author’s experiences and the impact they had on both the community and themselves. The conclusion ties everything together, reflecting on the lessons learned and the importance of giving back.

2. Personal Reflection:

This essay delves deep into the author’s personal experiences during their community service work. It explores the challenges they faced, the emotions they encountered, and the growth they underwent. By sharing vulnerable moments and candid reflections, the author creates a connection with the reader and demonstrates the transformational power of service.

3. Future Goals and Impact:

This essay not only discusses past community service experiences but also looks toward the future. The author shares their aspirations for continued service and outlines how they plan to make a difference in the world. By showcasing a sense of purpose and vision, this essay inspires the reader to consider their own potential for impact.

These examples illustrate how community service essays can be effective tools for conveying meaningful stories, inspiring others, and showcasing personal growth. By crafting a compelling narrative and reflecting on the significance of service, you can create an essay that leaves a lasting impression.

How Community Service Essays Empower Individuals

Community service essays provide individuals with a platform to express their thoughts, share their experiences, and make a meaningful impact on society. By writing about their volunteer work and the lessons they have learned, individuals can empower themselves to create positive change and inspire others to do the same.

• Through community service essays, individuals can reflect on the importance of giving back to their communities and the value of helping those in need.
• These essays can serve as a source of motivation and inspiration for individuals to continue their philanthropic efforts and make a difference in the world.
• By sharing their stories through community service essays, individuals can raise awareness about social issues and promote greater empathy and understanding among their peers.

Overall, community service essays empower individuals to take action, advocate for change, and contribute to building a more compassionate and equitable society.

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Chester has been written off by people more times than anyone would care to count. except for the people who call chester home. for us, we see promise where others see peril..

• Devon Walls

Chester Made Artistic Director Devon Walls leads the crowd in a robust song as Chester Made workshop leader Sistah Mafalda accompanies with African drumming during the Chester Made and Mandela Washington Fellowship Exchange 2019. (Greg Irvin)

A little more than five years ago, I became the first black person to own a building on Chester’s Avenue of the States, which is our city’s main business thoroughfare. While some (including me) say that breaking that barrier was long overdue, we are determined to make sure this historic first won’t be the last as we open opportunities for others to follow. We now own more than a dozen properties throughout the community and are proud that we’ve been able to jump start revitalization that is both home-grown and home-inspired.

Some of the other work that has emerged from “Chester Made”  includes a video film series called “Illuminate Chester”. It showcases different aspects of Chester’s storied past.  There’s the “Chester Made”  Exploration Zone which is a creative, cultural space that brings the community together to learn more about the city’s cultural assets and change perceptions about Chester. We have rebuilt an historic theater, created a makers-space for artists, expanded our restaurant community — all the while transforming the downtown and bringing business back to Chester.

The common thread here is that the people of Chester – whether they have achieved international fame or were only known as local legends – have a built-in determination that continues to be the bedrock of our success. With this, we’ve been able to share what we know with an ever expanding community that now reaches around the globe. Recently, we hosted 25 Mandela Fellows, young professionals from Sub-Saharan Africa, and sponsored by the Iacocca Institute which works with international professionals to develop their leadership and entrepreneurial skills. During their time with us, we were able to show them some of our successful “Chester Made”  projects and share dialogue around what is working in making Chester, Chester. After  spending a day together, the Fellows expressed that Chester felt like “home” to them. And what we all know is that there’s no place like home…when you make your home like no other place. And we’re proud to know that there’s no place like Chester.

Devon Walls is an artist, entrepreneur and proud native of the City of Chester.

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130 TV Show Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best tv show topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on tv show, ⭐ simple & easy tv show essay titles, 🎓 good research topics about tv show, ❓ research questions about tv shows.

