PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/TV episode

How to Cite a TV Episode in APA 7

An APA 7 TV episode reference lists the episode's writer and director, each followed by their role in parentheses, the full date the episode first aired, the episode title with the season and episode numbers in parentheses, and the label [TV series episode]. Then comes the word In, the series' executive producers, the series title in italics, and the production companies, separated by semicolons. The streaming service and its link stay out. The in-text citation is the writer's and director's last names and the year: (Gemmill & Wells, 2025).

The format

Writer, A. A. (Writer), & Director, B. B. (Director). (Year, Month Day). Title of the episode (Season #, Episode #) [TV series episode]. In C. C. Producer & D. D. Producer (Executive Producers), Title of the series. Production Company; Second Production Company.

PERRLA APA Experts ยท Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Choose Television, then Single episode. Add the episode's writer in the Writer role and its director in the Director role. If one person did both, use Writer & Director instead of adding them twice. Then add each of the series' executive producers in the Executive Producer role. PERRLA puts the writers and directors in the author's spot and moves the executive producers into the In part of the reference, initials first, with one (Executive Producers) label.

Fill in Series Title, Episode Title, Episode Date (the date it first aired), Season Number, and Episode Number, and type each company under Production Company, using Add publisher for each one after the first. If you type a title in title case, PERRLA points it out and offers Fix it for me to switch it to sentence case. The Where did the show originally air? and Streaming Service boxes are for MLA and Turabian: you can type Max, PBS, or Hulu there, and PERRLA leaves them out of the APA reference.

PERRLA can also look an episode up from its IMDb link: paste the episode's IMDb page into the reference search, and it fills in the episode title, the season and episode numbers, the air date, the writers, the director, and the series title. Before you save it, check it against the episode's credits. The writer list can include extra names, and you'll usually need to add the rest of the executive producers and the production companies yourself.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Writer and director

For a single episode, the people who wrote and directed it take the author's spot. Write each person's last name and initials, then their role in parentheses. Writers come before directors, and an ampersand (&) goes before the last name.

Gemmill, R. S. (Writer), & Wells, J. (Director).

When one person wrote and directed the episode, list them once with both roles: (Writer & Director). Two credited writers each get their own (Writer) label. A documentary episode often credits only a director, and that's fine: the director stands alone. Actors, hosts, and narrators don't go in the author's spot, even the star of the show.

2. Air date

Give the full date the episode first aired or was released, with the year first, in parentheses, followed by a period.

(2025, January 9).

Use the original air date, not the day you watched it or the day a streaming service added it. For a streaming original, the release date is the air date. If you can find only the year, give the year: (2008).

3. Episode title, season, and episode

Write the episode title in sentence case, with no italics and no quotation marks. Right after it, put the season and episode numbers in parentheses.

7:00 A.M. (Season 1, Episode 1)

If the show doesn't number its seasons, as with a one-season documentary series, give the episode number alone: (Episode 1). If you can't find season or episode numbers in the credits or on the network's page for the episode, as with FRONTLINE's Being Mortal, leave the parentheses out.

4. [TV series episode]

Add the description [TV series episode] in square brackets, not italicized, then a period. It tells your reader the source is one episode of a show.

7:00 A.M. (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode].

The 6th edition said [Television series episode]. APA 7 shortened it to [TV series episode], and it uses the same label for dramas, comedies, and documentary series.

5. In and the executive producers

Start the next part with In, then the series' executive producers. Here the names are written first initials, then last name, like the editors of a book. Put one (Executive Producers) label after the last name, then a comma.

In R. S. Gemmill, N. Wyle, J. Wells, E. Jontow, S. Baidwan, & M. Hissrich (Executive Producers),

A writer or director who is also an executive producer appears in both places, as R. Scott Gemmill does here. Find the executive producers in the end credits or in the network's press materials for the season you watched.

6. Series title

Write the name of the series in italics and sentence case, followed by a period.

