Every Monday night during the fall semester, about two dozen students gather in the living room of Sahara Byrne, associate professor of communication and faculty-in-residence at Mews Hall, for her course "Hit or Miss: Understanding the Television Drama." Photo: Andrea Alfano.
Mews residents muse about TV's "Sleepy Hollow"
Curled up on couches, munching on popcorn and sipping hot cider, a group of students has come together to watch the latest episode of Fox's new adventure-mystery drama, "Sleepy Hollow," tweet about their thoughts on the show -- and earn credit.
It's the scene every Monday night during the fall semester, as 25 students gather in the living room of Sahara Byrne, associate professor of communication and faculty-in-residence at Mews Hall, for her course "Hit or Miss: Understanding the Television Drama."
Watching TV is only one part of the class. Before the show airs, a Fox staff member calls to chat with the class over speakerphone about what they do, how they got started and their involvement in "Sleepy Hollow."
"I like to sneak learning in on them," Byrne says. "It's a casual environment -- pajamas and popcorn are welcome, but they have to come intellectually ready to think and talk and have questions for whoever calls in."
Kevin Reilly '84
The staff at Fox have been incredibly eager to call in, and impressed by the students' astute questions, Byrne says. Their first caller was the network's chairman of entertainment, Kevin Reilly '84, a communication alumnus.
"Literally half an hour before the world premiere of the show, Kevin spent the time talking to us about the development of the show at Fox," Byrne says.
Robin Benty, senior director of current programming at Fox, also spoke to the class about the importance of social media in her job and in the field in general.
"It was interesting to learn how producers make use of social media to see what in the show people like and adjust what they're doing accordingly," says Natsuko Suzuki '17.
Students actively contribute their feedback on "Sleepy Hollow" through social media as part of class assignments. Each tweets about a particular aspect of the show, such as horror or romance, using the hashtag #cornellsh.
The course is one of several offered as part of the "Learning Where You Live" program, aimed at providing students opportunities to learn, as well as to get to know faculty and other students, in a relaxed setting close to home.
Sahara Byrne
Since the class is composed entirely of freshmen and transfers, one of Byrne's goals is to help her students adjust.
"I really view what I'm doing as also trying to help students make the transition between home and college, and one of the things that I really missed when I went to college was family TV night," she explains.
Many of the students in the class are Mews residents who are not communication majors and don't necessarily have interest in the media industry. But Byrne hopes to change that with this course, particularly through their weekly phone calls to Fox staff.
"My goal is to try to open up students to career paths and life paths that they may not have thought of before," she says. "It's also a great example of how our alums help us connect to the industry."
Andrea Alfano '14 is a student writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.