• What Is a Reality Show? Reality shows can be devoted to different subjects but the main fact is that they should provide the participants of the shows with the freedom to play and react in the most real and typical […]
• The US in the 1950s in “Leave It to Beaver” TV Show The period after World War II and the transition to the time of the Cold War affected the culture of American society in many ways.
• Impact of Television Shows on Family Values Creation of awareness of the surrounding by bringing the most current news has aided in decision making such as those decisions related to the participation of the family unit to issues affecting the society such […]
• TV Show Classification According to my classification system, TV shows can be classified according to main theme of the show. Under the theme of conflict, three different types of conflicts were used to categorize the TV shows.
• The “Friends” TV Show as a Cultural Artifact The intended audience is men and women between the ages of 15 and 20 or the ones who were born after the 2000s.
• Changing Notion of Nuclear Family as Portrayed in Television Shows The Simpson displays frustrations and irritations in a family and how sometimes it suffers lack of money and other important effects and it portrays nuclear family which is a very important image of the family.
• Television Advertising and Television Shows In the show, there is always a change in the life of the characters based on the episodes. A clear picture of the family is brought to fore in the drama Bette and Boo.
• Survivor Reality Show from Sociological Perspective The perspective also view social systems as unjust and often cruel upon the “have-nots” of the social order as the systems are repeatedly used by the “powerful” in society to promote their views and defend […]
• Child’s Emotional Development in Caillou TV Show The main conclusion of the article is as follows: it is critical to make an effort to establish secure attachment between parents and children in order to avoid the development of RAD.
• Analysis of “Brigerton” TV Show I think that this TV series is art because it is made in a form of a novel and contains various elements of art.
• Ethics of Television Reality Shows From the audience’s perspective, these shows should preserve the principles of honesty and responsibility to show behavior that could become a universal law in accordance with Kant’s categorical imperative.
• Popular Culture and TV Shows: Analysis of American Idol The positive aspect of the show is the interactive aspect that is essential in all popular cultures. The first group is comprised of the judges who guide and monitor the performance of the contestants.
• The Television Show “Law and Order: SVU” The pacing of the show supports the formula and leads to a suspenseful hour of television. Unfortunately, my favorite character has left the show, but I do not intend to stop watching because it is […]
• Television Show “What’s My Line?” The show was a hit in the US and was aired in the CBS Television. In the resent years, in the year 2013, the show was ranked in the 7th position among the sixty greatest […]
• TV Shows v. The Common View of Nuclear Families In the traditional view of a nuclear family, it is the woman who is supposed to be patient with the man. It challenges the model of a happy and perfect family which was and is […]
• TV Shows Shaping Human Expectations About the World This show taught me to expect that a supportive family and friend base will be with you through the good and difficult times.
• TV Culture: The Oprah Winfrey Show The theme chosen for the discussion is intriguing and important to the American viewers of the program. In addition, the multi-camera style allows the audience to capture the host and guests as well as the […]
• Reality TV Show Analysis: Masterchef Australia The analysis of this reality TV show can therefore be taken as the comprehensive analysis of the majority of today’s reality TV shows that have the same aspects of style as this one.
• How Television Shows Reflect American Culture In this show, the characters are portrayed as very energetic, romantic, and wealthy because those elements are the most attractive to the set of viewers. It appeals to the adult population who face many of […]
• “Super Nanny” and “Wife Swap”: Analysis of Episodes From TV Shows The main behavioral problem of this family is the mother’s inability to make the children respect her. The head of the Wiggins family is ex-marine; the family has a high socio-economic status; they are respected […]
• The Reality TV Shows Addiction: Cause-Effect The viewers feel like the actors are just in the same scenario as them and every development is a success to both the actor and his viewer.
• Group Roles in the “Survivor” TV Show The purpose of this paper is to identify the stages of group development processes as well as individual group roles, as shown in the first episode of season one of Survivor: New Mexico.
• “Gossip Girl” the TV Show Analysis Based on the thorough investigation of the scholarly sources, which discuss the primary aspects of the theory and its criticism, the foundation for the development of the original research will be established.
• Why America is Obsessed with Reality Shows? In order to understand why reality shows have garnered such a negative reputation, it is necessary to understand the dynamics of communication, authenticity and performance.
• Understanding Media: Reality TV Shows—The Jersey Shore In the Jersey Shore, storytelling is typified by the show participants through the use of common communication language and engaging in habitual things that are common and relevant to the world today like going to […]
• Rhetorical Modes of the “Billions” TV Show On the one hand, the attorney is desperate to reveal the secrets and wrongdoings of Axe Capital, which would help the legal system battle all evil.