The Pitt.

Only the series title is italic. The episode title stays in plain type, because the episode is a part of the larger show.

7. Production companies

End with the company or companies that produced the series. Separate two or more with semicolons.

John Wells Productions; Warner Bros. Television.

The production company isn't the network or the streaming service. The Pitt streams on Max, but John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television produce it, so they're the companies in the reference. A TV episode reference ends here: no Max, Hulu, Netflix, or IMDb link.

Examples

A TV episode with a writer and a director

The first episode of The Pitt, the Max medical drama that follows one shift in a Pittsburgh emergency department and that Warner Bros. Discovery describes as a realistic look at the challenges facing health care workers. R. Scott Gemmill wrote it and John Wells directed it. This citation points to a line that starts 12 minutes, 40 seconds in. The student typed Max in the Where did the show originally air? box, and the APA reference leaves it out.

  • Parenthetical citation(Gemmill & Wells, 2025, 12:40)
  • Narrative citationGemmill and Wells (2025, 12:40)

A documentary episode with a writer-director and no episode number

FRONTLINE's Being Mortal, in which surgeon Atul Gawande looks at how doctors and patients talk about the end of life, a natural source for papers on palliative care and end-of-life ethics. The credits say it was produced and directed by Thomas Jennings and written by Thomas Jennings and Atul Gawande, so Jennings gets (Writer & Director) and Gawande gets (Writer). FRONTLINE's page for the film gives no season or episode number, so the reference has none. The credits list David Fanning as executive producer and call it a FRONTLINE production with 2over10 Media, and FRONTLINE is a production of WGBH in Boston.

  • Parenthetical citation(Jennings & Gawande, 2015)
  • Narrative citationJennings and Gawande (2015)

An episode of a documentary series with an episode number only

"In Sickness and in Wealth," the opening episode of Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, the PBS documentary series on how the conditions people live and work in shape their health. It premiered on PBS on March 27, 2008. The credits name Llewellyn M. Smith as director and no writer, so the director stands alone. The series has one season, so the episode number goes in by itself. Larry Adelman is the series' creator and executive producer, and California Newsreel produced it with Vital Pictures.

  • Parenthetical citation(Smith, 2008)
  • Narrative citationSmith (2008)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a TV episode uses the last names of the people in the author's spot, the writers and directors, and the year the episode aired. The executive producers don't appear in the in-text citation.

  • A writer and a director: both names every time, joined by & in parentheses and by and in your sentence: (Gemmill & Wells, 2025) or Gemmill and Wells (2025)
  • One person in the author's spot: (Smith, 2008) or Smith (2008)
  • Three or more people: the first person's last name and et al., starting with the first citation: (Writer et al., 2025)
  • No writer or director credited: the episode title in quotation marks and title case, and the year: ("Title of the Episode," 2025)
  • A quote or a specific scene: add the timestamp where it starts, since an episode has no page numbers: (Gemmill & Wells, 2025, 12:40). Past the hour mark, add the hours: 1:02:15.

Name characters and actors in your sentence when they matter, and cite the episode: Noah Wyle plays Dr. Michael Robinavitch, who leads the emergency department team through the shift (Gemmill & Wells, 2025). If you discuss the show as a whole rather than one episode, cite the TV series instead.

