The purpose of this study was to determine whether gifted and nongifted middle school students differ in TV viewing habits, family rules, TV heroes/heroines, programming preferences, violence, grades in reading, bedtime hours, out-of-school lessons and hobbies, and ownership and use of TV sets and computers. Subjects were matched pairs of 130 middle school students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 who ranged in age from 9 to 13 years. The 65 gifted students had been enrolled in a university-based gifted program offering classes in eight academic disciplines for four consecutive Saturday sessions. Responses to a 43-item questionnaire suggest that significant differences exist between gifted and nongifted students with respect to TV habits, family rules, grades in reading, as well as participation in out-of-school activities, including lessons of various kinds. It was found that nongifted students spent more time watching TV after school and in evenings, stay up later on school nights, and received lower grades in reading, perhaps because the nongifted had their own personal TV sets. It was further found that gifted students, in contrast to nongifted students, apparently did not engage in wishful thinking or in fantasizing about fictional or popular TV characters. It is concluded that family rules about television habits do influence school achievement and seem to affect children in their social development. (Author/RH)