For anyone interested in learning how the best television shows work—how they are conceived, produced, sold and even marketed—there are perhaps two options: 1. Get a full-time job on an award-winning show (that’s basically impossible if you’re still a student), or 2. Take Howard Rosenberg’s CTCS 467 Television Symposium.

As the pulitzer-award winning television critic for the Los Angeles Times for more than twenty-five years, Rosenberg gained enviable insight on the mechanics of creating great American television. Couple that with access to SCA alumni working in every aspect of the field and you get CTCS 467 Television Symposium—a course that examines the history, theory and business of television, and how the industry has evolved over the years. The class could easily be subtitled “everything you need to know to have a career in television.”

“The philosophy of 467 is to impart to students information about television that they wouldn’t get anywhere else,” says Rosenberg, “It’s insight from people who are intimately involved in the industry and what’s always amazing to me is that the guests end up sharing things they never would have said to me as a journalist for the LA times. There are so many alumni that have made it in the business and are so generous with their time—people that produce the shows. That’s what makes it very amazing.”

The structure of the Television Symposium class is a lecture from Rosenberg followed by a Q&A where guests discuss television projects that have been analyzed by the class. 

Past guests to CTCS 467 Television Symposium include: David Simon (The Wire), Alan Ball (True Blood), SCA alumna Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy), Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue), David Benioff & DB Weiss (Game of Thrones) , Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse (Lost), Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl), Lisa Kudrow (Friends), Mike White & Laura Dern (Enlightened), SCA alumni Matthew Weiner, Erin Levy & actress Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect) , Tommy Schlamme and Matthew Perry (Mr. Sunshine), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep) , Rob McElhenney & Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries), Diablo Cody (Juno), David Shore (House M.D.), Phil Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy).

“Given the privileged access that the USC School of Cinematic Arts has to top writers, producers, and talent in the television industry, students are given intimate weekly access to many of the most powerful, creative, and prolific individuals working in television,” said Director of Programming at the School of Cinematic Arts Alex Ago. “In many cases the guests are also USC alumni. Anyone with an interest in quality television, long-form storytelling, or who just happens to love TV should take this class.”

Schedule of Classes: https://classes.usc.edu/term-20143/course/ctcs-467

Class description: http://cinema.usc.edu/degrees/nonmajor/criticalstudies.cfm