italics vs. quotation marks

The answer to question number 5 in Exercise 5 says we should italicize the words this and that in the sentence. I placed quotation marks instead. In class we had discussed that quotation marks are fine but I was wondering if there is a preference? Is one form more appropriate than the other? When do you italicize and when do you place quotation marks (excluding cases where there are quotes or implied writer's opinion)?

Thanks,

Amazing and show titles

Hi, this is Moon Yun. I'm going under "Lotusflower" because I had to create a whole new account because for some reason I couldn't get back in with old account. As an entertainment reporter, I'm starting to do red carpet events and I like watching the awards show like the Golden Globe and the Oscars. I feel the actors are getting real lazy with their grammer, especially with the word "amazing." They've all started to use "amazing" as in "I'm doing amazing" or "We're doing amazingly." That just rings so false. Isn't it more appropriate to use amazing in the context of...Working with Steven Spielberg on the set of "War of the Worlds" was an amazing experience?

I tend to get confused sometimes with quotation marks around the title of a TV show or movie. I wrote something about "Lost's" Evangeline Lilly with the apostrophe and "s" inside the quotation marks even though it's not part of the title. Is it ever O.K. to italicize a TV or movie title when, say, writing a news release? My friend and I were having a discussion about that. He felt it was acceptable practice and made the news release look attractive but I felt the reporter would just think we were making stylistic error.

Thank you.