Newcomb questions our emphasis on the similarities among television plays in preference to the differences in style, format, and nuances of plot, and so on. Our reason for this emphasis is that we consider most television plays as-sembly-line drama rather than works of unique craftsman-ship. The patterns that the corporate assembly-line imparts to its products become the aggregate and repetitive terms of common exposure and usage. Our main interest is in the commonalities of exposure and association that cultivate public conceptions, rather than in the variety of individual differences. When a certain type of dramatic action (such as violence) is presented an average of seven, eight, or nine