• The “16 and Pregnant” Reality TV Show The audience gets to know the characters and sees part of the pregnancy, preparation for childbirth, the process of birth, and the postpartum period.
• Women in Society Through the Prism of TV Shows At the center of the plot of the current British project, Fleabag is the story of the life of an unnamed young woman suffering from nymphomania and friend loss syndrome.
• The Popular TV Shows: Political and Social Topics The Laugh-In and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour make counter-cultural ideas more accessible to Middle America by acknowledging the racial tensions and the Vietnam war, unlike mainstream television.
• The Depiction of Birth in Reality TV Show Given the advent of hospitals, the need for midwifery decreased and eventually, the majority of women lacked the know-how on childbirth.
• Philosophical Aspect of “Judge Judy” TV Show The reason why this approach is the most appropriate when analyzing the case of a traffic officer and a speed driver is that it focuses on the immorality of the young girl’s behaviour and situation […]
• “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Reality Show Reaction Thus, the show is organized in such a way that people can be able to appreciate those who dress in drags.
• Big Brother: Famous Reality Shows The members of the family are one in saying that they have been watching Big Brother since it was introduced in TV.
• La Hija Del Jardinero Television Show With the theme of love, the focus of the episode was Luis Haundra and Caros Eduardo Gomes relationship and Petro who mistakenly becomes a father.
• Non-Verbal Communication in “When They See Us” TV Show Other forms of non-verbal communication include the way that the interrogators use the tone of the voice. The boys also use a range of non-verbal signs that reveal their true feelings and the way that […]
• Violence Against Women in the TV Shows It is possible to analyze two scenes from the TV shows in question to consider the meanings behind the depiction of violence against women and the use of the word “whore”.
• Northern Exposure TV Show of Medical Dramedy Genre Northern Exposure is a dramedy that is defined as a TV show with the elements of dramas and comedies where the development of a character is present, the inner conflict is discussed, and the plot […]
• Chicana and Mexican in Films and TV Shows On the other hand, Machete, who is the main character in the film Machete, operates in a Mexican setting where the use of guns and other crude weapons is the order of the way.
• Trisha TV Show Analysis and Pop Culture Issues The factor which contributed to my awareness of the audience is the plot of the show, which touches on family disagreements, deception, and emotions.
• Utopia Fantasia in the “Black Mirror” TV Show Stated differently, this paper demonstrates how the concept of utopia has evolved from the quest for a virtuous and free life to the desire for people’s approval from the lens of an individualised life.
• Television Show Suggestion: M*A*S*H While the unit that was shown in the series was fictitious and the story was focused not on the war itself but the individuals working in the MASH, the portrayal of war events also contributed […]
• Reality Shows Influence and Culture Corrosion We are in the twenty-first century, and the reality shows in the media are proverbial and trendy and very entertaining. The scenario in most of reality shows is that we are competing to be happy […]
• TV Shows: House, Scrubs and Quincy The main idea is to reflect the life of a young doctor through the prism of J.D.’s point of view. D, is in the fight between the good and the evil.
• Oprah Winfrey, a Show Host and Businesswoman Oprah Winfrey is the personality behind the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” and I have been observing her since I was very young.
• Television Show: “Wil Time Bigtime” Since its inception, Wil Time Bigtime has aired a number of shows that can deemed offensive and bad for society and this is one of the reasons why the show had to change its name […]
• Political Issues of “The American Idol” Television Show This paper presents a comprehension of the issue of democracy and participation through the lenses of the political landscape and the reality television show, the American Idol, which is followed by the exploration of the […]
• TV Shows’ Influence on Families Despite the fact that the article is long as compared to the other article, the story and all its explanations flow in a rhythm that is encouraging and not tiring.
• Does TV Shows Have a Negative Influence on the Children? While a section of the society argues that television shows are beneficial to children because they are educative, others feel that they have a negative influence on them.
• The Oprah TV Show One of the most influential and successful talk shows is the Oprah Winfrey Show that aired between the years 1986 and 2011.
• Television Shows and Obscene Language Thus, television shows should not be allowed to use the obscene language because the television language is based on the definite language norms, and the usage of obscene and profane words cannot be discussed as […]
• “10 Years Younger” and “How to Look Good Naked” Television Shows The most important thing about appearances here is that the older get to look younger on the “10 Years Younger” show and those with insecurities about their shapes and sizes get to accept who they […]
• The Types of Features Used in Different Television Shows Other factors that the television stations consider include the setup of the studios or the show rooms, the characters that will participate in the shows and the kinds of languages to be used in the […]
