Category Archives: television

How TV Gets Me Through the School Year

By Megan Dang


A couple of weeks ago, I finished watching HBO’s dark dramedy Succession after what felt like an eternity of being the only person with a pulse who hadn’t seen it. I immediately texted my parents to encourage them to watch it. Seconds after, I turned back to HBO and hit play on the latest episode of The Last of Us. My mom’s response to my text was full of judgment: “Aren’t you a college student? How do you have the time to watch all that TV?”

Photo by Mollie Sivaram on Unsplash


At first I felt defensive, like I needed to have some reason to justify my (yes, possibly a bit concerning) TV-binging habits. My mom had a point, after all; in the past few months alone, I had serially binged Succession, The White Lotus, The Last of Us, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul, interspersed with a few revisits to some long-time favorite shows. All this added up to a copious amount of hours that, for my own peace of mind, I’d prefer not to calculate. Eventually the excuse I came up with to preserve my dignity was, “I’m a screenwriting major, watching TV is part of my education!.” This is partially true. In all of my film classes, our professors encourage us to watch as much TV as possible in our own time for the sake of studying the writing behind it. How was this plot point set up? How was this backstory established? When you watch TV critically, that can absolutely be a learning experience.


But if I’m being honest with myself, I can’t say that I always watch TV with my writing cap on. As I watched Breaking Bad, I wasn’t thinking about act breaks or story structure; I was so immersed in the on-screen world that I felt like I was living in it. Watching Succession, I wasn’t analyzing the characters and their dialogue; they were simply people I knew, people I could laugh with. The reason for this is simple: it’s hard to look at something you’re experiencing so profoundly through an objective, scholarly lens, especially when you’re in the thick of it.
However, I know I’m not the only college student who spends a little too much time on streaming services—and a lot of those other students don’t even have being a film major as an excuse. But when I thought about it more, I realized that there was no need for an excuse, anyway. Television is more than just a way of passing time that you don’t have. Television is escapism.

Photo by Praveen Gupta on Unsplash


College students are certainly a demographic in need of escapism. In my first few months at USC, I grappled with crippling homesickness. I missed my home, the sense of familiarity and comfort, the feeling of sprawling out on my couch and being surrounded by family. Even now it’s a feeling I experience regularly. Here on campus, TV has become a way to combat that feeling. The screen serves as a universal safe space, an indication that work time is over. The characters become family, keeping you company when you’re holed up alone in your dorm.


There’s no reason college students should feel guilty for our late night Netflix binges, regardless of whether we have the time for it or not. College is possibly one of the most transitional periods of our lives. Things are constantly changing around us: classes, professors, people, homes, friends. Television provides a source of stability and consistency throughout all of that. Often it’s as close to a constant sense of home as you can get on campus. Treat yourself to a binge sometime—you deserve it.

Featured Image by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash

Megan is a sophomore studying screenwriting at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Born and raised in Southern California, she’s very familiar with the L.A. lifestyle and culture. When she’s not writing movies and TV, she loves to watch movies and TV. Her other hobbies include reading, art, playing ukulele, listening to rock music, and playing video games. Most importantly, she loves being around people and making new friends. 

A Hidden Gem of American Sitcoms

By Yingyi Lin

I am a big fan of sitcoms. I have watched many popular American sitcoms that have gained mass international popularity: Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Modern Family, just to name a few. Many times, these shows take place in American metropolitan cities such as New York City and Los Angeles, places which are interesting to international students like me. The hidden gem ranking the top of my favorite sitcom list, however, has to be Veep.

The HBO show Veep takes place in the capital city of America, Washington D.C. For many reasons, Veep is not as popular as other American shows in China, or in other countries where many international students come from. This mismatch of the popularity of the show with its quality is what makes me call it a hidden gem of American sitcoms. Veep has won many accolades for its quality: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the actress of America’s first woman president Selina Meyer featured in Veep, has won six Primetime Emmy Awards in a row. Her award acceptance speech was among the best, and she was even honored the 2018 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor for it.

Photo by Caleb Fisher on Unsplash

Before watching Veep, I did not realize that I indeed care so much about politics. As someone interested in learning about human nature, my favorite quote from Selina Meyer is “Politics is about people”. To me, caring about politics does not mean I care which party people stand for; instead, I am intrigued by why and how people make their choices. The interaction between Veep’s politicians, their followers, and their people is a vivid reality of humanity—one that is not only determined by one’s own personal desires but also deeply shaped by the context of one’s life. Veep is more than a political satire of the country’s many presidencies. To me, Veep is about American politics and the everyday life of people living in America. 

The most interesting thing about Veep is that Meyer, like all other politicians in the show, never discloses which party she stands for. Having witnessed the extreme political divide of America myself, the ambiguous political standpoint among Veepers to me exposes the common (and unfortunate) goal of both parties to win more voters. Politicians strive for what they want, but it is unclear whether these desires align with the desires of the people.

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As someone who studies family dynamics as part of my major, TV shows centering around family dynamics are my favorite, such as Downton Abbey, The Middle (the most underrated American family sitcom), and Modern Family. The family dynamics in Veep, however, are very dysfunctional. The characters of Veep relentlessly sacrifice their families for personal political achievement.

