Interviews with people who write, direct, act, or otherwise work in television indicate that as television has reached toward larger and larger audiences its tendency to suppress creativity, diversity, and self-expression has also increased. Acquisition or network control over the creative process has caused prime time television to exhibit at least four dominant characteristics: 1) fear of controversy; 2) exaggerated commercialism; 3) self-censorship; and 4) a cultural lag between the realities of the world and television's view of society. Traditional attempts to diversify or improve programing creativity in the mass media often miss the mark. American television has eliminated much of the freedom necessary for creative accident and must discover ways to recreate it. (Author/PF)