• The Role of Interactivity to the Success of Reality Television Shows The two have explicitly examined and documented the importance of the role of interactivity to the success of the reality television show.
• TV Show’s Influence on Perception The frequency of the television shows is a pattern that is interesting to monitor in the shows watched. Negative influences could be dangerous and therefore it is important to discourage their course in the lives […]
• TV Show Analysis: The Simpsons The setting of this show is a fictional and unknown US state, Springfield, and the name Simpsons is used in the show as a family name.
• Television Shows Taxonomy The decision to classify this show as a ‘Test Romance’, which is a completely new classification, is because of the nature of romance experienced.
• Bridalplasty Television Show Bridalplasty is based on the principle that the bridegrooms of the women in the show value the physical appearance of their women.
• The Oprah Winfrey Show and Why Self Promotion Is Complicated The popularity of The Oprah Winfrey Show was a major boost to the television broadcaster owners, Oprah Winfrey, and the audience.
• The Reality Show “Intervention” In a similar manner, Scheck argues that the family members in the reality show as well as the general audience serve to open an addict’s eyes to the realities of drug abuse.
• Psychometrics and Reality Television Shows
• Commercials From Idea Studio During the TV Show Baywatch
• How Television Shows Fuel Stereotypes in the Society
• Watching Violent Television Shows Has an Impact on the Rates of Violence in Society
• Are Television Shows, Video Games, and Homework Contributing to Making Americans Become Smarter
• Television Shows and Offensive Language
• Ethics of Reality Television Shows That Include Pranks
• The Reason Why Reality Television Shows Attracts an Audience
• Analysis for Without Prejudice TV Show
• Television Shows and Obscene Language
• Difference Between Television and Television Show
• Television Shows Based Around Family Life
• Does Health Food Film and Television Shows Influence
• Media Communications and Television Shows
• How Race, Sexes, and Gender Are Represented in the American TV Show Grey’s Anatomy
• How Much Does Weight Affect a Television Show
• Evaluation Oprah Winfrey Channel TV Show: Long-Running Talk Show
• Reality Television Shows Corrupt the Minds of Youth
• Getting Away With Murder: The Negative Impact of Violent Television Shows on the Mindsets of Teenagers
• Television Shows Reflect American Culture
• The Good and the Bad Sides of the TV Show Family Guy in an Article by Antonia Peacocke
• How Television Shows Have Affected the Television Industry in America
• Arrow TV Show – An American Superhero Television Series
• Television Shows Impact the American View on the Political
• Relationship Between Television Advertisements and TV Shows
• American Horror Story Television Show
• Culturally Insensitive Television Shows
• Race Class and Gender in a Television Crime Show
• Television Shows Accurately Reflect American Culture
• Effectiveness of Two Promotional Methods From Different Media Platforms Used by the TV Show
• The West Wing: An American Serial Political Drama TV Show
• Television and Reality Television Shows and American Culture
• Everybody Loves Raymond: The Gender Roles Played Out in This Particular Television Show
• Netflix and the Internet Delivery of Television Shows
• Problematic Aspects of Copyright Protection for TV Show Formats
• Television Shows From a Sociological Perspective
• Does the Television ‘Talk Show’ Industry Represent a Positive or a Negative Social Phenomenon
• Marketing Analysis of Kids TV Show
• The Objectification, Sexualization, and Utilization of Children in the Reality TV Show Toddlers & Tiaras
• Globalization: Sociology and American Television Shows
• Does Watching Violent TV Shows Affect the Level of Violence in Society?
• What Is Symbolic Interactionism and What Are Its Functions in Modern TV Shows?
• Is the TV Show Gossip Girl Appropriate for a 14-Year-Old?
• Why Shouldn’t Television Shows Be Allowed to Use Obscene Language?
• How Does the Animated Television Show the Simpsons Affect Children?
• What Is the Role and Significance of Music in a TV Show?
• Is the Television Talk Show Industry a Positive or Negative Social Phenomenon?
• What Is the Social and Emotional State of Good TV Shows?
• Are the Simpsons One of the Greatest Animated Shows in TV History?
• What Lessons Do the Television Show “Friends” Teach Viewers?
• Is Breaking Bad the Greatest TV Show of All Time?
• Why Do Viewers Love the TV Show “Prison Break”?
• How Do Media Movies and TV Shows Affect New York?
• What Is the Value of Reality Shows About Teenage Pregnancy?
• Is the Simpsons Television Show a Pop Culture Icon?
• What Are the Pros and Cons of Popular TV Shows and Media?
• How Do Disney Movies and TV Shows Affect Women’s Perceptions of Love and Life?
• What Is the Influence of the Television Show the Simpsons on Pop Culture?
• Is There a Need for More Educational Shows on Television?
• Why Should Hollywood Provide Family-Oriented TV Shows?
• Should the Government Control What Is Shown on TV Shows?
• What Are the Good and Bad Points of the TV Show Family Guy?
• Is There Reality in Reality TV Shows?
• What Influences the Voting Pattern in Reality Shows?
• How Are Race, Sex, and Gender Represented in the American Television Show Grey’s Anatomy?
• Why Do Television Shows Attract Audiences?
• Is It Not a Crime to Download Movies and Series?
• What TV Shows Accurately Reflect American Culture?
• Are Fantasy Books, Movies, and TV Shows Damaging to the Developing Adolescent Mind and Personality?
• What Are the Reasons for the Popularity of Reality TV Shows?
• Mass Communication Essay Topics
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How to Write the MIT “Community” Essay

