This article examines the contribution of television and other mass media to alcohol consumption and its abuse. The author notes that there is no scientific evidence available that addresses this point directly, and the importance of such an issue is not recognized in the scientific literature. The absence of this information interferes with the ability to act wisely in regard to portrayals of alcohol in entertainment and advertising on television. The author delineates four issues that are of central importance in examining the portrayals of alcohol consumption on television. (1) the pattern and character of such portrayals; (2) the contribution of such portrayals to the concepts held by young people about alcohol; (3) the contribution of portrayals to maintaining or altering patterns of alcohol consumption among adults; and (4) the potential role of television in altering patterns of alcohol consumption and abuse. (Author/YRJ)