Common mistakes

  • Wyle, N. (2025). The Pitt: 7:00 A.M. [TV series episode]. Max.Gemmill, R. S. (Writer), & Wells, J. (Director). (2025, January 9). 7:00 A.M. (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In R. S. Gemmill, N. Wyle, J. Wells, E. Jontow, S. Baidwan, & M. Hissrich (Executive Producers), The Pitt. John Wells Productions; Warner Bros. Television.The writer and director are the authors of an episode, not the star. And the reference needs the full air date, the season and episode numbers, the In part with the executive producers, and the production companies.
  • ... The Pitt. John Wells Productions; Warner Bros. Television. Max. https://www.max.com/shows/the-pitt... The Pitt. John Wells Productions; Warner Bros. Television.APA 7 leaves out the streaming service and its link. Readers can find the same episode in many places, so the reference ends with the production companies.
  • 7:00 A.M. (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In ... (Executive Producers), The Pitt.7:00 A.M. (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In ... (Executive Producers), The Pitt.The series title is italic, and the episode title isn't. An episode is part of a larger work, like a chapter in a book.
  • Being mortal [Television series episode].Being mortal [TV series episode].[Television series episode] is the 6th edition label. APA 7 uses [TV series episode].
  • Smith, L. M. (Director). (2008). In sickness and in wealth [TV series episode]. In L. Adelman (Executive Producer), Unnatural causes (Episode 1).Smith, L. M. (Director). (2008, March 27). In sickness and in wealth (Episode 1) [TV series episode].An episode gets the full date it aired, and its season and episode numbers go right after the episode title, before the bracketed label. Keep the series' full title, subtitle included.

Quick checklist

  • Writers and directors in the author's spot, each with (Writer), (Director), or (Writer & Director)
  • The full date the episode first aired, year first
  • Episode title in sentence case, not italic, then (Season #, Episode #)
  • [TV series episode] in square brackets
  • In, the executive producers with initials first, and (Executive Producers)
  • Series title in italics, then the production companies separated by semicolons
  • No network, streaming service, IMDb link, or URL

Questions students ask

Who is the author of a TV episode in APA?

The episode's writer and director, each followed by their role in parentheses: (Writer), (Director), or (Writer & Director) when one person did both. The series' executive producers go later, after In. The actors don't go in the reference at all.

How do I cite a Netflix or Hulu episode in APA?

The same way as any episode: writer, director, air date, episode title, season and episode numbers, [TV series episode], In, the executive producers, the series title, and the production companies. APA 7 leaves out the streaming service and its link. If the streaming service is credited as a production company, it goes in the list of companies like any other company.

Where do I find the writer, director, and executive producers?

In the episode's opening and end credits. If they go by too fast, check the network's or studio's press materials for the season, or a guild listing like the Writers Guild of America's directory. IMDb is a starting point, but check its lists against the credits, because it often adds names the episode doesn't credit.

What if the show doesn't have season or episode numbers?

Give whatever the show uses. A one-season series can take the episode number alone, like (Episode 1). If the show doesn't number its episodes, leave the parentheses out and go straight from the episode title to [TV series episode].

How do I cite a quote from a TV episode?

Put the quote in quotation marks and add the timestamp where it starts after the year, like (Gemmill & Wells, 2025, 12:40). Use minutes and seconds, and add hours for a long episode.

Should I cite the episode or the whole series?

Cite the episode when you write about something that happens in it, and give each episode you use its own reference. Cite the whole series when you discuss the show in general, like its portrayal of nurses across seasons. The series reference puts the executive producers in the author's spot and gives the years it aired.

What if I only watched a clip on YouTube?

Cite what you watched. A full episode gets the TV episode reference, wherever you streamed it. A short clip posted on YouTube is a YouTube video: the channel that posted it is the author, followed by the date, the clip's title, [Video], YouTube, and the link.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.17, 8.28, 9.8, 9.10, 9.12, 9.14, 9.19, 9.21, 9.29, and 10.12, and the APA Style website's film and television reference examples and elements of reference list entries. The Pitt episode verified on October 21, 2026, in Deadline's premiere report and Warner Bros. Discovery's press page (air date, executive producers, and production companies), the Writers Guild of America directory (writer), and NPR's interview with Noah Wyle (director); Being Mortal in FRONTLINE's credits on pbs.org; and "In Sickness and in Wealth" in the series credits and press release on unnaturalcauses.org.

PERRLA builds the TV episode reference with every role label, the In part, and the production companies in place, and leaves the streaming service out.

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