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Hale Jaeger in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered

What is a community.

• Impact and Personal Significance

Example #1: Tutoring a Friend

Example #2: managing food waste.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is consistently ranked as one of the top five universities in the nation, according to US News and World Report. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT is known for its rigorous STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), business, and entrepreneurship programs. It uses its own application system called MyMIT instead of Common Application, and applicants are required to submit five essays. The third essay prompt reads:

“At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (225 words)”

In this article, we discuss how to approach the prompt and provide tips for writing your essay. For an overview of the five essay prompts and guidance on how to approach them, check out our post on how to write the MIT application essays .

This prompt asks you to reflect on the impact that you have had on your community and the specific ways that you have worked to improve the lives of others within it. A community is defined broadly and includes, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: 

• Your nuclear or extended family
• Clubs and teams that you are a member of
• The street or neighborhood where you live
• A place where you work
• A religious community or house of worship
• A racial or ethnic group

Impact and Personal Significance

The specific way that you have contributed to the community you choose to write about doesn’t need to be award winning or impressive. You could write about being a good friend, taking care of your neighbor’s pets, or hosting a weekly coffee hour for members of your church. Anything from your life is worth writing about as long as you have made a positive, measurable, and clear impact on the lives of others.

Beyond having concrete outcomes, you should also have gained something from this experience, such as a new perspective or understanding of yourself and the world around you. It’s important that you communicate how you have changed and grown as a result of this experience. By weaving together the impact of your contribution to others with its significance to you personally, you demonstrate that you not only know how to give of yourself but also that the act of giving is something from which you derive meaning.

Ultimately, this essay is used by MIT admissions officers to predict who you will be in the MIT community based on how you interact with and care for others and your ability to turn empathy into action and direct service. Admissions officers want to see that you are generous in spirit, eager to make a difference, and care deeply about adding value to your community.

For example, suppose an applicant writes about tutoring a friend on their varsity soccer team in mathematics. The person was struggling in math class, worried about failing, and feeling really demoralized. The applicant writes about offering to tutor that friend pro bono because they know that money is tight for the friend’s family. After working together five days a week for two months, the friend’s math test scores start improving, and they finally get their first A on a test. Beyond the improved test scores, the friend starts to really understand and internalize various mathematical concepts and problem-solving techniques to the point where math starts to become fun and interesting. 

The applicant should write not only about the positive impact (improved grades and outlook) on their friend but also how the experience was personally significant and illuminating. Perhaps this experience has inspired them to seriously consider a career in teaching because helping others understand difficult concepts is meaningful work to them.

Consider another example. An applicant is shocked to find out that their school generates a sizable amount of food waste. Instead of dumping the waste into the landfill, the applicant decides to use their position on the student council to liaise with a sustainability group to develop a two-pronged system of composting and donating leftover food. After this system is successful within the applicant’s school, the applicant works with administrators and students at schools across the school district to implement a similar system. 

The applicant could write about the experience of developing the food waste management system, the quantitative and qualitative benefits of such a program to the community and the environment, and the personal satisfaction that they derived from implementing such a program. Additionally, they may discuss their newfound interest in pursuing an academic and professional career at the intersection of agriculture, public policy, and environmental studies.

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How to Write a TV Show Title in an Essay: In APA, MLA, and more

Writing TV Show Title in Different Formats

Precision and adherence to formatting styles are paramount in the academic writing arena. One often overlooked aspect is how to write a TV show title within an essay while following specific style guidelines, such as APA, MLA, and more. 

