The Origins of Italicizing TV Show Titles
The practice of italicizing TV show titles traces back to early publishing style guides, most notably the Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press Stylebook. These foundational resources have shaped how writers and editors approach title formatting for generations, establishing conventions that persist in both print and digital media today. In academic and journalistic writing, italics are used to denote standalone creative works—books, movies, albums, and television series. Since a TV show is considered a major, self-contained creative work (like a film or novel), its title is italicized to distinguish it from shorter works like episodes, articles, or songs, which use quotation marks.
This convention emerged in the mid-20th century as television became a dominant medium in American households. Publishers needed a consistent way to format titles across print media—newspapers, magazines, book jackets, and trade publications—and italics provided a clear visual cue that signaled to readers, “this is the name of a complete work.” Before television, similar rules applied to radio programs and stage plays, so the extension of these conventions to TV shows was a natural progression. Today, this rule is standard across newspapers, magazines, academic papers, and online publications in the US and beyond.
The historical context matters because it explains why the rule exists in the first place. In the era of manual typesetting, italics served as an efficient way to differentiate titles without breaking the flow of a sentence. They occupied the same physical space as roman type but communicated a distinct meaning—a small typographical innovation with lasting impact. Even as we have moved from linotype machines to word processors and content management systems, the principle remains unchanged: italics signal that a title belongs to a larger, standalone creative work.
It is also worth noting that different countries and languages handle this convention differently. In French, TV show titles are often placed in quotation marks or left unformatted. In German, all nouns are capitalized regardless of context, which changes how titles appear on the page. But in English-language publishing, italics remain the gold standard for television series titles, a testament to the enduring influence of style guides developed in the early days of broadcast media.
AP Style vs. Chicago Style: Key Differences
While most style guides agree on italicizing TV show titles, there are important nuances that every writer should understand. The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), used primarily in book publishing and academia, requires italics for series names (e.g., The Simpsons) and quotation marks for episode titles (“Homer’s Enemy”). This creates a clear hierarchy: the series is the container, and the episode is the contained element. CMOS also applies this logic to anthologies, collections, and other nested works, making it a consistent system for long-form and scholarly writing.
The AP Stylebook, which guides most American journalism, takes a fundamentally different approach: it uses quotation marks for TV show titles and generally avoids italics in news copy. This is not because AP editors dislike italics, but because AP style prioritizes simplicity and universal readability across digital and print news platforms. In a wire service article that might appear on a mobile phone, a desktop browser, or a printed newspaper, quotation marks render reliably while italics can sometimes be lost depending on the device or formatting system. AP style also applies quotation marks to movie titles, book titles, and album titles, which creates a different visual rhythm than the CMOS approach.
Online media often blends these rules. Major outlets like The New York Times and The Verge italicize TV show titles in feature articles and cultural criticism, while news briefs and hard-news reporting may use quotes or no formatting at all. The Atlantic tends to follow CMOS conventions, while Reuters and Bloomberg adhere more strictly to AP style. Understanding your audience and publication style guide is key to proper formatting. If you are writing for an academic journal, CMOS is your north star. If you are writing a breaking news story, AP style will serve you better. For blogs, newsletters, and independent publications, the choice is yours—but consistency is non-negotiable.
There are also hybrid approaches worth considering. Some publications use italics for first mentions of a TV show title and then switch to roman type for subsequent references. Others italicize the title only when it appears in a headline or pull quote. These in-house variations are perfectly acceptable as long as they are applied uniformly. The most important rule across all style guides is not which one you follow, but that you follow it without exception throughout your piece.
Why Italics Matter in Digital Media
In the digital age, italicizing TV show titles serves both aesthetic and functional purposes. Visually, italics help titles stand out in a paragraph, making it easier for readers to scan content quickly. This is especially important on the web, where users often skim rather than read word-for-word. A properly italicized title acts as a visual anchor, telling the reader’s eye exactly where a reference begins and ends. Functionally, italics signal to the reader that the text refers to a specific creative work, reducing ambiguity—especially critical when a show shares its name with a common word or phrase. Consider the difference between “I watched the office” (a room) and “I watched The Office” (the NBC sitcom). Without italics, the reader must infer meaning from context alone, which can lead to confusion.
SEO also plays a role in how titles are treated online. Search engines recognize italicized text as potentially significant content, though they weigh it less than headings or bold text. More importantly, consistent formatting helps search engines correctly identify and index references to specific shows. When a website reliably italicizes Stranger Things, search algorithms can better associate that text with the actual Netflix series, improving the page’s relevance for related queries. For content creators, consistent formatting builds credibility and professionalism, signaling attention to detail to readers and editors alike.
Accessibility is another consideration. Screen readers and assistive technologies often convey italicized text with a change in vocal emphasis, which helps visually impaired users distinguish titles from surrounding content. This means that proper italicization is not just a stylistic choice but an accessibility best practice. When writers skip italics or use inconsistent formatting, they inadvertently make their content harder to navigate for users who rely on assistive tools.
