This paper examines the dominant genre of the last American television season--the action/adventure/law enforcement show--and discusses differences between this genre and television shows in the 1950s to 1970s. Today's programs are described in terms of the similarities they exhibit with the strategies of the New Right and the apparent contradictions between the progressive movements of the last 20 years--feminism, the black movement, anti-imperialism--and the demands of patriotic nationalism. Analyses of eight series that are representative of the genre, but constructed around and through a more overt form of national address than most other programs, indicate that they share similarities in discursive and aesthetic form and structure. Similar aspects of the genre's national address, plus other characteristics of the programs, are illustrated by references to specific shows. In addition, the paper addresses the following issues: how this genre attempts to create a new, more palatable, authoritarian, patriotic, and repressive national identity by incorporating elements and signs from progressive movements of the last 20 years and its spectacular and exciting visuals; and how television's ubiquity makes it a major part of the content of shared perceptions through which Americans try to make sense of themselves both as a nation and individually. (5 end notes) (CGD)