Mostly, this guide will illuminate the importance of proper formatting and how to incorporate captivating TV show titles into your essays seamlessly. It ensures your writing is academically sound and engaging for your readers.

Now, let’s dive into the nuances of formatting TV show titles in different styles, ensuring your essays shine clearly and professionally.

Basic Rules for TV Show Title Formatting

1. capitalization rules.

Regardless of the formatting style (APA, MLA, etc.), always capitalize the first and last words of the TV show title. For example, in the title “Breaking Bad,” both “Breaking” and “Bad” would be capitalized.

Major words within the TV show title should also be capitalized. These include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. In “Game of Thrones,” “Game” and “Thrones” are major words and should be capitalized.

In most formatting styles, small words like conjunctions (e.g., “and,” “or”), prepositions (e.g., “in,” “on”), and articles (e.g., “the,” “a”) are not capitalized unless they are the first or last words of the title. For example, “The Office” follows this rule.

2. Use of Italics

Using italics correctly for TV show titles in your essays is crucial to distinguish them from the rest of the text. Here’s when and how to use italics:

When to Use Italics:

• Total Titles:  Italicize the full title of a TV show when mentioned in your essay. For example, “Friends” should be written as Friends.
• Episode Titles:  Italicize individual episode titles when discussing specific episodes within the TV show. For example, “The One with the Prom Video” from Friends.
• Series Names:  When you refer to the name of the TV series as a whole, it should also be italicized. For example, “The overarching storyline in Game of Thrones is captivating.”
• Titles within Titles:  If a TV show title appears within the title of another work, italicize both. For example, “The Simpsons parody in Family Guy was hilarious.”

3. Using Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are used for specific instances when referencing TV show titles in your essays. So, when do you use quotation marks? 

Episode Titles: Use double quotation marks to enclose the titles of individual TV show episodes, like “The One with the Prom Video” from “Friends.”

If a character within a TV show quotes something or if you’re discussing dialogue from the show, use single quotation marks inside double quotation marks.

4. Punctuation and TV Show Titles

When it comes to punctuation and TV show titles in your essays, it’s essential to handle them correctly for clarity and consistency:

Punctuation marks that are part of the TV show’s title should be included. For example, “Grey’s Anatomy.”

When using a TV show title at the end of a sentence, the ending punctuation (such as a period or comma) comes after the title. For instance, “I enjoy watching ‘Breaking Bad’.”

Special characters and symbols within TV show titles should be retained as they appear in the original title.

For example, “Law & Order: SVU” should be written exactly as shown, including the ampersand (&).

Tips when Incorporating TV Show Titles in Essay Text

Proper integration.

Properly integrating TV show titles into your essay is essential for a seamless and grammatically correct presentation. To achieve this:

Introduce the title with a clear context, such as “In the popular TV show ‘Breaking Bad,’…”

Ensure that the title is grammatically integrated into your sentence structure. For example, “The characters of ‘Friends’ exhibit various personality traits.”

Verb Tense and TV Show Titles

Matching verb tense with the timing of TV show titles is essential to maintain consistency and clarity in your writing:

Use the present tense when discussing events or actions in the TV show. For example, “In ‘The Office,’ Jim pranks Dwight.”

Use the past tense when referring to events or actions within the show. For instance, “In the last episode of ‘Breaking Bad,’ Walter White faced a crucial decision.”

Citing TV Shows in Different Citation Styles

Structure of the citation:  In an MLA citation , include the TV show’s title in italics, the season and episode number (if applicable), the director’s name, the production company, and the broadcast year. For example: “Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, AMC, 2008-2013.”

In-text citations:  In MLA, parenthetical in-text citations should include the title of the episode or TV show in quotation marks. 

Citing TV shows in APA style: In APA, reference TV shows as part of the broader category of audiovisual materials. Include the title in italics, the production company, and the year. For example: “The Crown, Left Bank Pictures, 2016-present.”

Including TV show titles in the reference list: In your reference list, TV show titles should be italicized, and the format should follow APA guidelines for audiovisual materials.

Chicago Style

In Chicago style, you can use footnotes or endnotes to cite TV shows. Include the title in italics, the episode title (if applicable), the production company, and the year. In your bibliography, list the TV show similarly.

