Noting drastic changes in both television and the family since the 1990 edition, this revised volume provides an extensive consideration of television's role in the American family, from the uses families make of television and how extensions such as remote controls and VCRs affect usage, to the meanings families have for television, families' evolving attitudes toward television, and the portrayal of families on television. The articles also examine the effects TV has on families and discuss the ways families can mediate television's impact on their lives. The articles are as follows: (1) "Evolution in the Family's Use of Television: An Overview" (Margaret Andreasen); (2) "Television Use in Families with Children" (Jennifer A. Kotler, John C. Wright, and Aletha C. Huston); (3)"Home Ecology and Children's Television Viewing in the New Media Environment" (David J. Atkin); (4) "Remote Control Devices and Family Viewing" (James R. Walker and Robert V. Bellamy, Jr.); (5) "The VCR, Home Video Culture, and New Video Technologies" (Carolyn A. Lin); (6) "Family Attitudes toward Television" (Dan Brown and Tammy Hayes); (7) "Five Decades of Families on Television: From the 1950s through the 1990s" (James D. Robinson and Thomas Skill); (8) "Sibling Interaction in Situation Comedies over the Years" (Mary Strom Larson); (9) "Balancing Acts: Work-Family Issues on Prime-Time TV" (Katharine E. Heintz-Knowles); (10) "Portrayals of Families of Color on Television" (Jannette L. Dates and Carolyn A. Stroman); (11) "Subversion of the American Television Family" (William Douglas); (12) "How Psychologically Healthy Are America's Prime-Time Television Families?" (Jennings Bryant, Charles F. Aust, J. Alison Bryant, and Gopakumar Venugopalan); (13) "The Meaning of Television in the American Family" (Alison Alexander); (14) "Conflicts and Resolution Strategies Associated with Television in Marital Life" (Walter Gantz); (15) "Effects of Television on Child and Family Emotional Well-Being" (Joanne Cantor and Marie-Louise Mares); (16) "Television and the Family: The Cultivation Perspective" (Nancy Signorielli and Michael Morgan); (17) "Family Mediation" (Nancy L. Buerkel-Rothfuss and Rick A. Buerkel); (18) "Effects of Family Communication on Children's Interpretation of Television" (Erica Weintraub Austin); (19) "Mediating Advertising Effects" (David M. Boush); (20)"Curriculum-Based Preschool Television Programming and the American Family: Historical Development, Impact of Public Policy, and Social and Educational Effects" (J. Alison Bryant, Jennings Bryant, Lisa Mullikin, James F. McCollum, and Curtis C. Love); and (21) "The Effect of Television Policy on Children and Families" (Marina Krcmar). (Each chapter contains references.) (HTH)