Digital publishing platforms handle italics differently. Medium, WordPress, and Substack all support italics natively, but some email clients and RSS readers may strip formatting. If you are publishing across multiple platforms, it is wise to check how your titles render in each environment. Some writers use HTML <i> tags or <em> tags for semantic emphasis, while others rely on Markdown asterisks. Regardless of the technical method, the goal is the same: clear, consistent, meaningful formatting that serves the reader.
How Different Industries Handle TV Title Formatting
Italicizing TV show titles is not a one-size-fits-all rule. Different industries and professions approach the convention in ways that reflect their unique priorities and constraints. In academic writing, CMOS is almost universally followed, meaning TV show titles appear in italics in everything from film studies papers to sociology journals. The MLA Handbook and APA Publication Manual both recommend italics for television series, aligning with CMOS. In a dissertation or thesis, failure to italicize properly can result in style guide violations that delay publication or grading.
In the journalism industry, the AP Stylebook dominates, but even within journalism there is variation. Lifestyle and entertainment reporters are more likely to use italics (or their digital equivalent), while hard-news and wire reporters stick to quotation marks. Trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have their own in-house style guides that often depart from standard AP conventions, favoring italics for TV titles to match the visual vocabulary of the entertainment industry they cover.
In book publishing, italics are the default for virtually all titles, including TV shows. This extends to cover copy, catalogs, and marketing materials. A book about the history of Game of Thrones, for instance, would italicize the series title on its cover, in its subtitle, and throughout its interior text. Similarly, in screenwriting and television production, scripts follow their own formatting rules: TV show titles in script treatments and bibles are often capitalized rather than italicized, a convention borrowed from industry-standard screenwriting software like Final Draft.
In marketing and advertising, the rules are more flexible. Brands often prioritize visual branding over style guide adherence, meaning a TV show title in an ad might appear in bold, all caps, or a custom font rather than italics. The goal in marketing is immediate visual impact, and italics are sometimes too subtle for billboards, social media ads, or video titles. However, in press releases and official communications, most marketing teams revert to standard journalistic or publishing conventions.
Legal and business writing presents another case entirely. Contracts, licensing agreements, and rights documentation involving TV shows typically use all-caps or bold formatting for titles to eliminate any possible ambiguity. In legal contexts, clarity trumps style every time. A licensing agreement for The Office might render the title in bold or all caps to ensure there is no question about which intellectual property is being referenced.
Formatting TV Show Titles in Social Media and Digital Platforms
Social media platforms present unique challenges for TV show title formatting. Twitter/X strips all rich formatting from posts, meaning italics are simply not available in standard tweets. Users have developed workarounds: some add asterisks around titles (*Succession*), others use capitalization (SUCCESSION), and many simply rely on context and hashtags to clarify references. On Instagram, captions do not support italics natively either, though users can add italicized text through third-party Unicode generators that convert letters to italic script characters—though this approach can create accessibility issues for screen readers.
Facebook and LinkedIn support basic rich text, including italics, in post composers, but this formatting is often lost when posts are shared, embedded, or viewed in different interfaces. Reddit uses Markdown, where asterisks around a title produce italic text (The Crown), but not all users are aware of or consistently apply Markdown syntax. On TikTok and YouTube, video titles and descriptions typically use plain text, with creators relying on context, hashtags, and thumbnail design rather than typographic formatting to identify show references.
Streaming platforms themselves set interesting precedents. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max all use different typographic treatments for show titles in their UIs. Netflix uses bold, capitalized sans-serif titles in its browsing interface; Disney+ uses a custom branded font; HBO Max often uses all caps. These platform-specific styles influence how users perceive and reproduce titles in their own writing. A user who primarily encounters House of the Dragon as “HOUSE OF THE DRAGON” on HBO Max may default to capitalizing it in their own posts or reviews.
For content creators and social media managers, the best approach is to italicize TV show titles whenever the platform allows it and to use clear, unambiguous alternatives when it does not. In practice, this means using italics in blog posts, newsletters, and long-form social content, and relying on context, capitalization, or hashtags in short-form and plain-text environments. Consistency across your brand’s social channels is more important than strict adherence to a style guide that was designed for print.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Many writers incorrectly italicize episode titles instead of series titles, or use underlines (an outdated typewriter-era practice that has no place in modern digital publishing). Others forget to italicize when mentioning a show in passing, creating inconsistencies that undermine the professionalism of the piece. A good rule to internalize: italicize the series name, quote the episode name. For example: Breaking Bad episode “Ozymandias” is widely considered the series’ best. This rule applies universally across CMOS, MLA, and APA styles and is one of the few areas where major style guides agree completely.
Another frequent error is italicizing the definite article “the” when it is part of a title but not consistently. For example, The Wire takes italics on “The” because it is part of the official title, but in a sentence like “I was watching the The Wire,” the first “the” is not part of the title. This can look awkward, and many publications handle it by dropping the leading article or rephrasing the sentence entirely. A simple fix: “I was watching The Wire” avoids the double-“the” problem altogether.