Common Mistakes to Avoid when Writing Film Titles

When writing film titles, there are common mistakes that writers should avoid to maintain clarity and accuracy in their work:

Incorrect Capitalization

One of the most prevalent errors is failing to capitalize words appropriately within film titles. Writers may capitalize minor words like prepositions or articles when they should not be.

For example, writing “The Lord of The Rings” instead of “The Lord of the Rings” is a common mistake.

Misuse of Italics or Quotation Marks

It is essential to use either italics or quotation marks consistently, depending on your style guide. Mixing them or omitting them altogether can lead to confusion.

For instance, writing “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” instead of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” or “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” is incorrect.

Inconsistent Formatting

Ensuring uniformity in formatting is crucial. Writers sometimes use different styles for the same film title throughout their work, which can be distracting. Consistency is key.

Ignoring Special Characters

Some films include special characters or symbols in their titles, such as “&” or “-” (“Men in Black” or “Spider-Man”). Neglecting these characters can result in inaccuracies.

Omitting Necessary Details

Failing to provide additional details like release years or directors for clarity can be a mistake. For example, “The Matrix” could refer to the original 1999 film or its sequels.

Improper Punctuation

Please place punctuation marks within film titles, such as commas or colons, to avoid misunderstandings. Writers should follow the proper punctuation rules for titles.

Incomplete Titles

Abbreviating film titles without clear context can confuse readers. For example, “The Empire Strikes Back” should not be shortened to “Empire Strikes Back” without proper introduction.

Understanding how to format and integrate TV show titles in your essays is vital for precise and consistent writing. Proper capitalization, italics or quotation marks, verb tense, and citation styles are crucial.

Avoiding common mistakes, such as inconsistent formatting or ignoring special characters, ensures accuracy.

As you navigate the world of TV show titles in academic writing, remember to adhere to the style guide you use, whether it’s MLA, APA, or Chicago.

You not only maintain academic integrity but also enhance the readability and professionalism of your essays. So, use TV show titles effectively to elevate the quality of your academic work.

Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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History of reality TV and impact on society chronicled in new book ‘Cue the Sun!’

Amna Nawaz Amna Nawaz

Maea Lenei Buhre Maea Lenei Buhre

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/history-of-reality-tv-and-impact-on-society-chronicled-in-new-book-cue-the-sun

Reality TV dominates television today. It’s estimated that almost 80 percent of adult viewers watch reality TV shows. But how did we get here? Amna Nawaz spoke with Emily Nussbaum, author of the new book, “Cue the Sun!” that traces the rise of reality television and its broader impact on society.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Amna Nawaz:

Reality TV dominates television today. In fact, it's estimated that almost 80 percent of adult TV viewers watch reality TV shows.

But how did we get here? I spoke with the author of a new book which traces the rise of reality television and its broader impact on society as part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

This is a bowling ball and this is a cake.

From elaborate cake decoration, to the antics of a luxury yacht crew in the Mediterranean, so-called reality television now captures and contrives a seemingly endless array of subjects.

While it's often derided by critics and even fans as trivial, its cultural influence is undeniable.

And would you stop taking pictures of yourself? Your sister's going to jail.

It's launched multibillion-dollar dynasties, remade cable TV networks…

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: You're fired.

… and arguably reshaped American politics.

A new book by "New Yorker" staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Emily Nussbaum, "Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV," traces the history of this now-ubiquitous genre.

I recently sat down with Nussbaum and asked her why she started thinking about writing this book 20 years ago.

Emily Nussbaum, Author, "Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV": It was because I was obsessed with watching the first season of "Big Brother" in the United States on video streaming, which was very new at that time.

I had also been very into "The Real World" and I was fascinated by what seemed like an entirely new genre that was bubbling up, like a new industry. So I wanted to write a nonfiction book about this kind of growth of a new Hollywood.

So when I got to it years later, I started looking into the history of the genre, and I assumed, frankly, the way that I had at the time that it was a modern phenomenon. And only once I started doing research did I realize that there was a real back history to reality television, and that's where this book came from.

It's an origin story.

You trace these very deep roots that I did not know about in American media. We go all the way back to the radio shows of the 1920s and '30s, game shows and prank shows with everyday people.

When the format really moved from radio to TV though, how did that change the dynamics? What did that do?

Emily Nussbaum:

In the late '40s, there had been this boom of shows that were called the audience participation shows. And they created the same kind of moral backlash that reality TV did at the turn of the century.

