Unlike the linear, serial process of reading books, learning to "read" television is a parallel process in which multiple pieces of information are simultaneously received. Perceiving images, only one aspect of understanding television, requires the concurrent processing of information that is compounded within a symbol system. The syntactical combinations of images are further compounded by such technical variables as lighting, camera movements, and editing style, each with its own codes and conventions. Television's sounds interact to create their own grammars, and the viewer must simultaneously process across the symbol systems of image and sound. Perceptually, viewers today look at more characters, take in more complex settings and movements, and hear more natural sounds and nonsynchronous music than did viewers 15 years ago. Conceptually, television delivers multiple stories and multidimensional levels of meaning. Programming is becoming more substantively complex by inviting the audience to understand television at once from conflicting intellectual and emotional dimensions. A program's characters sometimes do something to remind viewers that they are watching TV. Such self-reflexive television promotes thought at two dimensions: understanding television and understanding how television is understood. Roughly all 18-38 year olds were socialized by TV, and this television literate generation is most responsive to the trends of the medium and has gained increasing power over network programming decisions since 1970. Fluent in the grammar of television, this TV generation probably requires more challenging formats to hold its attention, and approaches the sounds and images of television in a way that is distinct from other media generations. (Four pages of notes are included.) (NKA)