Study Hall is a series by Shareece’s Screens dedicated to studying the art, language, and architecture of television and film. From screenwriting and directing to character psychology, cinematography, sound, editing, and world-building, each session explores how stories are constructed and why they emotionally resonate with audiences.

Star's life in the foster system didn't dull her dreams, but it did give her the strength to pursue them. Committed to following the path to fame in the cut-throat music industry, the singer tracks down her sister, Simone, and her best friend from Instagram, Alexandra, and the trio make their way to Atlanta. Once there, they find support in the form of mother-figure Carlotta and a down-and-out talent agent named Jahil who takes an interest in Star. As the young women chase down their dream, they find that ambition has a price and sometimes that price is too high.

Set during the Cold War era, orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon struggles with addiction in a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world.

Four women in their 40s reunite for a chance to recapture their fame and regain the swagger they had as legends in the 1990s hip-hop world.

In early 1990s New York, Bobby Diggs strives to unite a dozen young black men who are torn between music and crime but eventually rise to become the unlikeliest of American success stories.

Basketball players, their families and their coaches get swept up into the youth-sports economy. They all must walk a fine line between dreams and ambition, and opportunism and corruption.

Hip-hop artist and CEO of Empire Entertainment, Lucious Lyon, has always ruled unchallenged, but a medical diagnosis predicts he will be incapacitated in three years, which prompts the sharks to circle. Without further damaging his family, he must decide which of his three sons will take over. His favorite, young Hakeem, is a gifted musician but values fame over hard work. Middle son, Jamal, is talented and shy but gay -- embarrassing to Lyon. The oldest, Andre, is business-minded but lacks charisma. The reappearance of Cookie, his ex-wife, complicates things; she says he owes her for taking the fall for the drug-running that financed his early career.

It's 1983 and the crack cocaine epidemic is in its infancy in Los Angeles. Ambitious Lucia -- the daughter of a Mexican crime lord who sells marijuana throughout the city -- sees the burgeoning cocaine business as a potential moneymaker, so she manipulates her family into entering the more dangerous and profitable territory than pot. Getting involved with the new drug is setting her on a violent collision course with the likes of Franklin, a young street entrepreneur on a quest for power, and former Mexican wrestler Gustavo, who is caught up in a power struggle within a crime family. Also getting involved in the cocaine trade is CIA operative Teddy, who is running from a dark past and begins an off-book operation to fund Nicaraguan Contras. Oscar-nominated director John Singleton (`Boyz N the Hood') co-created the drama series and says he drew inspiration from his own life for Franklin's story.

In Savannah, Ga., the Cryer family is the enviable face of success and wealth. At least that's how it appears from the outside. But within the walls of the family's opulent mansion, dysfunction and double lives threaten to destroy the Cryers' world of privilege. The family's patriarch, Jim, is a powerful judge with political ambitions that are put at risk by his double life that includes affairs with high-priced escorts. Jim's wife, Katheryn, is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her family's status while playing the role of a loving and dutiful wife. Son Wyatt is a troubled jock who continuously goes in and out of rehab, and daughter Amanda is a struggling law student who has unknowingly befriended a woman, Candace Young, who has the power to ruin the entire family and also happens to be the estranged daughter of the Cryers' maid, Hanna. When manipulative Candace realizes that she is Jim's escort, she sees that as an opportunity of a lifetime.

It appears James "Ghost" St. Patrick has it all -- a drop-dead gorgeous wife, a stunning Manhattan penthouse, and the power and success that come with owning hot new nightclub Truth. But a closer look reveals a man living a double life. When Ghost isn't tending to his Fortune 500 business, he's catering to clients of another operation: a drug empire that serves only the rich and influential. While loyal sidekick Tommy protects the cash-cow narcotics venture at all costs, Ghost's new reality is using Truth as more than a front to launder money. It's a way out of the drug game and into a legitimate life with his family, even if everything he loves becomes unknowingly threatened. "Power" is co-executive produced by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (who also co-stars) and show creator Courtney Kemp Agboh ("The Good Wife").

"Power Book III: Raising Kanan" goes back to 1991 when Supras are the whip of choice and a fly shearling coat is a symbol of status in the hood. Kanan navigates this world of glamour and grit as he comes into his own and gets out of the shadow of his mother, Raq, who runs the streets of Southside Jamaica, Queens, with her brothers, Marvin and Lou-Lou. Despite Kanan being under their watchful eyes, danger lurks just around the corner. There's Unique, a rival dealer who has his eye on the family's turf, and Detective Malcolm Howard, a pestering cop who gets a kick out of harassing community members and getting under Raq's skin.

Detroit brothers Demetrius and Terry Flenory become powerful figures in a multi-state drug and money laundering organization.

"Queen Sugar" tells the story of the estranged Bordelon siblings in Louisiana. At the center of the family are Nova, a journalist and activist; Charley, the wife and manager of an NBA player; and formerly incarcerated father Ralph Angel, who is searching for redemption. Following a tragedy in the family, the siblings must put their complicated lives aside so that they can come together to run the clan's struggling sugar cane farm. Also involved in the farm are Aunt Violet and family friend Remy Newell.

