How to cite and reference TV shows

Ah, the tricky work of correctly APA citing TV shows! It was only when writing a recent post that I realised that I hadn't written an entry on how to formulate the reference for these! And while we think this might be quite simple, in practice, it usually turns out to be slightly more difficult than it appears on the tin.

But the APA 7th edition publication manual will guide us (American Psychological Association, 2019). In the Reference Examples chapter, Audiovisual Media section, the notes suggest that we could use specific writers and/or directors for particular episodes of a series; or we could use the Executive Producer for an entire series (American Psychological Association, 2019). Or - I am guessing - whatever is the simplest to find and use.

So, if we keep our main objective front of mind: that we aim to give our reader a guide back to the source, then keeping our reference as simple as possible will assist us in making an optimal decision. But there is another consideration: what are the conventions for other media types? In the last post, explaining how to reference films (here), we might remember that the director becomes the 'author'. That is something to consider in finding our components for referencing TV shows.

So let's look at the components for citing the series, Get Smart. I turned to Wikipedia (2025) and the Get Smart Wiki (2025) and found the following information:

• Directors: Gary Nelson, Bruce Bilson, Don Adams, James Komack, Earl Bellamy, Howard Morris, Paul Bogart... and the list goes on
• Producers: Jay Sandrich (1965–66), Arnie Rosen (1966–67), Jess Oppenheimer (1967), Burt Nodella (1967–69), Chris Hayward (1969–70)
• Executive Producers: Leonard B. Stern, Arne Sultan (1968–70)
• Writers: Mel Brooks, Buck Henry, Gerald Gardner, Dee Caruso, Stan Burns, Mike Marmer... and this list too goes on and on
• Dates: 1965-1970
• Title: Get Smart
• Production Company: Talent Associates; CBS Productions

My best guess for a simple reference for the entire series is:

Stern, L. B. (Executive Producer), Sultan, A. (Executive Producer, 1968–70). (1965-1970). Get Smart [TV Series, 1-5]. Talent Associates; CBS Productions.

Thus the citation would be:

(Stern & Sultan, 1965-1970)

I hope this helps!

Sam

References:

American Psychological Association (2019). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style (7th ed.). Author.

Get Smart Wiki. (2025). Get Smart. https://getsmart.fandom.com/wiki/Get_Smart

Wikipedia. (2025). Get Smart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Smart