Weekly viewing responses

Short reactions to each week's drama and its questions, submitted across the semester rather than all at once

Due: 14 May 2027 · Weight: 20%

The brief#

Watch, react, and say something specific — not everything, just the one thing this week’s drama actually made you think about.

Twelve weeks is a lot of television and a lot of territory — food, politics, family, gender, work, education, history, memory, class, appearance, and service. The weekly response is where you keep pace with that, one short reaction at a time, rather than saving all your thinking for two big essays.

A strong response picks one of the week’s questions and pushes on it: a claim, a piece of evidence from the episode, and a sentence on what it would mean if you’re right. A plot summary with a comment tacked on the end is not a response.

What you submit#

A short written response (150–300 words) for most weeks of the semester, submitted by the end of that teaching week. Aim for coverage across the semester rather than a perfect run — an occasional missed week costs less than twelve rushed ones.

How it’s marked#

Two criteria: whether each response actually engages with that week’s questions, and whether engagement holds up across the semester rather than front-loading effort into the first few weeks and coasting after.