Like, there was outrage about the tackiness and narcissism of this. So there was a show that people are probably familiar with that's "Candid Camera." That started as a radio show. And on the radio, when you prank somebody, they have relative anonymity.

If you prank somebody on television, you can see them look humiliated, surprised, angry, sad, overwhelmed, giggle. It's like a much more intense experience. So I would say the biggest change was that it was a change for what these kinds of shows meant to the audience and their own feeling of being riveted by the emotions, but also sometimes guilty and a little — as though they were colluding with the prank that was happening.

So I was fascinated to learn from your book that it was PBS that created America's first reality TV family, part of a documentary series by our member station in New York WNET, basically documented the lives of the Loud family in Santa Barbara, California, for seven months for a series called "An American Family" back in 1973.

This is a moment between the mom, Pat, and one of her sons, Lance, walking around New York where he lives.

Lance Loud, Son:

Everybody I could imagine, I sit apart from.

Pat Loud, Mother:

Lance Loud:

Like, when I was 13, I dyed my hair silver. And I just — and just think, it was energy that was being wasted, because, I don't know, it was like being a little mouse and trapped in a box.

Why were moments like that so revolutionary for the format?

That episode, which is about Pat's relationship with Lance, who's gay, it's about their intimate relationship and about her love for him and her fears for him.

And the reason this was so startling to people was partially because of Lance. Like, there had never been a visibly openly gay man on television. And this was like a scandal for people. It was made as a documentary, but, when it came out, it was received as reality television, which is to say, people were scandalized by seeing the inside of this family.

And during the course of it, Pat, who's in that clip, asked her husband for a divorce. So, her divorce and Lance's homosexuality became the subject of a three million think pieces. It turned, as you were saying, the Louds themselves into really the first reality stars.

You write in great detail specifically about the CBS show "Survivor," in which contestants basically battle to be the last person standing in some remote situation.

And this moment, in the very first season finale, ended up being watched by more than 57 million people. Take a quick look.

Jeff Probst, Host, "Survivor": The winner of the first "Survivor" competition is Rich.

Congratulations, Rich.

You say "Survivor" supercharged reality TV. How?

I think it happened for a lot of different reasons, but one of them was electrical moments like that finale.

When I wrote this book, I interviewed more than 300 people. One of my favorite interviews was with Ramona, who was a member of that cast. And she left the show relatively early, but she stuck around on the island, so she was with the camera people when she was watching it.

And she had this description where she was just describing everybody's inner thoughts as essentially like who would think this could ever happen that the villainous guy in the show ends up winning? It established a format that had never been done before that wove together soap operas, game shows, prank shows in a kind of lasting and unbeatable format.

There was just a vast array of reality shows that resulted in the aftermath, but also the creation of the industry.

I think it's fair to say there's an understanding among audiences that what they're watching isn't just reality, that there's a lot of producing and manipulation, but what about the folks who take part in this?

Like, what is the trade-off for them for agreeing to have their lives filmed in this way?

It's complex, because, for both the cast and the crew members, I would say that there's a range of experiences, including some extremely traumatic experiences of being misrepresented and traumatized.

But I don't want to simplify it and say it's only one thing. On a regular scripted show, people write the show and people act the show and then you watch the show. But on a reality show, it's essentially this invisible collaboration between crew members, which includes the field producers for the show and the editors for the show, and cast members.

And so when you see the results, you see it as a sort of simulacrum of real life, but what it really is the residue of this workplace relationship.

You do end the book with "The Apprentice"…

… the NBC show launched in 2004 and made Donald Trump a TV star and a household name. Why end there?

For me, "The Apprentice" did mark the end of something, which was it had this incredibly significant impact. It rebranded Donald Trump. It made him president.

So it's the point at which the genre proved, for better or worse, it would affect everything from people's personal relationships to the government.

But the other thing is, actually, there are a lot of negative things to say about "The Apprentice," but it's a beautifully made season of TV, and it was made by skilled, polished professionals, because at that point it was an industry. Like, people knew what they were doing. It wasn't anymore like the spaghetti-on-the-wall period for reality TV where everybody was making it up for scratch.

And it was one of the most successful marketing schemes of all time. They took an extremely rotten product and polished him up and sold him to the world.

The book is "Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV." The author is Emily Nussbaum.

Emily, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much for having me.

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Amna Nawaz serves as co-anchor of PBS News Hour.

Maea Lenei Buhre is a general assignment producer for the PBS NewsHour.

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