George R.R. Martin's best-selling book series "A Song of Ice and Fire" is brought to the screen as HBO sinks its considerable storytelling teeth into the medieval fantasy epic. It's the depiction of two powerful families -- kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and honest men -- playing a deadly game for control of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and to sit atop the Iron Throne. Martin is credited as a co-executive producer and one of the writers for the series, whose shooting locations include Northern Ireland, Malta, Croatia and Spain.

This haunting series follows the thrilling yet terrifying journeys of Sam and Dean Winchester, two brothers who face an increasingly sinister landscape as they hunt monsters. After losing their mother to a supernatural force, the brothers were raised by their father as soldiers who track mysterious and demonic creatures. Violent memories and relationship-threatening secrets add additional burdens on Sam and Dean as they investigate all things that go bump in the night. As old tricks and tools are rendered useless and friends betray them, the brothers must rely on each other as they encounter new enemies.

The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 were 1,000 miles off course when they crashed on a lush, mysterious island. Each person possesses a shocking secret, but they've got nothing on the island itself, which harbors a monstrous security system, a series of underground bunkers and a group of violent survivalists hidden in the shadows.

Written, directed and executive produced by Tyler Perry, "Sistas" follows a group of single black women as they navigate the ups and downs of modern life, which includes careers, friendships, romances, and even social media. The comedy-drama series features Andi Barnes, an ambitious divorce lawyer, Danni King, a funny and fearless airport employee, Karen Mott, a street-smart hair salon owner, and Sabrina Hollins, a smart and stylish bank teller. The TV show takes viewers on a roller coaster ride of emotions and moments that epitomize "squad goals."

When sisters Beth and Annie and their best friend Ruby become fed up with playing by the rules and not getting the respect they deserve, they band together to take control of their lives -- by holding up a local grocery store. Beth's the perfect wife and mother, but her used-car-dealing, cheating husband has sent her family into financial ruin; Ruby is happily married to a policeman but can't afford the medical bills and experimental drugs to help her daughter; and Annie, a single mom, is caught in a nasty custody battle with her ex. In desperate need of money, the women plan the heist expecting to ease their financial burdens. But new to the game of crime, they get pulled in deeper than they ever imagined -- and the only way out of this will be together.

A young adult sports drama set against the backdrop of the HBCU, aka historically Black colleges and universities, experience at Bringston University, where Black excellence is a way of life. The series follows Simone, a young tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills who is trying to fight her way back after some time away from the court; Damon, an elite baseball player from Chicago who is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders; JR, Damon's fellow baseball player and childhood friend; Thea, the super-competitive queen bee of the Bringston tennis team; and Keisha, the school's unofficial mayor who must help Simone learn how to live her best life. As they contend with the high stakes of college sports, Simone and Damon must also navigate the highs and lows of unsupervised early adulthood at a prestigious HBCU.

A re-imagination of the beloved sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" set in modern-day America through a new, dramatic take on Will's complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel Air. As these worlds collide, he reckons with the power of second chances while navigating the conflicts, emotions and biases of a world far different from the only one he's ever known.

"Friday Night Lights" centers on the rural town of Dillon, Texas, where winning the state football championship is prized above all else. Coach Eric Taylor guides a high school football team through pressure-filled seasons while dealing with struggles relating to his own family. The interactions between the team members, current and former players, supporters, coaching staff and regular townsfolk address many of the issues facing small-town America.

After two decades as the reigning queen of country music, Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) is faced with pressure to adapt and reinvent herself to stay relevant. Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) is a sassy, sexy singer with a troubled past who is determined to steal Rayna's place at the top. Other characters in Nashville's music scene include a beautiful and gifted songwriter, Scarlett O'Connor, up-and-coming musician Gunnar Scott, conflicted country star Will Lexington, and Deacon Claybourne, a guitar player who has worked with Rayna since the beginning of her career.

A sequel to the series "Power." On his own for the first time, Tariq St. Patrick Tariq navigates his new life, in which his desire to shed his father's legacy comes up against the mounting pressure to save his family; along the way, Tariq gets entangled in the affairs of the cutthroat Tejada family, adding further complications as he tries to balance his drug operations with his education, love life, family affairs, and mounting pressure; he divides his time between school and hustling to pay for his mother's defense attorney, but when he runs out of options, Tariq turns to a familiar drug game.

The medical drama series focuses on a group of young doctors at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, who began their careers at the facility as interns. One of the young doctors and the show's namesake, Meredith Grey, is the daughter of a famous surgeon. Grey struggles to maintain relationships with her colleagues, particularly the hospital's one-time chief of surgery, Richard Webber, due to a pre-existing relationship between them - Webber and Meredith's mother had a personal relationship when Meredith was young.

Living idealized suburban lives, super-powered beings Wanda and Vision begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.

At 11, Barry Allen's life changed completely when his mother died in a freak accident and his innocent father was convicted of her murder. Now a crime-scene investigator, his dedication to learn the truth about his mother's death drives him to follow up on every new scientific advancement and urban legend. When his latest obsession -- a particle accelerator heralded as a world-changing invention -- causes an explosion, it creates a freak storm and Barry is struck by lightning. He awakes from a coma nine months later with the power of superspeed. When he learns that others who have gained powers use them for evil, he dedicates himself to protecting the innocent, while still trying to solve the older mystery.