Writers also sometimes over-italicize, applying the formatting to generic terms like “the TV show,” “the series,” or “the episode.” Only the title itself receives italics, not the descriptive words around it. Similarly, words like “season” or “episode” followed by a number (e.g., “season 3 of The Crown“) should not be italicized. Another subtle pitfall: italicizing the punctuation following a title. When a TV show title ends a sentence, the period should be roman (not italicized), just as it would be for any other sentence.
Franchise naming conventions also trip up many writers. When referencing a specific series within a franchise, both the franchise name and the series name are italicized: Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, when referring to the franchise broadly, some writers drop the italics for the franchise name alone. The safest approach is to italicize the full title as it is officially styled. When in doubt, check how the network or streaming service presents the title in its official marketing materials and follow that lead.
Exceptions and Special Cases
Some shows with generic titles (e.g., News or SportsCenter) present a unique challenge. In contexts where the title could be confused with a common noun, italics become even more important to signal that the word is a proper noun. However, in contexts where the show title genuinely blends into the surrounding text, some style guides allow for roman formatting. The key is reader comprehension: if the reader might misinterpret your meaning without italics, use them.
Franchise names like Star Trek are italicized, but specific series within the franchise (Star Trek: Picard) also get italics. The same applies to the Marvel Cinematic Universe television shows: WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki are all italicized as standalone series. Anthology series, where each season tells a different story under the same umbrella title, are typically italicized at the series level, with individual seasons sometimes treated as distinct works if they have their own subtitles.
International TV shows and non-English titles are generally italicized following the same rules as English-language shows. Money Heist (originally La Casa de Papel) is italicized in English-language writing, as are Korean dramas like Squid Game and anime series like Attack on Titan. The rule applies regardless of the show’s country of origin or language. Reality TV shows, talk shows, and game shows are also italicized: Survivor, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Jeopardy! all receive the same treatment as scripted dramas and comedies.
Digital-native series and streaming exclusives follow the same conventions. The Mandalorian, a Disney+ original, is italicized exactly as The Sopranos would be. The medium of distribution does not affect the formatting rule. Whether a show airs on broadcast television, cable, a streaming platform, or YouTube Premium, if it is a standalone series, its title is italicized. Mini-series and limited series also receive italics: Chernobyl, The Queen’s Gambit, and Band of Brothers are all formatted as series titles.
A Quick Reference Guide for Writers
To help you navigate the sometimes-confusing world of TV show title formatting, here is a quick reference guide covering the most common scenarios you will encounter as a writer, editor, or content creator.
Series titles: Always italicize. Examples: Succession, The Crown, Severance, Mad Men. This applies to all genres: drama, comedy, reality, talk shows, game shows, documentaries, and anime.
Episode titles: Always use quotation marks. Examples: “The Board Is Set,” “Chicanery,” “The Suitcase.” The episode title goes inside quotation marks, and the series title remains italicized: Succession episode “Connor’s Wedding.”
Seasons and season names: Do not italicize or quote. Use roman type. Example: season 2 of The White Lotus. If a season has a specific subtitle (e.g., American Horror Story: Coven), the subtitle is part of the series title and is italicized.
Franchise titles: Italicize the full title including the franchise name when referring to a specific series. Example: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. When referring to the franchise broadly (Star Trek has 900 episodes), italics still apply.
Network or platform names: Do not italicize. Example: I watched The Bear on Hulu. The network name (Hulu, Netflix, HBO) is a proper noun but not a creative work, so it remains in roman type.
Punctuation with titles: When a title ending in italics is followed by punctuation, the punctuation is typically roman (not italicized). Example: Have you seen The Last of Us? The question mark is roman.
In headlines: AP style recommends quotation marks for TV show titles in headlines. CMOS-style headlines typically use italics. Check your publication’s headline policy before publishing.
In social media: Use italics when the platform supports them. Use asterisks or capitalization as alternatives on platforms that strip formatting. On Twitter/X, consider using hashtags to disambiguate references.
In academic papers: Follow CMOS or MLA guidelines strictly. Italicize all TV show titles. Include full citations in your bibliography that note the series title, network, and years of broadcast.
In business documents: Use italics for TV show titles in internal communications, memos, and presentations. In contracts and legal documents, consider all-caps or bold for maximum clarity.
When the title is a common word: Always italicize to avoid confusion. The Office, News, Shameless, Good Girls all benefit from italics that flag them as proper nouns rather than descriptive terms.
Conclusion: Format with Confidence
Italicizing TV show titles is a long-standing convention rooted in publishing standards that date back to the early days of mass media. Whether you follow Chicago, AP, or a hybrid style tailored to your publication’s needs, the key is consistency. Proper formatting enhances readability, professionalism, and clarity—ensuring your writing shines as brightly as the shows you are discussing.
The rules are not as complicated as they might seem at first glance. Italicize the series, quote the episode, keep everything else in roman type, and stick to one style guide throughout your piece. When you encounter edge cases—franchise series, international shows, or platforms that do not support rich text—default to the principle that guides all good writing: prioritize your reader’s understanding. A well-formatted title is invisible in the best sense; it does its job without the reader ever needing to think about it.
Ultimately, mastering these conventions gives you one less thing to worry about as a writer. When you know the rules, you can apply them automatically and focus on what really matters: telling great stories about the shows that define our culture.