ABSTRACT
In the 1979 volume of this journal, we published a first analysis of television trends in the use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs [1]. The purpose of that study was to provide systematic evidence as to the general portrayal of all of these substances on commercial television series. Using sample weeks of prime time and Saturday morning television series for the 1976–77 and 1977–78 seasons, we demonstrated that the overall incidence of alcohol consumption averaged three acts per hour in prime time of the first season studied and four acts per hour in prime time of the second season. That same study found that both tobacco use and situations involving illegal drugs were very infrequent by comparison, averaging about one incident for every two hours of television programming for each of those substance categories. Those same studies showed that these substances were absent or negligible from Saturday morning programs targeted for children, much less apparent in the first hour, 8 to 9 p.m., of prime time, and that the hours of 9 to 11 p.m. contained pervasive portrayals of social drinking.