I have learned a lot from Veep, and a lot of what I have learned are things that I would not have consciously sought out. For instance, what happens if there is a tie in a presidential election? Veep hypothetically features this scenario, although a tie did happen (in the 1800 presidential election). Through Veep, I also came to know more about America’s lobbying culture and the polling industry—with the latter sharing similarities to my own research.  Veep also has a rich glossary of newly created words, most of which are used by characters in the show to insult other characters. Many of the jokes compound words to create these insults. ‘Voldemeyer’ is such an example, a nickname of Meyer by the media. It is interesting for me to see these nicknames are formed by multiple words in English, and I have learned many different cultural references from this.

Continue reading A Hidden Gem of American Sitcoms

Seeking the Thrill: My Top 3 Horror Movies to Watch This Halloween Season

By Jessica Lee

“Trick-or-treat!” 

A subtle suggestion that demands a treat – preferably candy – or else a trick will fall upon that individual. A simple, iconic phrase that is said that one special time of the year. Halloween. It’s almost that time of the year where people dress up in diverse costumes, devour candy, and watch scary movies. However, how do you know which movie is truly the most terrifying: the clown that lives in the sewers or the boy who is possessed by an unknown demon?

As fanatic of the horror and thriller movie genres, I have composed an updated top three scariest 2022 movies for you, friends, or family to get spooked beyond the mainstream titles that you’ve probably already heard of. 

Photo by David Menidrey on Unsplash
  • Smile (2022)

Released on September 29, 2022, with a current IMDb rating of 6.8, this film will take you on a journey of frightening jump scares and emotions contradictory to its innocent title. It revolves around Dr. Rose Cotter, who starts seeing unexplainable yet terrifying images after she witnesses a traumatic incident involving her patient. To face this trauma, she must reopen her past wounds and accept her new fate. This terrifying masterpiece directed and written by Parker Finn is by far the scariest, most unsettling horror/psychological thriller film that keeps your heart racing with thrill and excitement. I highly recommend this for those seeking a film that is cinematically alluring yet also filled with sudden jump-scares, but I would also recommend watching it in theaters or with a great stereo system as this film heavily relies on its sound design to keep you on your toes.

  • Incantation (2022)

Released on March 18, 2022, with a current IMDb rating of 6.2, this film is one of the most horrifying Taiwanese movies of all time. Perhaps it’s the incorporation of shaky, hand-held camera movements and unsettling vlog elements or maybe it’s the eerie incantation that is repeated throughout the film, but it is by far the most unpredictable and psychologically unnerving film I have ever seen. It follows the perspective of Li Ronan, a mother who is cursed after breaking a religious taboo. After being cursed, she must save her daughter from the same fate. Unlike the traditional horror film, Incantation is shot predominantly in found footage (FF), which is a cinematic technique where footage is presented through video recordings or discovered by the characters. By doing so, director Kevin Ko cleverly hides yet slowly reveals varied motifs and details for audiences to ultimately fully digest and reflect upon in their sleep. Furthermore, unlike Smile, this film does not rely on jump scares or sound design to haunt you. Rather, this film has a continued sense of fear beyond the screen. This film is available on Netflix in various languages and subtitles for you to conveniently enjoy at home.

Photo by Ján Jakub Naništa on Unsplash
  • The Black Phone (2022)

Released on June 24, 2022, with a current IMDb rating of 7, this film is based on “The Black Phone” by Joe Hill. While this story is not based on an actual occurrence, the fact that it is inspired from a combination of real serial killers during the late ‘70s is quite disturbing. The premise of this film involves a child killer who abducts and locks children in his soundproof basement. However, Finney Blake – a 13-year-old-boy – receives help from the voices of past victims through a disconnected black phone on the wall, ultimately determined to help him to break free. Director Scott Derrickson presents an emotionally riveting film that includes great character development and acting to the extent that makes you disgusted by such a sadistic, evil, and monstrous being. The Black Phone makes you wonder why such cruel beings exist and makes you empathize with the young victims. While this film follows more of a traditional horror film concept, it contains a solid premise around a black phone that is intense and creepy. I strongly recommend this film for those who enjoy performative and emotionally intense horror films.

2022 has been a solid year in the genres of thriller and horror with other honorable mentions such as Nope (2022) by Jordan Peele and Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) by Halina Reijn. While this list is subjective to my personal tastes and limited to the year of 2022, I strongly recommend these three films for those who seek a terrifying and heart-racing thrill in celebration of Halloween.

Featured Image by Felipe Bustillo on Unsplash

Jessica is a third-year student pursuing a double major in Cinema and Media Studies and Public Policy. As an aspiring filmmaker, writer, music producer, and director, she has been exploring her passion for the entertainment industry as a producer’s assistant for Palette Pictures and a member of Delta Kappa Alpha’s Professional Cinema Fraternity. At USC, she is the President of Taekwondo Club and Vice President of Public Relations of Trojan Steel. In her free time, she enjoys experimenting with sound design, filmmaking, playing the piano, drinking boba, writing, listening to music, and playing tennis.